The Regenerates (26 page)

Ven sighed. “Kayn, I–”

Suddenly, the stone doors opened again. Coralie came bursting in, closely followed by Rogin, Seer, King and Shen. “Ven!” Coralie cried at seeing him on the floor. “Are you okay?” She rushed to him and helped him to his feet, glancing at Kayn suspiciously.

“Where’s the dagger?” said Kayn, marching over to Seer. Seer reached into his sweater and pulled out a small package wrapped in cloth. Kayn seized it from him, unwrapped the cloth and flung it to the ground, tightly grasping the dagger’s hilt. Without waiting for anyone, he stormed off into the entranceway.

“Let’s go,” said Seer, running after him.

“Where are the others?” said Ven.

“They’ll catch up, they’re close by. We can’t wait for them if Kayn’s already run off.”

They sprinted past the passage into the entranceway after Kayn, who was already way ahead of them. The inside of the tomb was incredibly large and several floors high. Ven couldn’t help but feel it was a bit much considering it had been built for one dead person.

“Kayn, slow down!” Seer called out. Kayn ignored him and continued running. Seer stopped and turned back to King and Shen, clutching his stomach. “Do you feel that?” he said.

“A little,” said Shen. “But it’s not bothering me too much. Is it uncomfortable for you?”

“Yeah, actually.”

“Is what uncomfortable?” said Coralie.

“Never mind.” Seer winced and steadied himself. “Let’s keep going.”

“Does Kayn even know which direction to go?” said Coralie, pulling up beside Ven.

“Who knows.”

They ran through incredibly beautiful stone corridors, up flights of stairs and across several atriums until they finally caught up with Kayn.

They had arrived in a large room with a glass-domed ceiling. In the very center of the room was a circular pool surrounded by thick, black marble pillars. The liquid inside the pool could not have been water. Whatever it was, it swirled strangely, morphing from inky black to a dirty silver.

It was actually there! Ven turned to Coralie excitedly. In front of him, Kayn’s hand was shaking as he gripped the Magistrate’s Dagger.

Seer collapsed beside Ven and threw up all over the stone floor.

Shen and Coralie rushed towards him. “What happened?”

Kayn didn’t react at all, but slowly inched towards the round pool.

Seer’s face had turned gray. He threw up a second time. Ven was suddenly overcome with a strong sense of foreboding. “Kayn…” he said. “Wait. Don’t do it. Just hold on a second–”

“Back off,” Kayn snarled.

When he had reached the pool, he knelt down, raised the dagger above it, and slowly lowered it inside.

Nobody moved. Kayn lifted the now-soaked Magistrate’s Dagger out of the pool. Ven shrank. They had actually done it. Kayn was shaking so hard Ven was almost sure he would drop the dagger.

Seer got to his feet, coughing.

“Are you alright?” Coralie placed an arm around his shoulders.

He looked at King and Shen. “Where are the others?” Seer’s voice had become terribly weak. “They should have been here by now, and I can’t sense them anymore.”

“I don’t know,” said Shen. “I’ll go check.”

She turned to leave, but Seer pulled her back. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Ven felt a shiver go up his spine. Kayn turned back to face them. The ivory liquid was slowly dripping from the dagger and onto the floor. After several moments, the liquid slowly vanished, revealing the dagger’s blade underneath. As soon as he saw it, Kayn let out a gasp of horror and dropped it. The dagger fell with a clank to the stone floor. Upon closer inspection, Ven saw why. The blade was still charcoal black.

“What is this…?” said Kayn. “I don’t get it. It was completely soaked to the hilt.” He rounded on Seer. “
What is going on?
”

There were seconds of silence, then chaos.

An explosion of blinding light and piercing, ear-splitting sound erupted across the circular space. They threw themselves to the ground and covered their ears. Out of nowhere, Rogin appeared and seized Ven and Coralie, throwing himself on top of them. Ven could hear screaming and yelling, and he couldn’t tell to whom the voices belonged.

Ven was suddenly crushed under Rogin’s weight.

“Rogin!” he screamed through the noise. “You’re crushing us! We can’t breathe!”

But Rogin was unconscious. Ven and Coralie heaved him off of them. His eyes were rolled back in his head.

Whatever was causing the light was at the center of the room. Ven tried to scan the area for the others. Meares, Renny and Dorian lay motionless on the ground. The only other people still awake were King, Shen, Seer and Kayn. Surrounding King, Shen and Seer was a dome of black mist. Within it, Ven could see them ducking their heads and covering their ears.

Why aren’t they shielding us?
Then it struck him. It was their Haze energy. It was affecting them somehow. He looked around again for Kayn, and found him on the floor, covering his eyes. Ven and Coralie rushed towards him.

“Get up!” Ven yelled. “You have to get up!”

Kayn didn’t reply. He was transfixed by something in front of him. Ven followed his gaze.

A small black orb was hovering in front of them, just above the dark pool. It slowly began to turn in a spiral, sending whips of black light shooting out from its center.

“We need to get back!” Coralie cried.

Ven pulled Kayn to his feet and they ran, hiding their eyes from the blinding light. They didn’t get very far. A black whip of light flashed in their way, then another. The whips of black light began to form silhouettes. Ven watched in horror and amazement as the silhouettes became clear. All of a sudden, the blinding light vanished as though it had never come. All that remained were five figures and a deafening, ear-ringing silence.

When all of the figures had finally become clear, Ven could only stand rooted to the ground. He had seen their portraits so many times while walking through the corridors in the Grand Magistrate’s palace, had learned their names in class and studied their triumphs and pitfalls. Towering before them, faces gruesomely disfigured, were five of the previous Grand Magistrates. It was the one in the center that had caused Kayn to fall down, convulsed in shock. It was Kayn’s father, Russell Stafford.

Coralie grabbed Ven’s arm and pulled him back. Ven tried to drag Kayn away. Kayn’s father and the other Grand Magistrates stared down at them. Their eyes were twisted and narrowed and their faces were a chalky gray. Kayn could not take his eyes off of his father’s terrifying form. Russell Stafford looked at his son and leered, baring blackened teeth and a gray tongue.

“Don’t look at it, Kayn!” Ven screamed. “Get away!”

It was useless. He watched helplessly as their previous Grand Magistrate lifted Kayn up by his throat and tightened his grip. Ven wheeled around.

“Help!” he called to King and Shen. “Please, just help–”

Coralie’s scream brought his attention to the figure behind him. This time, it was Russell Stafford’s own father who drew back a long blade and aimed it at Ven’s heart.

Seer suddenly appeared between Ven and the blade, carrying his own. The powerful boy’s amber eyes flared as he drove his weapon into the demon’s heart. The demon faltered as the blade pierced him, but his mouth twisted into a smile as he silently turned his head to Kayn and the demonic form of his father.

Kayn was coughing and spluttering. His father was holding the gleaming hilt of a dark blade, which he had driven through his son’s chest.

Ven fell back in horror.

Behind them, the black orb continued to spiral. It grew bigger and bigger until it had become a twisted black vortex.

“Ven, the dagger!” said Coralie, pointing to it. The Magistrate’s Dagger was surrounded by its own black light that whipped and shot outwards. The light streams slowly began to connect with the larger vortex until the light had become a current. Ven rushed forwards, stretched out his hand and closed his fingers around the Magistrate’s Dagger. It vibrated strongly at his touch.

He looked back at Kayn, horror-struck. Russell Stafford pulled his son by the blade still embedded in his chest into the twisting void and out of sight.

“NO!”

Ven leaped forwards towards the void. Before anyone could stop him, he felt a familiar, upward pulling sensation. Coralie, Seer and the others had vanished.

In a moment of shock, he tried to take in his new surroundings. He was in a dark, musty library.

“Ven!” Elias stood before him, quivering from head to toe. Shaken by this sudden change in his surroundings, Ven could do nothing more than stare. Elias ran up to him and grabbed the front of his shirt.

“Elias?”

Elias pointed behind Ven. “The door…” he whimpered. “The door is open.”

“W
hat’s going on?” said Ven.

“I don’t know,” Elias cowered behind him. “It just opened all of a sudden, and now I don’t know what to do…”

“Did you see what happened to me, down there?”

“Yeah, I saw those Keepers. This counts as a perilous situation, doesn’t it? So I pulled you up.”

Ven stared at him, perplexed. “The ones with swords, they’re Keepers?”

“Yeah, aren’t they?”

“Wait, you know what Keepers are?” said Ven.

“I know because of the books in this library. You get a lot of reading done here.”

Ven suddenly became aware of something he was holding in his hands. It was the Magistrate’s Dagger. “How did this get here? You can pull objects up here, too?”

“I wasn’t paying attention. I was just trying to pull you up.”

Ven turned to the door. “What’s past there?”

“I told you, I don’t know,” said Elias. “I just know it’s not safe.”

There was nothing beyond it but blackness. A thought struck Ven. “Can Keepers be evil, too?” he said.

“Yeah. It depends on their Haze energy.”

“Haze energy can be good or bad? How does that work?”

“Haze isn’t good or bad, it just…
is
. What makes it good or bad is the container.” Elias’ eyes kept darting back nervously to the door.

Once more, the passage from the book he had read in Lamparth swirled in Ven’s memory:
Tests were conducted to analyze the effect Haze had on physical objects…

Ven looked down at the Magistrate’s Dagger. “That Keeper down there, it pulled Kayn into some kind of vortex, is there any way to save him?” he asked.

Elias’ eyes widened. “Ven, he’s as good as d–”

“NO,” Ven exclaimed. “It can’t be as simple as that.” Ven turned to the door. “If I pass through there, will I die?”

“I don’t think so,” said Elias, shrinking at Ven’s raised voice. “It’s like I said before, as long as your life cord is attached to you, you’ll stay alive. But why would you want to go through there?”

“I have a theory.” Ven stared into the blackness. “Tell me more about the Keepers’ Realm.”

Elias backed further away from the door. “O-okay. From what I’ve read, the Keepers’ Realm is split into layers, depending on the strength of the Haze energy present in it. The lower layers that possess little or no Haze energy are where the spirits of dead humans, or ghosts as you call them, reside. Because they are so close to the human realm, they don’t have as much Haze energy in them, which is why it’s possible for humans to sometimes see them. The higher layers are full of Haze, both good and bad, and are where Keepers live.”

“Is it possible to travel up the layers?”

“Yes,” Elias said. “The lower entities don’t often do it, though. The Haze energy present in the air is too overwhelming and they aren’t able to handle it. Either they go mad, or their spirits are destroyed.”

“Will we be alright, then?” said Ven.

“You’ll be alright for sure,” said Elias. “But I’ve never been there, so I don’t know how long it’ll be before the air starts to take effect on me. If I disappear all of a sudden, don’t get mad at me.”

“You said my life cord will keep me alive, right?” said Ven. “I think that door is an entrance to the Keepers’ Realm. If I go in, I may be able to find Kayn.”

“Ven, I think I remember something.” Elias’ eyes grew wider. “This library is one of the lower layers. I think I tried to leave through that door a long time ago, but something out there got me so spooked I ran back in here and promised never to open it again. But why would I forget something like that for so long?”

“Elias, I can’t stay anymore. I need to find Kayn. Will you help me?”

Elias looked at him. “You want me to go back out there? I just told you something horrible is there!”

“I have to go, whether I do it alone or not. I don’t know what to expect, though, so I could really use your help.”

Elias shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t even know which layer your friend could be on.”

“It’s has to be on one of the higher ones. We just have to climb to each one.”

“We’ll be surrounded by an enormous amount of negative Haze energy. Do you know how dangerous that is?”

“Kayn can’t die, Elias. I have to try and get him out somehow.”

Elias pulled at his hair and paced. “Fine, I’ll help you. But I can’t fight anything. You’re on your own.”

“It’s possible to
kill
a Keeper?”

“Yes, but don’t ask me how. I don’t know! I don’t even want to go in there.”

“I know, which is why I appreciate your help,” said Ven. “C’mon.”

Elias, looking reluctant as ever, stood beside him. Ven took a deep breath and he and Elias stepped into the blackness.

Immediately, an overpowering weight pressed down on Ven’s chest. He couldn’t see, couldn’t feel. He didn’t know what he was standing on, and with every movement, the stupendous pressure on his body got stronger.

“Elias?” he called out. His stomach lurched. His voice had become horribly raspy and almost demonic. He clamped his hand over his mouth.

“Don’t talk, Ven,” said Elias. “Not here.”

Elias’ voice sounded like his own. Ven suddenly felt a hand close around his wrist.

“This may not feel very good,” said Elias, “but it’ll go away in a minute.”

Feeling dread, Ven braced himself for whatever was to come. He could feel Elias pulling him forward. They had barely moved when Ven’s insides began to twist and turn. It felt as though someone was taking his heart and squeezing, tighter and tighter. The pain moved to his skull, as though someone had reached into his brain and was trying to rip it in two. Ven was feeling dizzy. He willed it to go away…