Everville: The Rise of Mallory (3 page)

“Take me! Take me!” shouted Felix, one of the miniature Ubaloo.

“Wait. On second thought, never mind,” Felix said after thinking about it for a few moments longer.

“I’ll go,” said Asher, another Ubaloo who was a little more courageous.

“And you’ll go too, Felix,” The Keeper interjected. “To help to keep Owen focused on the task at hand, Grenmar will need someone to keep him occupied and out of trouble when he gets bored.” The Keeper continued.

Felix whimpered.

“Why did I have to say anything?” Felix said aloud mournfully while hitting himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand.

“I’ll send you through the portal to one of the monoliths in the land of the giants. From there, you will need to travel through the land of the giants to the underground river that leads to The Valley of Darkness.

“Use the wisdom you have gained to help guide you. Don’t be afraid to rely on the help of your friends, and above all, be patient and reflective,” The Keeper said to Owen.

“I’ll get some supplies,” said Toe.

A few moments later, Toe returned with a few small bags and a larger one for Owen.

“Asher will show you what to do with these when you need them,” Toe said to Owen.

“Thanks, Toe,” Owen replied.

The Keeper escorted the four of them to the portal by the staircase. The portal rippled like a vertical pond bound by an ancient wooden frame. It reflected back the images in front of it but was also partially transparent, allowing them to see what was on the other side. The Keeper touched the frame with his staff, each time changing the location on the other end. The Keeper stopped once the monolith appeared across the portal, and then one by one, they walked through. Felix was the last to cross. Asher had to reach through the portal from the other side in order to pull Felix through.

After they all arrived at the monolith, the portal closed behind them, and they inspected their surroundings.

Chapter 3

Connections

B
ack at Jacob’s home, Mr. Hughes readied himself for work and was about to leave.

The butler opened the door for Mr. Hughes, who was wearing a thick, grey-woolen trench coat over an expensive black suit. Before he left, Mr. Hughes turned towards Jacob.

“Don’t worry,” he said.

“Those two will be taken care of. Rest assured, they won’t cause you any more trouble, not after the university deals with them,” Mr. Hughes continued, referring to Owen and Drusilla.

“I’ll take care of them if the university doesn’t,” Jacob retorted in a shrill tone.

Jacob squinted his grey eyes and bushy black eyebrows as he spoke. The recent lack of sunlight made his skin paler than usual. That, combined with his slim build, made him look sickly.

“Don’t do anything rash. I’ll make sure the lawyers handle it,” Mr. Hughes said as he walked out the door.

A few hours later at the campus café, Jacob had just arrived. It was quieter than usual. More than half of the seats were available, all of which normally would be taken during mid-morning on a Monday.

Jacob ordered the house special and then sat down at a table in the back corner, which was hidden from view.

“Did you get what I asked for?” whispered a young man who was already seated.

Jacob didn’t say a word. He simply pushed a large envelope across the table, which then quickly disappeared into the man’s briefcase.

Trying not to look too suspicious, both of them just sat there a few moments and sipped their coffee. After the man left, Jacob stayed a while longer until he had finished his coffee.

Just as Jacob was leaving, Anika walked through the door. Jacob had his head down and wasn’t paying attention. He bumped into her, nearly knocking her over. Anika stared at him, waiting for him to apologize, but it was too much to ask. They both turned away from each other angrily. The animosity between them was palpable.

Anika continued walking towards the counter.

“What can I get for you?” the young female barista asked, having watched the confrontation moments earlier.

“I’ll have the house special,” Anika replied.

It was the most popular drink by far in the café, thanks to the secret ingredient, which was a closely guarded formula.

Anika handed over the cash.

“That guy’s a real jerk,” the barista said to Anika.

“Sure is,” Anika responded, while waiting on the coffee.

“Here you go,” the barista said with a smile once she had finished making the drink.

“Thanks.”

Anika sat down at one of the tables and waited for Dante and Owen to arrive.

She looked around, paying close attention to the antiques and art that decorated the tables and walls. She learned earlier that bo staves were made in the back of the cafe, but there was something else magical about the place, something that drew her along with all the other patrons to the campus café.

Dante sat down next to her.

“Hey, Anika. What’s up?” he asked.

“Jacob was just here. That guy’s got some nerve. He walked right into me and almost knocked me over,” she replied.

“That doesn’t surprise me at all. Not after what he did to Cleophas. I heard he tried to kill him. That guy’s a real problem. If he didn’t have his new parents covering up after him he’d be in real trouble,” Dante responded.

“Well, at least he got his butt kicked by Drusilla and Owen. Now that the container he used to channel element is destroyed, I don’t think he’ll be able to cause us too much problems,” Anika said with a sense of satisfaction.

“I’m not sure I’d count on that. He’s an arrogant little prick with a sense of entitlement that’s not going away anytime soon,” Dante quipped back.

“Ain’t that the truth,” she replied.

A world away, Mallory waited in the cave with the dragon. The dragon had finally grown large enough and channeled enough of the element to allow them to communicate directly to each other mentally. It was what Mallory had been waiting for and what he needed to set his plan into motion.

The dragon was now tuned into Mallory’s thoughts, at least the thoughts Mallory allowed the dragon to see, and it was providing Mallory with what power it had available.

Mallory touched the cave wall, and Jacob’s image appeared.

Jacob had returned home and was alone. As Mallory made the connection, his image stood before Jacob in mid-air. Jacob could see the cave and the dragon behind him.

“Mallory! I see you’ve succeeded,” Jacob said with glee.

“Yes. It won’t be long now. Make sure you take care of your end so we can do what needs to be done,” Mallory said with a stern voice.

“Count on it!”

Jacob’s image vanished from the cave wall.

Mallory would now have to deal with the creatures that seeded the worms in the first place, and with possession of the dragon, he was in a good position to gain their trust.

The creatures, known as the Alarians, resided on the large moon that orbited the ice planet. They were not themselves dragons. They simply chose that as the initial form for their progeny in this universe.

The Alarians held a special place within the multiverse, and like the worms they seeded, their form had the capacity to hold tremendous power.

Chapter 4

Return of the Giants

I
n the vast wasteland surrounding The Other In Between, Borak and the other surviving giants from the battle in The City of Worms had grown weary. Their massive stature was now their enemy, having weighed them down by the force of gravity. They had gone without food and water for days and their bodies were nearing collapse.

The wasteland was especially harsh on the living. One of its properties was that it drained energy while magnifying the harshness of life to all those that occupied it. It took more strength and more energy than normal to live in that realm, but it also had the effect of prolonging death. The giants would have to continue on close to death for several millennia before they would eventually give up the ghost, and should that time come, the barren wasteland would consume their bodies and The Other In Between would steal their souls.

The destruction of the worms had landed the giants in the barren wasteland, but there were border realms surrounding The Other In Between beyond the wasteland, lands which were farther from The Other In Between and less harsh. Those border realms also contained the portals that could be used to travel to the monoliths in the land of the giants, which is where they were headed.

“Borak, we have to keep moving,” one of the soldiers muttered as they crept along, but Borak was too far gone to hear him.

Borak was by far the strongest and tallest of the giants, but it was precisely his size as strength that made him the weakest at that moment. He was near death and being held up by two soldiers on each arm.

The sweat had long drained from the giants’ bodies, and there was nothing left to cool them down. Borak used every bit of strength he had to put one foot in front of the other. He took one last step and then he collapsed.

The remaining giants decided to discard all clothing and accessories except the bare essentials. They removed all their weapons and armor. They threw down their helmets and chainmail, tossing their swords aside. They took off their shirts, and ripped off most of their pants, leaving only a small remnant to keep covered. It was their last hope to get rid of as much dead weight as possible. They would need to lighten the load if they were going to carry Borak.

They waited several hours in the hopes of regaining some of their strength, but the land was brutal, and they had to move on if they were going to make it back home.

Four of the giants now carried Borak. They moved slowly, making almost no progress. The giants, about twenty in all, muddled forward for several more days. The journey was maddening. An uncomfortable heat tortured their skin, and the hot sand burned their feet. There was no vegetation of any kind and no signs of life. It was an endless desert that never changed, making the days feel more like weeks.

Eventually, the giants could no longer carry Borak. Two of them stayed by his side, the others continued on in the hopes of making it to the portal and returning with help. The remaining giants continued for another day’s journey, but soon, even they could no longer continue. One by one, they collapsed onto the desert sand until all but one of them lay scattered on the ground, their massive bodies the only thing visible in the entire region.

It would be left up to the only giant left standing, Consilium, to reach the portal. Otherwise, all of them would become tortured victims of the wasteland. With that burden squarely on his shoulders, Consilium plodded along. Step-by-step, breath-by-breath, he continued. The muscles in his legs began to revolt. The fatigue that had defeated the others was creeping up on him, ever so quickly.

“No! No! No!” Consilium shouted.

“I will continue. I will not quit. I will move forward. I will not quit.”

He marched on for several more hours, denying the harsh desert its victory over him. In a moment of weakness, he collapsed. He fell forward, and when he did, he could finally see what he had been looking for. It was a color, purple to be precise. He couldn’t make out any of the features, but that was irrelevant. He knew by the purple hue that it had to be Lillymore, one of the surrounding realms.

The discovery propelled him forward. His used his last bit of strength to stand up and continue walking. His mind took control of his body, forcing the pain and fatigue to obey his will. Less than an hour later, he reached his destination and then he collapsed.

Consilium succumbed to a deep sleep. His body was drained close to death, but the border realm was cool. He slept for several days, and when he awoke, he was weak and robbed of all strength.

Finally, Consilium stood up and continued walking until eventually he came upon a stream. It was a small stream, barely large enough for him to fit his cupped hands.

The water in the stream, like the ground and the vegetation in that realm, was purple, just a slightly bluer shade compared to the vegetation, which had a few reddish hues. There wasn’t much variety, but it was something, and it was much better than the lifeless desert sand.

Consilium dipped his finger in the stream, and then he dabbed his tongue with the water. It was sweet and had a fruity aroma. Excited by the fact that he finally had something to drink and restore his strength, he cupped his hands in the stream and drank as much as he could until his belly felt like it was going to burst.

Consilium stretched out his body on the purple grass, allowing the water to do its job. He rested a short while longer until he felt the strength return to his muscles and the energy return to his body.

The vegetation was short, so he could see a great distance. He wasn’t sure where the portal was located, but he felt confident he would eventually find it. He continued walking until he felt strong enough to leap above the ground and cover more distance.

Consilium felt empowered. The water had returned almost all of his strength, and one leap at a time, he ventured high above the ground. He looked in every direction as he soared, noting the absence of anything other than purple streams and short vegetation. It didn’t take long, though, for him to spot the portal.

Moments later, he shot up into the air, making a few more leaps. Finally, he had reached the portal. Consilium walked through and arrived in the land of the giants within one of the recently constructed monoliths.

Immediately, the soldier sent word to their leader, General Varrick, that Consilium had arrived. Upon hearing the news, the General left the confines of his bunker and arrived at the monolith to greet Consilium.

“It’s great to see you alive, soldier. Are there any others?”

“Likewise, General. There are twenty of us including myself, but I was the only one that made it out of the wasteland to Lillymore. The wasteland is unusually harsh, especially to the largest among us. Borak was the first to collapse. They are alive, but just barely. I fear if I return, I will not be able to rescue them.”

“Well then, I’ll notify The Keeper. I’ll have him send out a contingent of Ubaloo soldiers from Brackenbone to the monolith. We’ll save our men, thanks to your courage and determination.”

After returning to his bunker, General Varrick used his hand to activate the table used to communicate with The Keeper.

“Keeper, only one soldier from the army of giants has returned. Nearly twenty remain strewn across the vast wasteland beyond Lillymore.

“I will send some soldiers to the edge of Lillymore, but the wasteland steals the strength and magnifies the weight of the giants. We should send a contingent of Ubaloo as quickly as possible through the monolith and across Lillymore to rescue the giants from the wasteland,” the General said.

“I agree. I will send a few dozen marmooks as well. They will be able to fetch some nourishment from Lillymore to give the Giants ahead of the Ubaloo,” The Keeper said.

Word spread quickly in Everville. In the land of the Fron and in Brackenbone, many rushed to help prepare the Ubaloo and the marmooks in the hopes of rescuing the brave giants who had succumbed to the elements of the wasteland.

One thousand Ubaloo soldiers approached the portal in Brackenbone. Their attire was streamlined and light, to minimize the effect of the wasteland. Likewise, in the land of the Fron, several dozen marmooks hopped along with containers strapped to their furry round bodies ready to cross through the portal and arrive at the monolith in the land of the giants.

The Ubaloo soldiers marched across the portal, one wave at a time. When the final wave of Ubaloo had crossed and the last of the marmooks arrived, General Varrick and a small contingent of giants escorted them through the portal in the monolith across to Lillymore.

The giants brought large crates. Each giant carried two of the large crates that held dozens of miniature muscle-bound Ubaloo solders. Once the giants reached the edge of the Lillymore, they would release the Ubaloo and marmooks.

“Now!” signaled General Varrick.

The giants made a running start, and then each of them leapt hundreds of yards into the air. Leap after leap, the giants came closer to the edge of Lillymore near the vast wasteland.

A few marmooks peeked over the side of the crates once the giants took flight. They whimpered and shrunk back down as close to the bottom as possible until the giants arrived.

“Get moving. Let’s fill up the containers by the stream and get the water to the giants,” General Varrick said to the marmooks.

The three dozen marmooks filled up their containers, and the Ubaloo kneeled beside them while taking a few sips of the purple water before venturing into the wasteland.

“It’s now or never,” said one of the Ubaloo.

The marmooks hopped across the border into the wasteland. The Ubaloo followed behind, running as fast as they could. A few of marmooks stayed with the Ubaloo holding the containers of the purple water in case they got thirsty.

The Ubaloo and marmooks followed in the general direction they were told by Consilium. The marmooks hopped along for several hours, only stopping every so often for a minute or two to rest and take small sips of the purple water.

At last, the marmooks had arrived to the first giant. The Ubaloo were still a day’s journey behind, but closing fast. Two marmooks stayed with each giant until the last of the marmooks arrived at Borak’s location.

One of the marmooks gently tapped on Borak’s head trying to get a response, but there was no movement. The giant’s face was chapped and dusty. The marmook brushed off the sand from Borak’s face and pried apart his lips, pouring in a small amount of the water. He waiting a few seconds, and repeated the process.

Over the course of the next several hours, the marmooks continued to pour small amounts of the water into each of the giants’ mouths until they finally responded. Borak was the last to open his eyes. The giants remained weak, but their strength slowly returned.

The Ubaloo themselves felt the drain of the wasteland, but not to the degree that it had affected the giants because they were so much smaller. Eventually, they too arrived. It took twelve hours between the time the first of the Ubaloo reached the first giant and the last of them reached Borak. By that time, the first few giants were able to walk on their own. The giants that were farther behind, including Borak, were still not able to get up.

Soon only Borak remained in the wasteland, accompanied by a hundred Ubaloo and a few marmooks. The Ubaloo carefully lifted the giant up and carried him up above their heads with their tiny muscular arms. They could only make it half way before fatigue prevented them from carrying him any farther. They were then relieved by a second contingent of Ubaloo and several marmooks who had escorted the first of the giants to Lillymore.

“Please. Leave me here. Save yourselves,” murmured Borak.

“It’s okay. The other giants are safe. We came back for you. You’re saved,” one of the Ubaloo soldiers replied.

Borak blacked out. When he awoke, he was lying on the ground in Lillymore next to a purple stream alongside the Ubaloo, the giants, and the marmooks who had come to rescue him. He was very weak, but by that time he had gained enough strength to dip his hand in the stream and take a few sips.

They rested there for another day. Escaping the vast wasteland allowed them to regain their strength relatively quickly.

The next morning, they were all eager to leave. The purple land of Lillymore reminded them too much of the monotony of the vast wasteland, and the armies began preparing for their return

“Borak, your exploits in The City of Worms will not be forgotten. You are a hero to our people and a true force of good,” the General said to Borak once he had regained sufficient strength.

“Your words are very kind, General, but it’s I who should be thanking you. I failed you. It’s you who had to rescue me.”

“Nonsense. That’s the wasteland speaking. You are the most courageous person I know. It’s not just your strength, but it’s your courage and your honor that distinguish you from the masses. All our soldiers are valiant, but you have led them. You have nurtured them. You have sacrificed your life and your soul for every single soldier we have. You wouldn’t hesitate to die even if it meant saving the lowliest of our soldiers,” the General responded as he fought back tears.