Last Messenger - Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – Aael

Aael gritted his teeth as his stomach floated as if weightless. He looked up through the tunnel at the distant sky above. A moment later, the tunnel collapsed, and he fell in complete darkness. He gripped his mom tightly, confused and scared.

Without visual clues, Aael couldn’t tell how far they fell, but eventually they slowed. Light assailed his eyes, and he squeezed them shut. His feet struck solid ground, and he bent his knees to soften the impact. The calmness that followed his dad like a dust cloud engulfed Aael. His mom released him, and he opened his eyes.

Aael stood in the middle of a large circular room. The walls were packed sand, and the ceiling, thirty feet above him, looked the same. The room could fit twenty people and still be comfortable. Rugs covered the floor, and a few chairs clumped together to his right. A wooden table rested against the wall to his left, and four small crystals hung from the ceiling, lighting the entire room. Multiple rooms branched from this central one, but their entrances remained dark.

Aael’s parents stood hugging. His dad motioned him over, and pulled Aael into their embrace. The only sound was their breathing.

“I sure hope you put a bathroom down here,” Aael said.

His parents laughed, and the dread that smothered Aael relented. The laughter trailed off, replaced by silence. His mom, surprisingly, didn’t hurry his dad.

“As I left the library, I sensed someone from the past,” Caden said.

Caden paused, his reluctance to continue evident. Aael’s heart beat faster. His dad must be rattled to show so much emotion.

“Who?” Saniel asked.

“Haphell,” Caden replied.

Saniel took a step back. “No.”

“Who’s that?” Aael asked.

Saniel stood with her hands clenched. She looked to the right, her gaze distant. Caden moved into her field of view, and she focused on him.

“He needs to know,” Caden said. “Our time is short.”

Tears silently fell down Saniel’s cheeks and dripped from her chin. “He found the locket. I’m not ready. I need more time. Please.”

Caden hugged her again. “Okay. But he needs to know enough to survive.”

Saniel nodded.

“I’m right here, and I hate secrets,” Aael said.

Caden turned to Aael. “Secrets are like acid in the mind. They can kill you. Do you believe we love you?”

Aael nodded.

“Then you have to trust our judgment. Some secrets are meant to be uttered, some to die unspoken. Sometimes it’s hard to know the difference.”

“Who is Haphell?” Aael asked.

Saniel spoke, her voice hard. “He is Thalt’s Blue Cheriphim, one of the six, the reborn. He is Thalt’s power manifest among us, and he wields the power of a God.”

Into the silence, Caden spoke softly. “An old friend.”

Aael swallowed. “What is he doing here?”

It was quiet for a few heartbeats, and then Caden spoke. “He might be here to kill us.”

Aael shook his head. “If he’s your friend, why would he kill you?”

“There are things more powerful than friendship,” Caden said. “We need to stay together until we are sure of his intentions. Separated, we stand no chance.”

Saniel stuck out her chin. “Speak for yourself.”

Caden faced her. “Would you risk Aael’s life to find out?”

“Of course not,” Saniel said.

“Then we stick together,” Caden said.

Saniel nodded and disappeared into an adjoining room. A moment later the room lit up, and a small kitchen appeared. Caden walked to the table and sat in one of the three wooden chairs. He ran a hand through his hair and leaned back for a few moments. Then he sat up straight and motioned for Aael to sit across from him.

Aael sat and winced in pain. His skin burned, the lesions more painful than usual. His mom appeared and placed two cups on the table. The smell betrayed the apple cider they contained. She disappeared into another of the dark doorways.

“I fear we’ve made a mistake,” Caden said.

“Mistake?” Aael asked. “That would be a first.”

Caden took a drink of cider and stared at the ceiling. After a few seconds, he spoke. “A distant fire rages and I watch it for years, but it never approaches. You,” Caden locked eyes with Aael, “are unaware of the danger. You only know about fire’s warmth, light, and beauty. You can’t protect yourself from the flames because you don’t know how. Why should you learn about a danger you will never face?”

“Haphell is the fire?” Aael asked.

Caden leaned forward. “And now another choice. Is it too late to teach you? Will it even matter? And if it doesn’t matter, isn’t ignorance better?”

Aael’s mom reentered the room and stood behind his dad. He met his father’s eyes. “You taught me knowledge is a weapon. You owe me every advantage.”

Caden leaned on the table and laced his fingers through his hair as if keeping his head together. “What do you do when you don’t know what to do?” Caden asked, his head almost touching the table.

Saniel massaged Caden’s neck for a few seconds. She bent down and whispered, but Aael heard it clearly. “You follow your heart.”

Caden looked up and kissed her. Aael turned away, embarrassed to see the intimate moment.

“I’m sorry, I thought we were safe,” Caden said to Saniel.

“We are safe now and together. We haven’t failed yet,” Saniel replied.

Saniel held Caden’s chin, their eyes locked. She leaned down and kissed Aael’s dad on the forehead. Then she stepped over to Aael and kissed him on the forehead too. She turned and strode away, leaving the two of them alone.

Caden sighed. “There are two things you need to learn immediately. Tokens and imprinting.”

The terms were new to Aael, and he resisted the urge to ask questions.

“Which should we do first? The long or short?” Caden asked.

“Short,” Aael said with a smile, “you know my attention span.”

“Imprinting, then.”

Stillness filled Aael’s mind. It was the calm feeling he always had around his dad. He felt rested and more alert.

Caden spoke. “That is my imprint for you, and it’s something I always do when we’re together. Your mind associates it with me.”

“Why?” Aael asked.

Caden took another drink of cider. “You’ve trained to recognize overlays, the fake reality a Ghost Mage can place in your mind. Imprinting makes it impossible to fake a person because the overlay will never get the imprint right.”

Saniel reentered the main room, pulled a chair from the table, and sat. She took a drink from Aael’s cider, and as she replaced the cup, it tipped, and cider splashed across the table. The scent of apples struck Aael at the same moment the liquid hit his lap. He jumped up, and his chair crashed to the floor. Bunching up his shirt, he created a dam at the table’s edge to keep the cider off the floor.

“I’m sorry!” Saniel said.

Saniel ran to the kitchen and then sprinted back, a towel in her hand. She soaked up the pooled cider on the table. Aael stepped back, his arms held out like a spooked bird, his thighs and shirt drenched with cider.

Aael looked at his dad, not sure what to do. Caden smiled, and Saniel disappeared.

Aael’s glass of cider sat on the table, his clothes were dry, and his mom was nowhere in sight.

“My best overlay,” Caden said. “Even so, you should have realized it wasn’t your mom. She has imprinted us both.”

Aael lowered his arms, his cheeks hot with embarrassment. It had been real, not a single doubt about what he felt and saw. He had never been so fooled, and it scared him. After a few seconds, he picked up his chair and sat down.

“Describe your mom with three words,” Caden said.

“Love. Tempest. Strawberries.”

The last surprised Aael. But it was true. Wherever his mother went, the smell of strawberries followed.

Caden grinned. “She has imprinted me with the same. But even knowing that won’t work.”

Saniel stormed into the room, walked to the table, and slapped Aael on the head. He smelled strawberries, but it was different, the smell earthier, and not right at all.

Saniel yelled at him. “You believed I’m that clumsy? You’re an idiot!” Then she exploded into thousands of strawberries.

Aael laughed. “I could tell the difference.”

Caden nodded. “Good. The technique is of little practical value as you need months, years even, to imprint someone well enough to serve as protection. Fortunately, we had that time.”

Aael’s stomach turned a little. Something so simple, the scent of his mom, was nothing more than a tool to manipulate him. That was unfair, if anything, it was to protect him from being manipulated. A little of the joy in his life evaporated.

“You begin to see,” Caden said.

Aael nodded.

“Do you want to continue?” Caden asked. “None of this may matter.”

“I would always rather know than not know.”

“Be careful, son, believe me, that is not true.”

They sat in silence, and Aael worried his dad wouldn’t reveal anything else.

“What was the long one?” Aael finally asked.

“Tokens,” Caden replied.

Caden took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them, they glinted with moisture. Aael tried to hide his shock. His dad had never lost control of his emotions like this. What was going on?

Caden spoke. “I’m going to share a memory from my youth. I was on my own, barely twelve, and doing fine. I got snagged by a mage covey and turned over to the Spires. I want you to experience it. Come closer.”

Caden gripped the back of Aael’s neck and pressed their heads together. Aael felt the coolness of his dad’s skin, the smell of the cider below them, and then it all disappeared, and he was someone else.