Gemini- The Beginning Of The End Read online

  Stella stared up at the cliffs towering high above them. They went up higher than she cared to think about. Small bushes clung to the occasional thin ledge but for the most part, they were pure jagged rock.

  “That’s got to be at least ten thousand feet!” Stella yelled over the growing pit in her stomach.

  “Impossible,” Raven said.

  “Do you have a better idea?” Rick asked them.

  Dropping her gaze from the cliffs Stella stared at him. “Just because I don’t have a better one, doesn’t make this idea any good.”

  “We can do it,” Rick said grinning.

  “How?” Raven asked.

  “Elementia isn’t the only magic.”

  “Oh, like your swords?” Stella asked.

  Did he even tell me about them last night? “Swords?” Raven asked.

  “Yeah,” Stella said. “He can summon swords out of thin air. It's really cool, but he hasn't said how he does it.”

  “Yes, like that,” he said.

  “How are swords going to help us climb a cliff?” Raven asked.

  Stella felt her throat go dry once again. Glancing up at the cliffs, she shuddered. There was no way she could do that. The rest of the world seemed to fade. She hated heights. Just the thought of it gripped her with fear. Looking away, she tried to distract herself.

  Rick muttered to himself. “Celestial? Not worth the cost. Binding? Yes. Potions? No. Only have Two. Essence? Low. Can't strain the binding. Elemental for portals. Blood? Yes. And Crystal?”

  “What are you muttering about?” Stella asked.

  “Shush,” he said holding up a finger. “I’m planning.”

  Stella pretended to bite his finger and scowled at him.

  “What happens if you run out of energy?” Raven asked.

  “Then we die,” he said standing. “Let’s go. Stella, could you blow out that fire?” he asked walking away.

  “You’re insane! I never said yes!” Stella shouted at him. I’m not climbing those cliffs.

  “I’m okay with that,” Raven said. “I’ll have him all to myself.”

  Stella blinked, her jaw going slack. So I wasn’t imagining things!

  Raven ran to catch up with Rick.

  Stella felt her cheeks turning red. Anger? Embarrassment? Who cared? Stella growled blowing out the fire with a massive gust of wind. Scrambling to her feet she stomped after the two of them.

  Rick stood facing the cliff wall, running his hand along the jagged rock. “This is mad,” he said turning to face her. That stupid grin of his spanned from ear to ear. “Let’s get started!”

  Stella looked up at the cliffs and shivered. “I—”

  “Raven, I need a knife,” Rick said. And then took off his shirt. Blood came rushing back to Stella’s cheeks as she spun around.

  “Wha— What are you doing?” Raven asked.

  “I need cloth,” Rick said. “Knife please?”

  Stella peaked over her shoulder. Those muscles! Stella blinked several times breathing out slowly. A white blade of light appeared in Raven's hand.

  In one quick motion, Rick sliced his shirt in half. “Don’t dispel that yet,” he said.

  “What’s the cloth for?” Stella asked turning back around and trying not to stare at his chest. She failed. But only once. Nope make that twice. Okay, maybe three times. Oh, who cared.

  “To hold the two of you,” Rick said twisting one of the shirt halves.

  “Um, what?” Stella asked her head snapping up to look him in the eyes.

  “I can't hold both of you,” he said twisting the second half.

  Stella took a step back, and then another, her eyes growing wide. There was no way he was serious! “Can't you open a portal?” she asked.

  “Too far a distance,” Rick said. “If I was the only one, I could create a series of portals like I did in the city, but with two other people—”

  Stella barely heard him. Her chest felt tight. His voice seemed like it was coming from the other end of a tunnel. A tunnel with no air. Taking rapid breaths, she stared up at the towering cliffs. He was going to carry her with a ripped piece of a shirt! Her breath grew more and more rapid. No air, why was there no air? She was going to fall!

  Two hands grabbed her shoulders. “Stella!” Rick yelled.

  His hand touched her forehead and a warmth spread through her body. The tunnel faded into a blissful calm. Breathing again, she looked at him.

  “What’d you do?” she asked.

  “Mental magic,” Rick said rubbing his head. “I told your mind to stop panicking.”

  Stella looked up at the cliffs again. He was right! She wasn’t afraid of falling anymore. It was still a stupid plan, but she wasn’t terrified. How?

  “Is your head all right?” she asked watching him grit his teeth at the slightest of sounds.

  “The cost is a migraine,” he muttered.

  “So, you not only can make swords appear, but you can also calm fears?” Stella asked. She knew she should be freaking out at the impossibility of it. But she was so peaceful! Raven, however, seemed to be taking it okay. “Why aren't you going crazy?” Stella asked her.

  Raven shrugged. “My people knew there were other magics. But I’ve never seen them before,” Raven said pressing closer to Rick. “Can you teach me?”

  Stella glared at her.

  The peaceful mind Rick gave her was becoming annoying. At least she knew it should’ve been annoying, because she wanted to be annoyed at Raven, but right now she couldn’t.

  “How long does this peace thing last?” she asked.

  “Not too long,” Rick said looking at her.

  Raven scowled at Stella. “Can you teach me?” she asked again.

  “Nope,” he said. “It's from another world.”

  “Wait a second,” Stella said. “Another world?” Now she definitely should be freaking out! By the serpent's tail! She couldn't feel anything but calm.

  “Do you still have The Arch in Halven?” he asked her rubbing his head.

  “Yeah, we use it for the tournament,” she said. The tournament! Another thing she should be freaking out about. By the serpent's tail, this was annoying, except it wasn’t.

  “Syar, has theeeee gate,” Raven said.

  Rick glanced at her.

  She’s still too close to him, Stella thought.

  “Yes,” he said and smiled at Stella. “There’s several realm gates, or arches as people call them, and they let you travel between realms— which you already knew. But there’s a world gate in Syar which allows you to travel between worlds.”

  Stella tried to wrap her head around it. “What's the difference between a Realm and a World?”

  Rick grimaced pressing his hand against his eye.

  “I can heal that,” Raven said reaching towards him.

  Rick put his hand up. “Not yet,” he said. “Think of it as a stack of plates. Realms are different plates in the stack and traveling to other worlds is like moving to a new stack of plates.”

  Stella nodded. This is supposed to be exciting, she thought. “So other worlds have different magics?”

  He nodded. “Raven, can you hold out your knife again?”

  Raven did as he asked and in a swift motion, he brought his hand down onto the tip of the blade. Stella gasped, and Raven looked horrified. Blood dripped from his fist and onto the sand though he didn’t seem to notice. Pulling a needle from his boot, he dipped it into the pool of blood and began to scribble all over the two halves of his shirt.

  “What are you doing?” Raven asked.

  “Blood magic,” he said not looking up. “It’ll enhance the strength of the cloth.” The blood flashed in bright golden light and then turned black.

  “How many types of magic are there?” Stella asked squatting down to stare at his work. He traced intricate patterns of blood into the twisted cloth.

  “No idea,” Rick said. “But I could use that healing now,” he added to Raven.

  Cupping his h
and in hers, a white glow flashed, then she did the same for his head.

  “Thank you,” he said picking up the shirt halves.

  Placing the ends to his lips he let out a long slow sigh. A blue and gold aura enveloped the cloth.

  “What was that?” Stella asked.

  Rick held up one of the pieces. It shot out twisting around Raven’s arm.

  “I gave it life,” he said.

  “Life?” Raven asked staring at the rope wrapped around her.

  “Well sort of,” he said chuckling. “It’s called animating. The rope can think and move until it wears off.” An orange crystal appeared in his hand.

  Stella stared at the crystal. “Now what?” she asked. “How many magics do you know?”

  Rick grinned, “I know a few. I need extra strength. You girls aren't light.” he said with a wink. “This crystal will enhance my body's strength for a time.”

  Stella huffed, but she watched with fascination as Rick shattered the crystal. The air around him seemed to shimmer. Did his muscles get bigger?

  Rick grinned. “Ready?”

  Stella looked up at the cliffs a small pit forming in her stomach. “I guess.” She was beginning to feel things again.

  One end of the ropes wrapped around Stella’s and Raven's waists and the other ends wrapped around Ricks' wrists. He opened a portal in front of them a few feet from the cliff face and Stella stared through it. Looking up she saw its partner floating high in the air.

  “Uh, Rick, maybe you could—” she started.

  Rick shot forward through the portal dragging her and Raven behind. Gasping, Stella stared at the ground far below. Dangling in the air was very different from safely looking through the other side of a portal. She rocked back and forth in the icy wind. Stiffening up, she tried to breath. Whatever Rick did to her was about to wear off. Fear flooded every inch of her soul. So high, too high, way too high.

  “Okay, this part will be a little scary,” Rick said.

  Looking up, Stella’s jaw dropped. Rick stood on the side of the cliffs as if it was the ground. But then, he dropped. Hanging in the air for a second, they fell. Stella screamed. Hurtling towards the ground she twisted back and forth screaming as loud as she could.

  There has to be something to grab! she thought, the wind wiping about them.

  They were inches from the ground! Stella closed her eyes and screamed even louder. Nothing? They were still falling. Peaking, Stella stopped screaming. They were flying up! The beach lay far below growing smaller and smaller as they hurtled up. The ocean was beautiful, stretching out as far as she could see.

  This isn’t so bad, she thought. I should be okay.

  But then they began to slow down. Coming to a halt they hung in the air, and then began to fall. Screaming again, Stella started to cry.

  No, no, no, no! There has to be something!

  Twisting around, she clawed at the air and she sent a massive gust of wind up towards them trying to slow the fall. Thin blades of air sliced about her. Passing through a portal they shot upwards again. But Stella didn’t calm down this time. Trying to grab the cliff, tears rolled down her cheeks. And then the rope ripped. She accidently cut the cloth. Their momentum carried her up a moment longer, but she wasn’t attached to the others! Rick slammed into the cliff staring at her. Knives filled Stella’s chest. The momentum wore out and she dropped. Falling she locked eyes with Rick’s. She was dead, she knew it. She only wanted to see those wonderful blue eyes.

  Red? Why are his eyes red? she thought as his skin turned black, too.

  Stella looked down at the ground and everything went dark as she fainted.

  Stella groaned, her eyes fluttering open. She lay on the ground surrounded by grass. Ricks face hovered above her, with a relieved smile on his face.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Grass has never felt so good,” she said stretching her arms out.

  Rick laughed. “Yep,” he said. “But I think you might want to take in the view.”

  Sitting up she gasped. The land stretched down into a valley.

  “So many colors!”

  Rocky red, gray, and black hills all mingled together with grassy green and yellow hills, forming a rolling land of color.

  “It's beautiful,” she said unable to look away.

  “Home,” Raven said.

  Stella glanced over at her. She sat a little ways off staring at the ground.

  “Look behind you,” Rick said.

  Stella turned around. They were still near the edge of the cliffs. The ocean stretched out sitting far below, the water glistening in the sunlight.

  They made it! They actually climbed it and lived! Still not wanting to take any chances she scooted farther away from the edge.

  “Let’s get down into the valley and get some food in our bellies,” Rick said.

  “Okay,” Stella said not wanting to take her eyes off the view.

  “I’m going hunting!” he yelled over his shoulder as he sprinted down the steep hill. “The two of you see if you can get a fire going.”

  So much for a moment to recover, she thought standing.

  Stella stared at him. He was running way too fast. “You’re crazy! she yelled. As if in response he shot away in a bolt of lightning. “Show off,” she said.

  She and Raven started walking down the hill at a much safer speed. Stella’s stomach growled. Whimpering, she clutched her stomach. Why’d he have to bring up food? The adrenaline and terror were giving way to a gnawing hunger.

  That’s what comes from barely eating for two days. It hadn’t been an easy two days either. “We better find food soon, if I’m this hungry I can only imagine how hungry Rick is,” Stella said.

  “I might be able to find some yucca plants,” Raven said still looking at the ground. “there’s little food here.”

  Stella stepped in front of the girl, hands on her hips. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

  Raven looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

  “You've barely said a word since the climb,” Stella said. “And you're staring at the ground for Hesh’s sake!”

  “Did you see Rick before you fainted?”

  Stella bit her lip trying to remember. “His red eyes?” she asked.

  “And black skin,” Raven added.

  Stella swallowed. “I thought I imagined it.”

  “No. He really did change. My people talk about our ancestors fighting The Serpent’s

  Servants.”

  “Okay?”

  “They’re described as powerful creatures, with night black skin and blood red eyes.”

  Stella shivered. Not Rick, he couldn’t be. Stella narrowed her eyes. Why would Raven tell me this?

  “Did you ask him about it?” she asked.

  “You weren’t out very long,” Raven said starting to walk again. “We should find a yucca. Forget I mentioned it.”

  Following Raven, they wandered around for a while. Eventually Raven found what she’d been looking for. A spiky patch of grass with white flowers. Raven pointed at the flowers. “Petals are the best to harvest at this time of year. You can eat them raw, they’re mildly sweet.” Leaning over, Raven pulled a dead branch out of the plant. “There’s not a lot of fuel for a fire in this part of the land so everything counts. I’ll see if I can find more.”

  “Okay,” Stella said.

  Picking one of the flowers, Stella sniffed it. The petals smelled amazing. I wonder what they taste like, she thought putting a petal to her lips. Raven was right. The crunchy petal was bland, with a trace of sweetness. Picking several more, she gathered them in her shirt.

  A sharp stinging sensation spiked in her arm. Looking down the world seemed to grow fuzzy. Squinting she made out a small dart sticking out of her arm.

  “Raven!” Stella shouted.

  Losing her balance, Stella fell over hitting the ground, with the taste of sweat and dirt filling her mouth. What was on that dart? I think I’ll sleep. Yeah, that sounds nice, S
tella thought drifting closer to unconsciousness.

  A hand turned her over. Its owner belonged to a small thin man. At least he looked like a man, his face was a blur of colors. Swirls of red and blue covered a head too big for the body. Trying to focus, she realized it wasn’t a face at all, but a wooden mask. Carved into a creepy grinning face, blue, red, and brown paints decorated it. Tempted to sleep she closed her eyes.

  “No!” she shouted. Her eyes snapped open.

  The masked man said something Stella didn’t understand. She kicked his legs and the man toppled to the ground his mask falling off. Climbing on top of him, Stella locked her hands together swinging down as hard as she could. His nose crunched and blood covered her hands. With that one blow, he was already out cold, but there had to be more. Standing with her legs wobbling, she began to move to where she last saw Raven. Her head felt like there was a wall of clouds between her and her thoughts. Getting down on her knees, she peered through the bushes. The small wood pile Raven gathered laid scattered all over. They were here, too. But where were they now, and where was Raven?

  A hand gripped her shoulder. Stella gasped twisting to face the new threat. Raven placed a finger to her lips and pointed to a nearby hill. Trying to stand, Stella’s legs folded under her.

  Raven mouthed, “I have to crawl, too.”

  They scrambled as quickly as they could move without making a noise. A series of shouts exploded out of the silence coming from the direction Stella left the man. Diving over the top of the hill, they kept moving.

  “We need to hurry, we left an obvious trail,” Raven whispered to her.

  Stella struggled to her feet and tried to summon her Elementia to blow their trail away. But to her horror, she couldn’t even create a slight breeze.

  “I can’t use my magic!” she exclaimed in a hushed voice.

  “I know, I can’t either, I’ll explain when we get away.”

  “I can fight even without magic,” Stella whispered.

  “Drugged and outnumbered?” Raven shot back.

  Knowing Raven was right, Stella followed behind. Moving slower now, they tried to make as little of a trail as possible. They dipped down into a slight indent before moving back up another hill. Reaching rocky ground, they picked up the pace. Struggling to stay upright, Stella glanced behind them. One of the Syarins crested the hill, his eyes looking down at the ground. Stella grabbed Raven's hand and dragged her behind a rock. Giving him some time to move down the hill, Stella peaked around the rocks side.