Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON TWO (Ongoing)

Part 3.20

PRESENT TIME
LARAN VALLEY, KADREA

I follow Onyx's lead as his energy whizzes toward the Laran Valley forest. He materialises in front of a cave set into the crater wall. I follow suit and step on his tail.

Meow, he snaps.

"Sorry, sorry."

I scan the surroundings for skreevar. "Do you sense anything?" I ask Onyx. "Their energy feels like shadows."

There are no skreevar here, he assures me.

"No eggs either?"

No eggs.

I shudder, remembering the two-legged reptilian creature that moved like a predatory bird, but had teeth capable of tearing apart an elephant.

Onyx had better be right.

"Is that the prison?" I whisper.

Onyx humphs. Why are you whispering when you can use telepathy?

Is that it or not? I demand, switching to telepathy but refusing to admit he had a point.

Yes, that is it. Can you sense the ice seal around it?

I can. It isn't visible, but I can feel its cold, slippery energy enveloping the cave. It's Phaedrean magic, like the seal on the Orb of Ariadne. I don't think it will have any effect on me or Onyx, but I'll have to break it to get the prisoners out.

The walls of the cave look normal to my naked eye, but when I close my eyes and energy-sense, I see a veil of blue and green glitter coating them. It twinkles and shifts, throwing squares of light into the dark.

So that's what the powdered form of the stone feels like. I can't believe I thought those stupid eggs were illyrite.

Are you ready? Onyx asks.

I'm ready, I say.

Onyx hesitates. Do you feel any anger? The last time you met Scion...

I'm fine, I snap.

I made the skreevar disappear, but I'm not going to let the dark power get away from me again. I can't. Those butterflies are staying locked up.

I teleport through the ice seal before Onyx can voice any more doubts. It lets my energy pass through it without any trouble. It feels like passing through cold jelly, but I bet to Scion it would be like hitting a wall of ice.

Onyx passes through just as easily. He makes sure to land on my foot when he gets through to the other side.

Revenge, he says innocently, when I glare at him.

The cave is a labyrinth of unlit passages burrowing deep into the crater wall. I have to energy-sense to see where I'm going. I can't use my magic because it could alert Scion and the demon to my presence.

Onyx is masking my energy, but I still don't know how to mask his. If all goes according to plan, our enemies will think only Onyx has penetrated the prison. His hunt for the orb should serve as a distraction while I prepare to teleport the unsuspecting prisoners.

I sense the orb, Onyx tells me. Can you sense Scion?

Yeah.

He's near the back of the labyrinth. There's a larger presence here too, a sickening twist of heat and resentment. I have to pull myself out of energy-sensing mode - its power is overwhelming. That must be the demon. It isn't where Scion is; it's closer.

I will get the orb, Onyx says. It is close to where Scion is waiting. I expect that he will attack me when I close in on it, so you must move quickly.

Got it, I say.

I feel Onyx vanish.

Then something unexpected happens.

The sickening twist of hot energy is right next to me. It towers over me, its breath like a heat wave. It's the fire demon.

I stumble, weakened. For a moment, time stops for my shock.

You should not be here, child of ice. It is a trap. There is a great tiredness to the creature's words. I peer into eyes that once held a thousand galaxies. They stare back at me unblinkingly. A memory shimmers at the back of my mind. My soul knows more about this ancient being than I do.

Panic breaks through the shock. This wasn't supposed to happen! Scion...Onyx...

I direct a blast of energy at the ice shield, which shatters on impact. Dispersing my particles, I reach for the demon, then shoot down the passageways until I can grab Scion, who's about to shoot a ball of green fire at Onyx.

In a flash Onyx disappears, and my energy, along with that of Scion's and the fire demon's, shoots through the opening in the ice seal.

I materialise outside the Laran Valley, gasping and wheezing. I see Scion, who is encased in some sort of ice bubble. He's motionless while the bubble hovers in the air.

Onyx, now a large black panther with sapphire markings, stands beside an orb that rushes with blinks of fire. His eyes hold an icy glow. He watches Scion, and the bubble only moves when his eyes do.

To the right, in the shade of a kazza tree, stands...another black panther? This one has flames licking at its feet, and ruby markings.

I blink. This is what the fire demon looks like?

Onyx lowers his gaze and sees the fire demon. The glow in his eyes vanishes. Could it be...?

The bubble holding Scion drifts to the ground.

The fire demon closes its eyes, and heat dances behind its eyelids. It is I.

"Onyx...?" My voice chokes as he makes his way across the burning rock.

Onyx stands before the fire demon, awe filling the depths of his eyes.

I look from one to the other.

The serrated ruby blades on the demon's back...the serrated sapphire blades on Onyx's back.

The diamond-shaped stone at the end of the demon's tail...the diamond-shaped stone at the end of Onyx's tail.

The demon's endless eyes...Onyx's endless eyes.

And something uncoils inside me, a wretched truth that slithers along my spine.

Onyx bows before the fire demon.

King Dionysus, he says.