The Sixth Seal

Martin held her father off of the floor by his neck. His feet twitched and he clawed at his throat. With the focus no longer solely on Ana, the suffocating embrace that Martin held over her mind lessened. It did not retreat entirely, but it was enough for her to reach out to the Eye of Jupiter. Martin had penetrated her mind to bring forth her memories, but in doing so he had unlocked something else. Self-awareness. The book required a conduit, and every time it channeled its energy through one of the protectors it left an imprint. The book had interfaced with no other protector more than her. Every piece of the timeless tome was scribed across her soul. She was the living embodiment of all it represented.

Come.

She sent the simple command to the book, no longer in need of the artificial interface she had used to protect the Eye. It required only her thoughts.

A glimmer of jade flashed. The dagger Master Jing had given her so many centuries ago erupted from the Eye. The room filled with a brief but brilliant light.

“You think your little trinket from that old fool will save you?” Martin’s voice bellowed through the chamber. “Jing wasn’t wise enough to flee from me when he had the chance. I crushed him as I will crush you, you wretched little whore.”

He tossed Frederick against the opposite wall. The force cracked the stone and her father fell limply to the floor.

Verner and Flins stepped out of their coffins and took up flanking positions beside Martin.

A flash of fire flew from Martin’s fingertips and she willed the dagger forward, making it spin furiously. Sparks flew and a sound like thunder boomed through the space when the jade dagger met the fire. The two forces pushed against each other, the fire fanning out around the spinning blade.

Verner and Flins edged away from Martin, skirting around opposite sides of the wall, slowly closing in on her. Verner had been the biggest of the three before the transformation, but now he looked like a Norse god. All that was missing was the golden hammer, and she had a feeling he didn’t need it. The same fire that erupted from Martin’s fingers danced behind Verner’s malevolent eyes. He balled up his fists and flexed his arms as though he was testing out the new form he’d acquired.

Flins, although smaller than both men, looked no less dangerous. The smile that played across his face spoke of perversion and pestilence, and thin blue sparks arced between his fingers. He raked a hand against the wall as he approached, gouging deep ruts into the stone.

“Submit to me, and I will make your death quick.” His words forced their way back into her head.

The intrusion took some of her focus. The dagger slipped backward, allowing the fire to come close enough for her to feel its searing heat. A howl, fierce and guttural, arose from somewhere deep within. The dagger pushed back and found its footing once again, keeping the fire at bay.

Verner was the first to reach her. She hurled herself into his arms. The jade dagger fell to the floor and the fountain of fire scorched the sarcophagus behind her. She grappled for the big man’s face until she found a handhold. Her thumb pushed into his left eye. His thick arms wrapped around her and squeezed like a massive vice. He flailed wildly trying to shake his head free of her grasp. He backed into the fire and immediately dropped her. Boils and blisters broke out all over his back and shoulders. Martin relinquished the flames, but it had already done its work, searing Verner’s flesh. The smell was acrid.

Come.

The dagger whistled through the air toward Martin’s head.

He held up his hands and unleashed a torrent of flame that met the knife, stopping it halfway across the chamber. She kept her left palm outstretched toward Martin, channeling energy from the Eye into her body and back out to the dagger.

Flins edged closer, a demonic smile spreading across his face.

She held up her right hand, her palm facing him.

He exhaled a hissing laugh. “You can’t handle us both, little one.” His fingers stroked the stone wall, sending little blue sparks in all directions.

She said nothing, but settled into her stance, letting the power of the Eye strengthen her limbs.

Flins formed a triangle with his index fingers and thumbs. Sparks grew within the newly formed space until it could contain the blue fire no longer. A writhing arc of lightning shot from his hands.

The impact against her palm moved her backward, but she did not attempt to repel the onslaught. Instead, she drew it into her body and channeled it back out toward the dagger.

Flins’ eyes went wide and he screamed as she pulled the raw energy from the earth below him up through his body. He convulsed as the charge raced through him. The air hummed and Ana could feel the hair on her neck standing on end.

A moment later, Flins’ eyes ruptured and his tongue swelled out of his mouth. She pulled one last brilliant arc of light through him and hurtled it toward Martin. The dagger fell to the floor, but the raw energy extinguished Martin’s flames and sent him reeling into the wall.

Verner let out an anguished grunt and launched himself at her. He hit her with the force of a freight train, pushing her into the wall and crushing stone with the impact. He kept his forearm against her chest as he pushed her deeper into the wall. She tried to call out to the book, but the pain was so overwhelming that she found it nearly impossible to concentrate. She screamed, but nothing came out.

“I’ll crush you and you will be no--” Verner’s eyes bulged and he howled out in pain. The hulk of a man slid slowly down her body until he slumped at her feet, the jade dagger buried deep in the back of his neck. Her father bent over the body, resting his hands on his knees. He raised his head just enough to look at her and managed a weak smile before he collapsed to the floor.

She hurried to her father and put a hand on his back. She felt the gentle rise of his body as he drew a breath.

A child’s scream reverberated off the stone walls.

Martin stood in front of the little boy’s sarcophagus.

“Submit to me, or I will kill the boy.”

The child cowered inside his stone coffin. Martin grabbed the boy by the arm and pulled him free of the enclosure, careful to keep the child between himself and her.

“Submit, Ana or he dies.”

“Wait.” She stood.

“Come and kneel before me and no harm will come to the child.”

She edged closer to him. “Please don’t hurt the child. We can come to an arrangement.”

Martin’s laughter shook the room. “You have always let your compassion rule you, and in each life it has meant your death. You sacrifice yourself for the good of mankind when you should sacrifice mankind for our good.”

“Compassion has given me life even in death. Without it our existence is meaningless.”

He snarled at her. “I have no compassion for the pathetic creatures of this planet. I’ve waited ten thousand years to take back my rightful place as a god, and I will let nothing stand in my way.”

She took another step toward him. “Then I will show you no compassion, Martin.” She leapt forward, grabbing him and pushing her other hand against the cool surface of the Eye of Jupiter.

The three of them fell through an ocean contained in the crystal orb, downward to the center of the Eye.

Martin’s face contorted in a mad rage. The boy tumbled from his grasp.

She reached out to the Eye and called forth a tendril of wind that embraced the boy and flung him toward her. She caught him, pulling him tightly to her chest. A second later her back made impact with the snowy surface of a mountaintop. They rolled intertwined until finally coming to rest against a delicate plum tree. A soft fragrant shower of petals fell around them.

She stood and helped the boy to his feet. “Are you all right, Aaron?”

The boy furrowed his brows. “How did you know my name?”

“You are a part of the book and it is a part of me.”

He grabbed her hand and pointed behind her.

Martin raced toward them, riding a writhing bolt of lightning like a wild stallion.

She pivoted, grabbed the boy and jumped off the side of the mountain. The little plum tree exploded behind her, pelting her back with splinters of wood.

The boy wrapped his arms around her neck and threw his legs around her body. She threw her arms out wide as though she were a Red-crowned Crane. She leaned to her right, making long spirals through the clouds as they raced closer and closer to the ground.

Pillars of lightning pierced the mountain peaks around them, causing massive avalanches to fill the valley below. She put one arm under Aaron and threw the other around, so that the force rolled her over just before they made impact. They plunged through the snow as though they had fallen into the depths of an ocean.

Still the lightning came like rockets, sending great gusts of powder up into the air all around them until the valley was emptied and the hard ground beneath was rutted and pitted. She called upon the lightning energy and channeled it deep into a nearby mountain until she carved out a rocky cavern.

“Run to the cave.” She pushed the boy toward the opening. Another one of Martin’s fiery bolts charred the ground at her feet. “Hurry!”

Aaron dove into the opening, disappearing into the darkness.

She raised her arms to the sky. The sky rumbled and the ground began to shake. She held the image of the Eye in her mind and commanded it. It obeyed.

A spider web of lightning danced through the newly formed storm clouds. They snaked and arced, reaching toward Martin’s lightning steed. They absorbed the summoned beast back into themselves, sending Martin falling through the sky. She watched his body strike the rocky side of a craggy peak. Huge stones showered the valley below as he was driven into the rock.

The lightning that was now under her control continued its outward expansion until it covered all of the sky. Flame erupted from the side of the mountain. Martin flew out of the opening, propelling himself downward, riding a river of flame.

She drew down a wall of lightning from the heavens. She set her focus on Martin and thrust the crackling energy toward him.

He laughed, wrapping the flames around him in a circle of protection. Then, raising his hands up and outward, the flames charged down toward her. The fiery energy collided with the lightning and repelled the onslaught back to her.

The force of the impact sent her flying. Her back struck an outcropping of rock. She fell to her knees.

“Even with all the power of the heavens, you are no match for me.” He landed on the outcropping and strode toward her.

A shrill scream arose from somewhere behind them. Aaron ran from the cave and across the valley, a tree limb raised above his head. Martin turned, raising up his hand. Flames licked at his fingertips before bursting outward into a solid stream of fire.

“No!” She launched herself between Martin and the boy. The flames engulfed her, then extinguished as she fell to the hard ground.

She heard Martin’s laughter booming in her ears. Aaron sat at her side. He lay over her body, clinging to her and weeping.

She fell deeper down into herself, slipping into oblivion, on the edge of an abyss. From a thousand miles away she could feel the boy beating on her chest, screaming. She could feel his energy as he sought to restore her. It soaked through her like a monsoon to the parched and cracked earth. A voice, familiar and distant came to her.

You are the chosen, Protector. Within you is the power to make and unmake all things.

“I am broken.”

You cannot be broken, for I am you, and I cannot be unmade.

She swam back to the surface of reality, the light above her growing in intensity. Martin stood above her. She smiled and watched fear cloud his emerald eyes. She grabbed his leg, pushing energy through his ankle. But this wasn’t the same energy she’d called upon before. This was a primal energy, raw and untamed. It held the power of creation and destruction. It was the same energy that had allowed her people to shape worlds and call down the heavens. It was the innermost essence of the book, and it was hers alone to command.

He pulled against her grasp like a frightened animal, screaming and cursing. She willed the primal force further into him. Inch by inch it advanced, ripping him apart, molecule by molecule. His skin became ash and his screams faded as the winds carried him away, leaving nothing more than wisps of memory.

Aaron came back to her side and kissed her cheek. He held her hand as she wept.

After a time her sadness left her. They sat on the valley floor face to face, oblivious of time. She poured the secrets of the book into his soul. She transcribed its pages across the very fabric of his being.

“Thank you, Ana.” His smile and bright eyes still held their child-like wonder. “I won’t let you down.”

She returned his smile. “I know you won’t. Come on, let’s get back to the others.”

Aaron and Ana stood side by side, hand in hand, in the stone chamber. The other two protectors knelt over her father. Their names once again familiar to her - Isobel and Gareth.

Isobel spoke in gentle soothing tones. Gareth held her hand and kept his other on the book. Ana could feel the gentle flow of energy as it passed from the book, through their bodies, and down to her father. His eyes fluttered open and that great half smile she remembered returned to his face.

“Hey there, Ana Eloise.” Her father’s voice washed her worry away.

The others looked up, noticing them for the first time. Isobel held out her arms. Aaron left Ana’s side and rushed to her. The two clasped each other tightly for a time, rocking back and forth. She whispered in the boy’s ear, tears streaming down her face.

Gareth patted the boy on the head, and then helped her father to his feet. He put an arm under his shoulders and guided him toward her. “I think he’s on the mend.”

“Thank you.” She smiled and touched his hand.

“I should be thanking you.” He glanced to Aaron and back. “I know he’s our equal, but Isobel and I have taken him in as our son in this life. We all lived together for a time on the run from the Horsemen.” His voice faltered. “I’m sorry we never came for you. The things Martin did to us--”

“You’ve nothing to apologize for.” She looked into his warm blue eyes. “Martin and the Horsemen chose their path and perverted our purpose. We all did what we needed to survive.”

Her father reached out for her hand. “Ana’s right. Now it’s time we move on.” He looked to his daughter. “What now, kiddo?”

“Well, the world’s going to need some healing. Only a strong and true heart will be up to the task.” She nodded toward Aaron.

Gareth nodded. “And what about you? None of us knows the book better than you. This planet needs a natural adept to wield the Eye’s power.”

She smiled. “Everything I know, I passed to the boy. With the two of you to guide him, the world will be in great hands.”

Her father cleared his throat. “Why do I have a feeling you’ve got your mind set on something?”

Her laughter surprised even herself. “You know me too well, Daddy.”

Aaron sat on the temple wall, looking down the mountain to the valley below. Ana purposely made a little noise with her boots on the gravel path to announce her presence. His boyish smile was still beneath the surface, but there was a shadow of worry and doubt on his features.

“What’s got you so lost in thought?” She rested a shoulder against the smooth stone.

“I don’t know if I can do this without you.” He turned, letting his feet dangle against the wall, kicking at the stone with his heels. “What if I do something wrong? People could die.”

“There will always be death in this world, but you’ve already done so much to give people hope.” She touched his cheek, looking him in the eyes. “Remember, you were the one who picked this temple as the book’s new home. It’s a glorious place. The energy here is stronger than anywhere I’ve ever travelled.”

He blushed. “Yeah, I guess so.”

She pinched him on the knee. “I know so. And don’t forget that Isobel and Gareth will be by your side.”

“I know, but I wish you could stay with us too.”

“I wish I could too, but we talked about why I need to leave.” She unclasped the delicate silver chain from her neck, the tiny chrysanthemum dangling gently. “Here. I want you to have this. It’s a good luck charm.” She fastened it around his neck, and tucked it under his shirt. “There. Now it’s close to your heart so you’ll never forget me.”

He smiled. “I won’t ever forget you, Ana.” He jumped down into her arms.

The book sat atop a smooth stone altar in the center of the temple. Behind it, granite pillars framed a view of mountain peaks and clouds kissed by the golden light of dawn. The Eye of Jupiter reflected the sunrise, casting brilliant rays around the intimate space.

Her father stood to one side talking quietly to Isobel. Gareth busied himself moving some of the lighter furnishings and fixtures away from the altar in preparation. They all stopped when Ana and Aaron walked in.

“I’ve got your pack ready.” Her father patted a leather bag that sat against the wall. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes. You?”

“I go where you go.” His smile brightened the room even more than the sunrise.

She smiled back, then knelt down in front of Aaron. “Remember your part? It’s very important.”

He nodded. A few errant strands of hair fell into his eyes. He pushed them away. “I close the door after.”

“That’s right.” She tousled his hair, causing the errant strands to fall back into his face. He pulled away, but smiled. “Don’t worry, if things work the way I think they will, I’ll be able to open it back up from the other side.”

Gareth and Isobel took up positions next to Aaron. The boy slipped his hand in Isobel’s and held it tightly.

There was so much she wanted to say to them. The decision to leave had been a difficult one, but now that the boy had a better handle on the book, and the world was returning to some semblance of order, she knew it was the right one for her. She’d always felt lost, like a ship at sea. This was her chance to discover who she really was, where she came from. There were so many questions, and an infinite universe in which to search for the answers.

Her father touched the back of her arm. When she turned to him, he handed her the backpack, then slipped on his own.

She laughed.

“Never hurts to be prepared. Now are you going to fire this thing up or what?”

She nodded, then turned her attention to the Eye of Jupiter. The connection was still strong. The response immediate. She spoke only to the Eye. “Did you make contact with any of the gatekeepers?”

No.

“Any of the seven councils?”

No.

“The periphery?”

Nothing direct. A faint signal.

“That will have to do. Open the way.”

As you command.

She held her father’s hand. The Eye hovered above the book, slowly turning. The air in the temple grew still. The rays of light filtering through the stone pillars focused on the center, until the Eye reflected a brilliant white. The light expanded outward and engulfed them.

She turned and waved to Aaron before the portal closed. She thought she saw his tiny hand waving back. When the light receded, she stood on a rocky bluff overlooking a sapphire sea that reflected a golden moon.

Her father took a few tentative steps down before turning around and holding out his hand. “Are you ready, Ana?”

“I am now that you’re with me.”

They walked hand in hand down the rocky slope, the rest of the universe at their backs and the hope of discovery just over the horizon.