“How do you go from running like that to leaning on a cane?” Elisha asked. Kalmar grinned, leading down a narrow road. He sensed they had moved quite a distance by just crossing that door. He felt the flow of essence from it, but he couldn’t unravel the workings of it. It wasn’t exactly a portal in the way he knew it before. David let the mystery go and focused on the man. His movement favored his good leg, but he moved quickly, leading up the street.

  “How do you create those mind-bending shadows of yours” Kalmar asked. “To be honest, the transformation is not a power of mine. It is an artifact.”

  Kalmar pointed to the spectacles without turning around. David heard the snort of horses as they got closer to the end of the road. He worried Balek’s demons would catch up to them but it seemed they had lost them.

  “That door,” David began. “What was it? Where are we?”

  “The Northern end of Hormfirth, Lord Ruler,” Kalmar said. David didn’t miss the hint of reverence in the man’s voice. So his title had some worth here as well. He would have to find out how much. Kalmar continued, “The door is a soul-bind point. It acts like a portal, but it’s not. One of the few rankers in our group can connect two points through soul binding. Very risky thing, but sometimes worth it.”

  “Not that we don’t appreciate your honesty, Friend,” Carlos said, looking back at the sparsely populated road they just walked. “But should you be telling us this?”

  “No,” Kalmar said as the approached the carriage. It was an old thing pulled by two dark horses. They looked strong and healthy, but David was focused on the woman leaning on the carriage. She eyed them cautiously as they reached her.

  “Lina, we have to go quickly,” Kalmar said. “They released the Shadows. Twelve of them. I don’t know if they are lesser shadows, but I don’t think so.”

  “Then Alicia got it right?” The woman asked, climbing on the high perch. “They are the ones she said will help?”

  David frowned, looking to Kalmar as Zoey and the others climbed into the carriage. It wasn’t large enough to take them all so Carlos opted to sit on the perch with Lina. She stared at him curiously before her gaze slid off him to meet David. He climbed in, sitting beside Kalmar.

  “What was she talking about?” David asked. The carriage lurched forward to Lina’s whistle. Kalmar looked uncomfortable.

  “Alicia can sense essence to wildly varying degrees, Lord Ruler. And she got a message that when you enter the tower, the essence surge would be too great to miss. She sent me to you immediately you crossed in.”

  “What you people?” Zoey asked. “Some kind of rebel group?”

  “Lost,” Kalmar said. “We are lost. Most of us are not here because we want to. But you will see what I mean soon. I would hope you will help us but that is up to you.”

  The carriage rolled through the roads, passing parts of Hormfirth that had very little of the happiness they saw before. David had a feeling they were traveling the edge of the city to stay undiscovered. No one spoke for a while, except Carlos. Lina kept answering his queries even though David could sense the woman’s annoyance.

  “How long have you been here?” Elisha asked, clutching Gil as the carriage took a bend. He whispered an apology to her, turning to face Kalmar.

  “We don’t know,” Kalmar said. David studied the man’s face, wondering if this was even his real face. “This was how I looked when I followed Lady Alicia here. Although, while I have remained the same, many have started to wither.”

  “How?” The question came from David this time, his head leaning out the wind to peer out to the city. The city was a massive sprawl, seemingly endless. Lights dotted the air in the distance, more than he could see in the street they were running through.

  “You will see,” Kalmar said. “It is hard to explain. What holds us here is complicated to me. But Lady Alicia seems to have figured it out. It will be easier if you hear it from her. What I do know, though, is that this Tower is a prison. You are not expected to conquer it.”

  “That is the nature of all of them,” Elisha said. “They are supposed to lock us in, imprison us.”

  “Yes, but this is different. We are locked in time and body. We can’t grow, progress, or move away from here. The path that brought us here was snipped and shut. We are flotsam. I have watched many die.”

  David pulled his head back in to look at Kalmar, gauging the honesty of his story. The man had been very convincing as Runner. This might just be another of his stories, told to pull them in. It was difficult to trust anyway. And worse, in a place like this—infested by Balek’s elements. Filled to the brim with his machinations and ploy.

  “I don’t think he is lying,” Aza said. His voice filled David with a surge of sudden relief. He’d thought something was holding them. He expected Vith to follow with some biting sarcastic remark, but she remained silent. He could feel her within him, their connection as strong as a life thread.

  “Kalmar!” Lina called and the man leaned out the window on his side, mumbling something David couldn’t understand. When he brought his head back in, he looked conflicted. Then apologetic.

  “Lady Alicia’s home is something of a secret,’ Kalmar began. “While she trusts you, many others don’t. I hope you understand.”

  “You want to blindfold us?” David asked. Kalmar nodded. The carriage had slowed enough for David to perceive a fragrance of absolute sweetness. Every whiff of it was an encouragement to breathe in more.

  “Fairshade,” Aza whispered into David’s slowing thoughts. The sound of his voice seemed to drag, then as if plunged into the depth of dark water, it became muffled. David heard a groan from Carlos, then the thud of his head hitting the board behind him.

  Gil was asleep already. Chloe too. Zoey glared at Kalmar, and it was difficult to tell what Elisha was doing behind his mask. Kalmar whispered apologies. His voice was closer, louder, and yet his words were whispers.

  “You can’t fight it, David,” Aza said. “Fairshade is not deadly, I can assure you that. And using essence against it only amplifies its effect. Hence, the stronger you are, the harder it is to resist.”

  Burn, Ignis whispered and a wave of irritation flashed sharply in David’s mind. Finally, he let go. He leaned on the window, his eyes closing as he let sleep swallow him.

  I was careless, He thought as the last knot of consciousness came undone. It was not a peaceful sleep. He saw faces. Some he thought he’d forgotten. Hands reached for him in the darkness. And once, he saw Ignis fly over a packed city, fire oozing from every part of him, dropping on those below.

  Their screams were cut off by a voice reaching into his nightmares to pull him out. He wanted to fight the voice, weary of beauty in a mass of his own chaos.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  He blinked awake, jumping away from Gil and Zoey. Chuckled and Zoey grinned. Kalmar wasn’t in the carriage anymore. David heard Elisha talking to him outside a moment later. More like threatening, from the hardness in Elisha’s voice.

  “Stop him before he kills the man and put us all in trouble,” David groaned. Gil slipped out of the carriage and Zoey followed her. Chloe snored on the chair opposite him. David leaned closer to her, scratching away the last bits of sleep from his eyes. He picked up his sister gently, felt her stir, and then stiffened. Slowly she eased into him, letting him carry her out.

  Outside, David found Zoey standing between Elisha and Kalmar. The man looked worried. But David focused on the people he couldn’t see. They were wrapped in some kind of spell, making it almost impossible to notice they were there. He turned to a large tree to the left. Its low, thick branches had one of these people perched on it. Some on the roof of the house too.

  Watching.

  Waiting.

  “You brought us here,” David said, his voice loud so they knew he was speaking to them. “Yet you lurk and watch, hidden. What is this? Some kind of test? Do I have to be tested now?”

  The other turned to give him confused stares. Except Kalmar and Lina.David looked past the old, lone statue, waiting. The silence dragged until someone stepped, becoming visible. To the others, it seemed like she’d been behind the statue, but David knew better.

  “I apologize,” The woman said. The statue’s light—some kind of glowing stone fixed to a sculpted torch—shone on her, illuminating her. She was beautiful. There were clear signs of her sickness, but she shone through it all.

  “I am Alicia Mormant, “ She said, bowing. David noticed her bare feet in the low grass. Her dress was sheer, showing her gaunt frame. She is really dying. Her hair, probably once golden, had turned a faded wheat color. But her eyes remained brilliant. Carrying more pride and strength than most David had seen.

  “Accept my apology for the way we have welcomed you,” She said, still bowed. “You deserve better.”

  “I just wanted you and the others to know I could see you,” David said. “No need for the bowing. This is not my domain. And even there, I wouldn’t accept your bow.”

  You are a king, brat. People will bow to you whether you accept or not, Ignis said rather harshly. David ignored him.

  Whatever made them invincible unraveled slowly. One after the other, they popped out. Some were still covered in darkness, but those he could see through. Two men watched him from the roof, essence stirring around them.

  The woman on the tree jumped down, her armor clanking as she walked toward the house. Behind Alicia, two more slipped out. An older woman with white hair and a younger boy. The boy waved to Lina before the woman slapped the back of his head and Kalmar chuckled.

  “Please, come in,” Alicia said. “I didn’t expect your friends but we can prepare a place for them to stay.”

  “You hear that, Gil?” Carlos called from beside Lina. “We are added baggage, but they will accommodate us.”

  David glared at the man. He liked Carlos, but sometimes he could be a moron. Zoey gestured for him to pass Chloey to him but David shook his head.

  “She’s awake,” David said, setting his sister down slowly. Chloe glanced up at him, David thought he saw the ghost of a smile there. But she moved away quickly. Baby steps, I guess. Kalmar led them while the others went in ahead of them.

  “I apologize for the Fairshade,” Kalmar said as he led them through the main door. David had expected some kind of opulence, but the inside was just as drab as the outside. The walls were bare, cracked too. But the floors were clean, the rooms smelled of something else.

  “Storm flowers. Hard to grow, harder to maintain. They probably have a plant mage here,” Aza supplied. David nodded, digesting the information. To Kalmar, he grinned.

  “I understand, Kalmar. I would have done the same. Trust is a scarce currency in this world.”

  Kalmar adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose before nodding. David thought he heard kids giggle, then he felt someone molding essence. It was nothing alarming, so he ignored it.

  However, he turned to give Zoey and the others a look. Zoey nodded.

  They were taken to a low-roof hall—a large room with cushions set on the ground in a circle. Above them, another stone like the ones outside glowed. It illuminated all of them in the room. But David could sense more, hidden away like before.

  Not a test, David thought. They don’t trust me. Smart. He looked around, making sure to delay his gaze where he knew they were hiding. They needed to know he wasn’t lying when he said he could see them. The slow wave of essence around them was like a beacon.

  David, Elisha, Zoey, and Chloe sat on cushions set out for them, joining the circle of twelve. Carlos and Gil sat behind them.

  Two children passed a tray around. David looked down at the green, steaming drink before him. He wasn’t sure a hot drink would help him at the moment but he accepted it. The child grinned at him as she left. The wooden cup was warm to the touch. David set it down before him. His siblings did the same.

  “I apologize, once again, Lord Ruler,” Alicia said, a smile on her lips. “We were not sure you wouldn’t take the priest’s offer. Some of us were skeptical of your schemes.”

  “Schemes?” David asked. “I have none. We plan to break Balek’s tower. All the towers. I don’t think we have time to play supernatural politics like the rest of you. Outside this world, my home world suffers.”

  “As do mine,” An old man said. He cleared his throat when he got a look from Alicia. “My planet, Xal’ithar, suffers the waves too. Your world is not the only world facing trials Lord Ruler.”

  “Then why are you here?” David asked. “Does Balek’s tower connect to your world?”

  “No,” the old man said. “There we have different tower gods playing their games. But one of the floors there is connected to this tower.”

  “No,” Alicia said. “Balek is a higher tower god to Kilesh. He uprooted a nation Kilesh planted in his tower, imprisoning it here.”

  David frowned. That was madness. “Which means your world might not be there when you go back?”

  “I have lost all hope of going back there. I will move up Balek’s Tower of Suffering. Perhaps, I will find a way home. Or maybe not. I can’t stay here anyway.”

  “And that is why we need you, Lord Ruler.” Alicia leaned forward, wincing in pain. “Only you can break the binding curse on this place. If we can break the loop, we can find the way out of here.”

  “How do we do that?” David asked. “And how do we do that without alerting the Watcher?”

  “That Watcher is supposed to be an impartial judge. They rule this floor, but they wouldn’t intervene unless we damage the floor—the city—or do something that negates their power.”

  “And how do you know this?”

  “Experience,” Alicia said. “We were more than this before, Lord Ruler. We were stronger. We reached the hall of priests. And there we found the link of mages. All sacrificed to eternal torment just to keep us here.”

  “Explain that,” David said, his doubt clear in how he looked from one face to the next.

  “No, I can show you instead,” Alicia said. And as if pulled by something invisible, the rest of the circle protested.

  “Laxy Alicia,” Kalmar began. “How much more of that can you take before you are completely eaten by the darkness?”

  “We must wait,” The old man said. “Trying again will weaken you, and they might be watching.”

  “Delon is right, Alicia,” The armored woman said. “You can trace and find them, but what if they do the same? How long before Shadows find this place and we are all destroyed.”

  “Trust goes both ways, my friend,” Alicia said with a smile, offering him her hand. David probed the voices in him.

  “I am curious to see what she can do,’ Aza said. “But I judge it is safe.”

  “Learn to read danger for yourself…Lord Ruler,” Vith added.

  David sighed and stretched across to take her hand.

  The room vanished, and so did everyone else. All that remained was David and Alicia.

  “Come,” she said and David followed.