Flash Friday #741 -- Doom/13

 

Bob woke me just before dawn. He shook my shoulder and then slapped me across the cheek so that I came awake quickly and just short of killing him. 

"Get ready," he ordered. "It's time." 

"You need to tell me your plan now?" I demanded. I changed clothes with a bit of magic just to get this over with. 

"We are already well into the plan," he replied. "Get moving, or we are going to miss it all." 

Somewhere not too far away (and probably far too close), I could hear people's surprised voices. I sensed little magic in the air, so whatever was going on must be in the hands of the humans. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I have mentioned they are chaotic, right? I soon learned that "chaotic" was a mild description of what humans can do when turned loose. 

I stayed at a cottage near the Archive Tower, well away from the city's usual trouble spots. I dreaded walking to find the battle. That turned out not to be a problem.  A portal stood in the courtyard before the tower. It was already spitting out some of Sylsan's allies, which appeared to include most of the humans. This just didn't look good, and I turned to Bob, hoping for a reasonable answer. 

He let out a battle scream, charged forward, and kicked the gremlin back through the portal. That seemed to be the sign for everyone else to go a little crazy. I know I did, even though I did not know what was really going on. 

Neither, apparently, did anyone else, including Sylsan. That was my only hope. I saw him looking around with growing dread as he tried to grab one of the humans. No, I did not want him to take that human back through the portal and out of our reach. Bob must've felt the same way. He leapt like he had when he attacked the gremlins, but this time, he aimed at Sylsan. 

I shouted a warning and leaped toward him. Adon appeared at my side and grabbed my arm, holding me back. Gold kept going, and when Sylsan noticed the giant cat, he lost all interest in Bob. 

"Stay here," Adon ordered and then gave me a strange smile. "We only brought you along because we thought you'd like to see what kind of madness humans are really capable of creating." 

I watched as the humans with Sylsan surged out around him, as though they couldn't wait for the battle. A few startled fae came running and watched in shock.  Then Bob got close enough to Sylsan to trip him. 

That is when the fireworks started. 

Literally, fireworks. 

I yelped as blue stars exploded in the portal.  Sylsan yelled and waved his arms, apparently trying to use magic to disperse the attack that he didn't understand. Humans surged at him from all sides, and I feared his fear and rage would trigger a magic explosion that would destroy us all. 

The phase demons grabbed his arms and carried him off into the pulsating portal, and none of us could see or track where they went.  Flashes of blue and green lights poured out of the dying portal.  Then the world fell silent, except for Gold's protest since he hadn't gotten to join in the fun. 

I sat down on the steps while the others celebrated, a few at a time until they were all laughing and talking.  Fae and human.  I thought it was a good sign because now we had to figure out what to do with our new friends. 

By the next day, I had a plan. 

We couldn't turn back time or hold it long enough to make a difference.   Instead, we created an agency for the interaction of humans and fae. Small groups of humans and Fae visited various human lands and show them what help they can be in times of disaster. Adon, Gold, Bob, and I are often the team and visit the most inaccessible spots that humans have ever found. They are also the places most likely to believe in magic. 

I can see that within a year there will be more acceptance on both sides. Unfortunately, we are still finding signs of Sylsan, and I expect him to strike again. This time we will expect it. I don't know that it will help. I already sense some human and even Fae groups who are more inclined to listen to him than to us. 

Humans and Fae are far too much alike.  It is going to be a long war.

Flash Fiction #740 -- Doom/12

 

Humans are inherently chaotic. Anyone who has spent time with humans realizes this from the start. They aren't inherently evil or chaotic, but they tend to go down paths some of us would turn away from before it gets too bad.

 

The worst thing that can happen to a fae is to be with a human who suddenly thinks something really strange would be interesting to check out. Short of knocking them unconscious, sometimes you can do nothing but go along with them.

 

I thought I could trust Bob. He had seemed like a sane sort of human. I hadn't seen him do anything out of the ordinary, and the months he spent with the Fae after our encounter with Sylsan had been pleasantly calm. I was spending my time in the archives because nobody trusted me out on the street, including me.  Besides, I enjoyed sitting in the archives and dusting off old manuscripts that nobody looked at in decades. I had an affinity for finding older works that no one had even remembered.

 

On day twelve of the humans' forced exile into our fae realm, Bob came to me and asked if he could sit in the room while I looked at the archives.

 

"I don't mind," I replied. The idea of some company during the long hours appealed to me now that the continuous headache had eased back to something manageable. "But why me? I'm not the most interesting fae in the area."

 

"I don't need interesting," he said with more emotion than I expected. "I've been spending a lot of time with Adon and Gold. Sometimes, Adon and I can talk for half an hour before I realize we aren't talking about the same thing. In fact, we are often worlds apart. The other humans have made similar observations. You and I could talk back in the human realm. I hope we can make that connection again so I can feel more comfortable with the others, both human and fae."

 

"What problems do you have talking to us?" I asked.

 

"Anything dealing with time," he replied and gave me a long stare.  "Why don't you have that problem?"

 

"Anything that has to do with time –"

 

"Time isn't a constant here," I told him.

 

Bob looked at me as though I had gone mad.  "That's not possible … is it?"

 

"Anything that can be named and measured can be manipulated."

 

Bob took a moment to consider that one.  I knew where his thoughts were going, too. He glanced around the archives, but that was not what he was thinking about.

 

"I can be named and measured."

 

"Yes, you can.  However, eons of experience have taught us that manipulating allies is never a good idea. They resent it.  That karma comes back on you.  However, if you were standing in front of a falling building, it would be easier to move you rather than the building."

 

"And I like to think I would be grateful."

 

"If you are trying to get a group of fae to set a date and time for something to begin, forget it.  The best you can do is to set parameters that must be met before the event can begin."

 

"And the enemy, noting that I have gathered troops, would begin gathering his own," Bob answered.

 

"Exactly."

 

"So there's no way to have a surprise attack," Bob said, looking toward the window behind them. A slight breeze rolled through, picking up dust from everywhere.

 

I thought about creating a cleaning spell specifically for the archives.  It would have to be gentle, but now wasn't the time to consider it.  Bob was still looking for answers.

 

"A surprise battle was very rare.  It takes a lot of magic, which people usually discover anyway. It is why our wars are minor affairs, and assassins are more common.  We don't think assassins would go after the humans, but we are keeping watch more carefully than we normally would under these circumstances."

 

Bob looked at me, and I could see unasked questions in his stare.  It seemed as if he considered one thing after another before he discarded each one.  Then he finally nodded.

 

"I can't tell if you are taking Sylsan seriously or not."

 

"We purposely are not making him powerful," I replied, wondering if this was one of those things humans and fae didn't share.  "If we do more than try to track him, we limit our choices later.  We can't set up a trap because he would sense the magic."

 

"Then humans should set up a trap."

 

 

Flash Fiction #739 -- Doom/11

 

Some battles you know you can't win.  I thought this was one of them.  Who was I to go up against Sylsan?  My magic was erratic, if not weak.  If it hadn't been for the other Fae, I would not have stood up to the first two strikes. They took up the battle, and I rested for a moment, trying to figure out what he thought he was doing.

Sylsan thought he was taking over, but he must've seen by now that even a few Fae could hold them back.  He continued to fight even when the others moved away and came at them from another side. That seemed to unsettled him, which was entirely strange.

He must have planned this battle for years. Perhaps it had even been in the planning stage for decades. If so, I realized two things -- first, that he did use a lot of magic just to keep his plans secret. Second, he had laid this battle out in his mind so straightforwardly on his side that he didn't know what to do with people facing him.

And there was our hope.

I yelled for Adon and Gold.  They came at such a run that they almost knocked me over.

"Sorry, sorry," Adon said grabbing my arm.  Gold grunted something that sounded like an apology as well.  "Tell me you have a plan!"

I was half faint already and barely able to stay on my feet.  Adon shook me.  I protested.

"Sorry," he said again.  "I had hoped –"

"Random," I said, grabbing his arm.  "He planned it out too well.  Used magic to make the plan.  He can't diverge now."

"Classic magic attacks.  They are strong and we are having trouble holding him back."

"Committed," I repeated.  "We are not."

"There are reasons fir certain defenses against – oh.  That is what Sylsan taught us.  He was training us for his battle. We fell into place.  What else can we do?"

"Become random.  Set the humans on him."

I have to admit; it was glorious.

At least the part I saw, but I soon went to my knees, and Gold threw himself over me.  I have the feeling that is the only reason I survived.  My only memory of the battle was Sylsan's surprise, followed by … chaos and the passing of time.

I had a lot of time to think.  Mostly, I thought 'random' might not be the best answer. I'm not sure if anything better existed, though.  But the little curls of magic I felt now and then did not reassure me.

I finally fell asleep, or at least I told myself I did.  I didn't faint.

I am not sure how or when they got me back to my home in Nerian.  I must have slept through it.  Right.  I awoke to loud voices arguing what sounded like gibberish.  I could make no sense of it, and I gathered all my thoughts and energy, trying to sit up and tell them to shut up –

Adon caught hold of me.

"Be still, cousin," he said, grabbing my shoulders and holding me down with little effort.

"Tell them to be quiet," I implored.  I meant it as an order, but my brain decided I couldn't back it up. "Silence, please."

The others must have heard me.  I frowned as a plethora of faces, many of them unknown, crowded around me. I must have looked panicked.  Many of them moved away.  As they arranged themselves, more of the past came to me. One question rose above all the others.

"Where is Sylsan?" I demanded.  

"The council locked him in a cell," Adon said.  I could tell he knew what I was going to say next.  He already nodded.

"In one of the cells he had designed."

"Yes, but they apparently didn't remember that part."

"So, he got away."

"Yes."

I shifted slightly. Rest sounded overrated at this point. "Do we have any idea where he went?"

"Not exactly," Adon replied, sounding less worried.  "He opened a portal, and he took half a dozen humans with him."

"That can't be good.  The human realm is huge."

"What makes you think he went there?" an older fae demanded. "Just because he has a few humans with him doesn't mean he is using them to attack the other humans."

"What other use does he have for them?"

A few of the others tried to come up with ideas. All of them were worse than mine.

Adon and his friends drove the others out of my rooms.  I had silence again.  And more questions.

"Whom do we trust?" I asked when Adon came back.

"I don't know.  Let's hope we have time to find out."

Flash Fiction #738 -- Doom/10

 

I needed an anchor to catch hold of the realm we wanted. That was easy.  I had my hand on the old table beside me, and hardly anything is more connected to the world than a tree, live or dead.

I dug my fingers into the wood and then dared to lift my right hand to call the other tables to me.

"Grab hold of the tables!" I ordered, and with enough magic to make them obey.  It was hard since I was already using other magic -- 

And someone was trying to stop me. Someone powerful.  That annoyed me.  I had a good idea of who I was facing, but I didn't know where to find him.  I needed the other fae to help me -- but they were working hard at keeping the entire group centered and no  one drifting off. They would be lost and probably never found again, especially the humans.

I did not want that on my conscience.

We had to go now. Where to?  I could pull us to Between -- but that might just make it easier to destroy us.

I had a crazier plan.

I looked at Adon, silently calling his name.  If he hadn't still held on to me, he might not have heard.  We had a lot of interference.

There was one place I knew Sylsan wouldn't expect us.  I built up as much power as I could and climbed back onto Gold.  Then I leaned down and caught tight hold of Adon's arm.

"Lead us home," I told him.

He understood as he pulled away from me and moved in front of Gold.  I let go of the tables, since I didn't want to drag them along with us where they would lose their link to their own home.  I grabbed humans into my net and we went --

Back into the dark again.  The phase guides stayed with us, lending me power as they could. Now that I knew what to look for, he saw the small signs of instability. I also saw paths, not nearly as strong, leading elsewhere.  I held to the one that was the strongest.  I could feel home growing stronger.

Sylsen tried to stop us.  I had feared he would, but I had hoped he delayed until we arrived at Narian. Attacking while in phase could get all of us, including him, scattered across the realms, but still stuck in the spell.

Or -- probably worse -- we could get pulled together and stuck as companions until the magic faded.

Eons.

"Don't be a fool!" I shouted at him.  "You don't want to face the consequences!"

"I rule!" he shouted, glowing with a bright blue light.  I wondered if he even heard me.  "All the magic and all the realms are mine! Bow to me!"

Some humans bowed. No matter -- they gave him little power.  None of the Fae did, and even the little phase demons stood against him. I would not let him keep us here. Home was only a few steps away.

The fae and other magical beings moved closer to me. I didn't know most of them, and that made me hesitant for a moment.  They showed me their part in this insanity.; flashes of events burned into my mind. All of them were cruel to one degree or another.  All of them showed Master Sylsan in control.  I could not guess what the older fae wanted.  By the end, I didn't care.  Nothing could be worth the misery he created.

That thought gave me strength.  At the same time, Adon broke away from the other fae and joined with me.  We were ready for battle.

So was Sylsan.

Flash Fiction # 737 -- Doom/9

 

My little friends landed on Gold, two dozen or more clinging to his mane.  My eyes adjusted to the dark, with only ghosts of light sparkling here and there.  I dragged what felt like an unwilling spell through my pounding head and cast a circle of light into the air.

That startled everyone more than the darkness had. It also half-blinded me, but at last I saw something helpful.  We were in a castle with a high ceiling, wood beams, and unlit torches.

I lit as many as I could while my circle of light sputtered and died.  The torches were not as bright, but they were welcome.

I fell off Gold.

Adon picked me up and set me on a bench.  I grabbed hold of the nearby table and tried not to fall over again.  The other fae were settling the humans, and I felt like Adon, Gold, and I were supposed to fix this mess.  Adon even looked at me as if he expected an answer to this mess.

"I have no clue," I mumbled. "I don't even know where we are."

Gold scratched something into the wooden table.  Adon leaned forward to read it.

"Between," he said.

That was a relief, actually. Between was a known location, a fixed point in the Fae realms.  Best of all, it was a nexus to many other locations.  We were not stuck here.

However, there was still a problem.  Of course.

"Where are the Keepers?" I asked, glancing around, hoping to see them at another table enjoying the unexpected guests. I stopped quickly.  The room moved now and Adon grabbed my shoulder before I slid to the floor.  

I looked back at my cousin. "This is annoying."

"Move slowly," Adon said.  "Turn and watch the hearth."

I did what he said, mostly because protesting would make it worse.  Besides, maybe he and Gold knew something about this place, since they traveled more than I did.  So I turned, grateful that he still held on.  I stared.

For a moment, a stranger stood before the hearth. He noted my attention and nodded my way -- right before he rippled and disappeared.  That couldn't be good.

"He was a Keeper, wasn't he?" I asked.  "Where did he go?"

"He is still there.  We aren't."

"We didn't do anything -- oh.  We came in out of phase.  We need to fix that before we are stuck."


"Glad to see your brain working again,' he said.  Gold made an encouraging sound of agreement.  'You are the only Fae I know who has had experience with being out of phase."

"I was very young." 

"People constantly tell me you have an excellent memory."

"We didn't do well, you know."

 "But you were not in charge."

This time I scoffed.  Adon was probably the only person, human or Fae, who could make me feel even slightly amused about the event that had changed my life.

"I was eleven years old, Adon.  If I had been in charge, it would have been a far greater disaster than it had been."

 "I don't think so," Adon said.  He sounded so serious that I squirmed like a puppy under his hand.  "You saved twenty --"

"Out of 100," I reminded him.  Then I lifted my hand and quieted him.  "They are phase guides."

"The little demons?" he said, startled.  "What were they doing when they attacked us?  We weren't --"

"We were already out of phase," I said.  It was all coming clearer now.  "They attacked us because they mistook us for another group."

"All two-legs look alike."

I stared at the hearth again and saw the Keeper look my way and nod. I couldn't decide if he agreed with what we said, or if he was just noting our presence.  Keepers are fae with special abilities, and I hoped they were working on my group's problems.  I couldn't just leave it to them, though.  We were already running out of time.  The phase guides were gathering around us, making frantic sounds.

If I didn't do something, we would be lost.