all he could see of her head. Her arms were draped around him. She was laying where the spear had impaled him. Killed him. He frowned.
What had she done? And why so much white?
He was seeing only a vast white from one eye. He frowned.
Damned sprite!
“The well the well!!” The voices on both sides piped.
“…to the well…”
“…into it…”
“Hurry!”
“Hurry hurry!!”
He sat up. Gen rolled down into his lap. Her eyes closed. Her face bloody. Some of that brilliant hair singed. He could see places where she had taken a stab or burn from magic. The Source? She looked like any sleeping girl to him now.
He brushed her hair out of her face as more noises began to creep in. He looked around. He wished he had not.
Dragon Spawn, what few remained, were inches away. The men were so very very close. As he watched, he saw they were moving. But so slowly it was almost impossible to see.
A warrior’s trance? But that–
“No no!!” The voices shouted.
“The Source!!”
“And we!!”
“..we!!” One voice was a tad slow.
He looked around. From every little fae creature…from every little sword…darkness drifted from them and filled him. He felt no pain. No fatigue. The world was now a strange mix of black and white.
Strange.
“Go go!!” They shouted.
He stood with ease, holding Gen’s limp body. He felt–
What the…!
He moved his hand quickly. He had thought her a girl? What he had just touched didn’t belong on any girl he had known. Women yes. Girls? No.
As he moved towards the well, shrouded in a strange, flickering darkness, he watched the reptilian eyes slowly, very very slowly, trying to follow him. He laughed. As he walked, he began to lift into the air.
This is…
He didn’t have words for it. When he reached the well, he was a few feet above it. Just standing on air. Ok. He was here. Now what? He waited. The Dragon Spawn were turning ever so slowly.
“Well?” He asked. “Now what?”
“Into the well you great fool!”
“Int...”
“Get her into the well!”
The voices filled his head. So he got her in with the simplest method. He dropped her. As he waited…he finally heard a splash. Then… chaos…
25
The splash did not stop. No. Instead it deepened. Rumbling far below. Water, black as a moonless night, began to spray from the ground as the very earth split. Somewhere…far below them…there was a great, thundering crack. He floated there, hanging in the air as the men and Dragon Spawn stumbled this way and that. The once solid ground now much like the deck of a boat caught in rough waters. Some fell and actually slid one way. Then another.
He laughed at that.
He felt wetness rush over him, seemingly licking and grasping at him as it flowed slowly over his body before shooting upward. He held his hands out to watch the dark water spraying up and around him. He glanced up. The water was pooling in the sky. Turning it into a dark mirror. He was staring at himself.
In the mirror above, he could see nearly every eye staring. He saw one Dragon Spawn begin to rush forward. He lowered his gaze. As his eyes touched those unblinking reptilian orbs, the Dragon Spawn let out a shriek as it burst apart. Liquid darkness tore its way free of the Dragon Spawn, lashing about as it shred the body. It coiled, like a snake ready to strike, before leaping into the nearest body. Tearing it into tiny pieces. From there, it was almost too fast to follow as it sprung from body to body.
As he watched limbs flying about, he glanced down as a great moan reverberated from the well. He tried to move as a dark shape raced towards him.
Damn.
He couldn’t move. So he just watched. The black swept over him. Through him. He watched a limp little body fly by.
“Gen!?” She was gone before he could finish speaking her name. He watched as the dark pillar reached for the sky. It looked like a dark hand, formed of the blackest cords. Almost. Stretching ever higher. Almost. Stretching a twisting, churning finger to try and touch the black mirror above.
So close yet so far.
“urhg…” He tried not to fall as he felt a tug at his insides. He fought it for a moment. With all his might. He was nothing compared to the power tugging at his very core. His soul? He couldn’t win. With a sigh, he relaxed.
Why bother?
He let it go. Completely giving himself to the darkness that was hooked into him. The darkness pulling at him. The pillar leapt upward, the hand touched the black mirror above. As soon as the two touched, the groaning rumble suddenly stopped. He waited. There was something in the air. He could feel it. He turned his head to look up. He was looking at himself but… no. Red eyes? No.
What the hells–
Then sound blasted across him, pushing him downward. The sky mirror suddenly exploded out in an ever widening circle that covered the sky for as far as he could see. With a great shattering sound that popped his ears, the mirror broke. Shards began to fall. They soon turned to a dark rain that hit him in the face with a much bigger impact than normal rain.
He cupped his hand, thinking to catch a few drops. It filled his hand quickly and was not just rain. No. This water had…things…in it. As he watched the small squirming things in his hand, his foot fell through. As if he were standing on ice.
Ah come o–
Before he could finish, he went through. On his way down he had to do some major stretching to reach the well.
He didn’t make it.
Looking around him as he fell, he could see the inner workings of this… well. The shattering echo of sounds from above faded as he continued to fall.
He didn’t mind the fall. No. It would be the landing that–
He crashed down onto something hard.
It hurt.
He bit his lip and kept his eyes closed as the strange rain fell on him. Filling the well. Lifting him. He turned over, floating on his back.
“Damn.” A sigh escaped him as he floated ever higher. Floating in the dark. Nothing but darkness. The water hurt his eyes. He closed them, waiting.
26
When he opened his eyes, he felt odd. He was bobbing like a cork in water. Still in the well. He felt like he was laying on ice.
“Good job.” He didn’t look at the sprite as it whispered into his ear.
When he looked around, what he saw, it didn’t make sense. It was a different world he looked upon. The sky was a shimmering black. Little patches of sky began to appear here and there. Beams of light passing through them to touch the ground.
Where the light touched, the black landscape literally bloomed anew. Not only new but so different. And with it…were those?
Gods. All kinds of small magical creatures were popping out with small shrieks of joy.
“Wha..”
“Ah, you’re awake!” Gen? “I wondered when you’d wake up.” He looked at her. That glowing red hair shown brilliantly in this darkness. Her eyes glittered like diamonds. “Are you ready to travel, Aiden?”
“How–” He began.
“We shared that power. We shared the Source. We did this. This was our work.” She looked around proudly, hands on her hips. A smile on her face. Her eyes caught him. She rolled them. “What?” When her gaze met his, she frowned. “Your eye.”
“What?” He blinked.
She looked at him. Staring. A shrug and she looked away, watching the land. “Your eye is white now. I had liked the green. But…one white…one green… meh.” She shrugged.
“My…wait.” What? A white eye? “How…wait.” He frowned, trying to think. “I–” He realized he had no hole in his middle. No insides hanging out. No. It was just bare skin. He also didn’t feel the pain in his leg. There was no pain. His shocked look brought him a giggle. He glared at the girl.
??
?Aiden, you are healed. As is this land.” She hopped up onto the rim of the well. “Look at it.” She motioned all around them. Beams of light were breaking through much faster now. Where they touched, things grew. Some he knew. Others he did not. And everywhere…the creatures of stories and the past emerged. “Beautiful.”
“Wha…” he paused. Aiden? He frowned. His real name. Aiden. How did she know it. He glowered at her. “Gen?”
“Yes, my warrior?” She chirped.
“How is it you know my name?” He turned in the water, reaching for the well wall. The air around her began to shimmer. A hand of burning red wrapped around him, lifting him as if he weighed nothing and setting him down a distance away.
“Aiden,” with a giggle, she took one step, an impossibly long step, and was standing too close, looking up at him, head tilted. “I told you already.” Did she? “When we joined, when we were one, obviously I’d learn your name.” She shook her head, looking at him as if he were an infant. “Come now, my dark warrior. We have many lands to save.”
“What? Save?” She was already moving. He couldn’t put his finger on it but she was different. She looked less like a woman now and more like the girl he had seen being chased. What was she? “Wait!”
She glanced back at him, glittering eyes dancing with laughter. “Yes?” She bounced back to him, grabbing his hand. He let her pull him along. The black ground around them was quickly turning green as the sky cleared. She looked back. “My. I’ll need to fix those clothes up for you.”
“What…what happened? Where are we going?” He stuttered. Feeling a strange…warmth…flowing into him from her hand.
What is this? And how am I still alive?
He heard a little snort. “We head east of course.” Her hair