Breath of Divinity

“What do you mean, someone was following you?” Jonathan arched an eyebrow, his tone coloured with disbelief. “You were moving at the speed of sound, how could anything hope to follow you?”

“I’m not completely sure,” said Tim, his expression frantic. “But I got the feeling something was. There was this persistent sensation for the last couple miles I was running: it was like some kind of — of presence. Like something was watching me.”

“Well, that clears everything up.”

“Can you steer clear of the sarcasm for five minutes, please? I’m being serious.”

“After everything we learned in the past twenty-four hours, sarcasm is one of the few things in this world that makes sense to me anymore okay. Abandon it? Not a chance!” Jon said.

“Okay, okay,” Oscar said, holding up his arms as he slid between them. “Let’s stay on topic, shall we? Is there any more detail you can offer, aside from maybe picking up some bad vibes?”

“No,” Tim said through gritted teeth. “All I know is, whatever it was didn’t feel human, and it definitely didn’t feel pleasant.”

“Well I still think this is a load of baloney,” Oscar said conversationally. “But I’m gonna take your word for it. Besides, we already did what we came here to do, we might as well head back.” He gestured at the path from which Tim had emerged, glowing like a ball of bright blue flames.

A look of enormous relief overcame Tim’s features. He was first to move off towards the path, his legs swallowing up the forest floor in huge strides. Just as Jon and Oscar started off behind him, however, something large and dark clattered onto the floor ahead of them. At first, Oscar thought it was a rotten fruit that had finally broken free from its perch in the trees above them, but then he realized it resembled a kind of huge black gemstone, like a shard of obsidian. It was pulsing with an ominous green light, and they could hear some kind of buzzing growing louder and louder with every passing second.

“What is that thing?” Jon asked. The buzzing was now so loud that he almost had to shout to be heard, and Tim’s reply was completely inaudible over the now deafening din. They clapped their hands over their ears to drown out the sound, although it didn’t help much. Then something even stranger happened. Under their confused and apprehensive gazes, the earth around the flake of obsidian started churning, as if a giant, invisible shovel were digging it up before their very eyes.

Rocks, leaves and dirt all swished around like the contents of a pot of soup, until a few seconds later the obsidian was completely buried underneath the forest floor. There was an infinitesimal pause, then quite abruptly the earth in front of them started rising in a great mound.

Two feet, three feet…eight feet tall. A tiny hill bloomed in front of their very eyes, which started taking shape. They could make out what looked like hands, feet, even a roughly hewn, oval-shaped head. The creature was humanoid in appearance, but instead of flesh its body was composed of a number of thick vines and the same dark, moss-covered stone that lined the path in front of them. It was as if the forest had come alive, bearing down upon them. It had no eyes, but its faceless head was turned in their direction.

“What is that thing?” Tim said in a croaky voice.

“No clue, but something tells me this isn’t one of the helpful forest friends we usually see in movies,” Jon replied.

“Why isn’t it doing anything?” Oscar wondered aloud. Several moments had passed and the massive amalgamation of rock, moss and vines simply stood there, towering over them, menacing yet completely unmoving. “Maybe we should go around,” he suggested.

“Are you kidding?” Jonathan hissed. “I’m not going anywhere near that thing!” He turned to Tim. “I say you run us out of here, as far from that thing as superhumanly possible.”

“I can barely keep myself steady when I run,” Tim said, his bright brown eyes fixed on the enormous statue in sheer terror. “How am I supposed to take both of you?”

Jon was about to respond, probably with something snarky judging by the look on his face, but he stopped abruptly as the towering stone figure took a step forward. It had moved its right leg forward only an inch, but the ground trembled as if a mighty oak had crashed there. All three boys fell silent, drawing backwards in a single uniform motion.

“It moved, it moved!” Tim said frantically.

“We can see that!” Jonathan said, eyes popping in alarm. “We have to get out of here now.”

The thing, whatever it was, took another step forward, slightly faster this time.

All three of them drew nearer together, so close now that their shoulders were brushing against one another. It took another step forward, then another, and another — then it broke into a trot, its tree trunk-sized arms flailing as it raced towards them.

“Go! Go!” Oscar shouted. Tim raced off, the trail of divine blue light billowing from his body. Unfortunately his reflexes didn’t seem to have caught up to the level of his speed just yet; he smashed face-first into a nearby tree and ricocheted off. He lay on the ground, twitching, temporarily stunned; the creature changed direction at once, moving towards its supine target.

Oscar felt Jon’s grip on his shoulder loosen and the next second he was hurtling out in front of them. He reached Tim’s side first; the creature pulled up a second later, its enormous leg hovering over them like a great hammer. Jon grabbed Tim by the shoulder and heaved him up, glowing once more, this time with a piercing yellow-white light. Just as its foot came slamming downwards, a streak of that same light erupted from Jonathan’s palm, searing into the giant’s chest. It didn’t destroy the monster, but it did repel it long enough for Jon to hoist Tim to his feet.

Oscar darted over, waving his hand as he did. Strands of purple energy rippled through the air, settling into an image of all three boys gathered directly at the monster’s feet.

He arrived at Jon’s side, hoisted one of Tim’s shoulders, and he and Jonathan moved off. Unlike the serpent, however, this creature didn’t spare a single iota of its attention on the illusion. It broke right through the mirage, stomping towards them, its heavy footsteps reverberating like the beat of some colossal death drum.

Tim seemed to regain his bearings as they retreated. He slipped free of his brothers’ grips and shook his head, then professed himself alright. He stopped and faced the rapidly approaching creature, and light began to flicker from Jonathan’s hands once more. The beam of light that emerged this time was far brighter and more concentrated than the last, but the result was only marginally different. The force of the beam actually broke a chunk of the rock from its torso and it froze, but next moment they watched in horror as the ground beneath the creature began to churn once more.

Sand and fragments of stone trickled upwards and snaked over its body until it arrived at the hole Jonathan had created, and they watched, transfixed, as it filled the newly created fragment, repairing it instantly.

“What is this thing?” Tim asked. Strangely, he sounded more amazed than scared now.

“New plan,” said Oscar, reaching for his necklace. “Tim, get out of here, find the ventus. It’s somewhere on the other side of the woods. You can ride her back here and we can use her to escape, because I don’t think we’re gonna be able to outrun this thing.”

“Are you crazy? You want me to leave, now?”

Tim’s feeble protest was cut off by another huge booming noise as the creature launched itself forward once more.

“No time to argue, go!” Oscar shouted. “We’ll be fine!”

Tim stumbled slightly, cast an unsure look at Jonathan, who nodded, and then sped off into the trees. The monster’s head turned in his direction for only a moment, but then the blue blur had disappeared and it returned its attention to the remaining duo. Oscar brandished his gauntlet and Jon’s sword appeared in a flash of blue light. He glanced at his younger brother and the two shared a fleeting look full of resolve. Then they charged.

Jon took the lead, leaping into the air and swinging his blade in a huge, leftward arc. The shining brightsteel blade cleaved right through the creature’s arm. His feet landed upon the creature’s slippery, vinelike chest, and he pushed off, this time following up with another powerful burst of light.

The beam widened the fissure along its arm and the entire base of its elbow was ripped off, clattering to the ground in a screen of dust and pebbles. Oscar came up behind them, took a running leap and delivered a powerful punch with his gauntlet. The blow was so fierce that this time it actually keeled over, smashing into a nearby clump of trees as a part of its head shattered. For a single shining moment it looked like they might have won. But again, just as it had before, the dirt around them began to stir, rising onto its body to repair the damage that had been done.

“How are we supposed to beat this thing?” Jon asked. The desperation in his voice weighed heavy, but Oscar had no answers.

He held no illusions about who he was and what he could offer. What he was, was a trickster, but this thing had completely disregarded his illusion. Now it was shrugging off every blow they landed. He didn’t know what to do, besides the obvious: run.

It felt like a coward’s way out, but right now no other solution came to mind. He didn’t know if this creature was equipped with a way to kill them, and he wasn’t keen to find out. It stood, casting them once more in its enormous shadow, and it began to charge towards them once more. Jon and Oscar raced off, the sunlight glinting off their weapons. Jon took the front again, trying to draw the monster's attention as he hacked and stabbed at its underside, but in a stroke of sheer misfortune, he jabbed at the creature's body so hard that the sword actually sank several feet into its leg. Its eyeless head turned to the area Jon had injured, then it swung one of its huge hands and batted Jon aside as effortlessly as a cricket ball. He slid through a patch of mud and came to a very rough halt at the foot an ancient mahogany tree.

The creature was advancing upon him, but Jon could barely stand. Injured and defenseless he tried and failed to claw his way up, but it was directly over him now and it was preparing for another strike. Oscar climbed onto the stump of what was likely a fallen tree, then jumped off, ready to deliver another blow to the creature's back.

But with speed unlike anything it had demonstrated so far, the monster wheeled around and grabbed hold of him, crushing him in its gigantic palm. Oscar's scream filled the entire clearing, his body overcome with fierce bouts of pain.

Luckily, at that precise moment, movement overhead caught their eyes. It was Tim, riding towards them on the gaseous emerald horse, nervously clutching the reins and looking like he was going to be sick. The head of a gleaming, double-sided hammer came down on the stone titan's back and it released Oscar, who crumpled to the floor in a heap. Jon materialized at his side, and the horse landed directly in front of them, weightless as a feather.

"Come on!” Tim yelled.

They scrambled up onto the ventus’s back, the process somehow much harder than it had been before due to their confusion and desperation. Finally they managed to mount the steed and Skylar took to the air, bounding away just as the giant stone creature effortlessly uprooted a tree and sent it soaring at them. An almighty crash rang out from the position they had just left, but it didn’t matter. As strong as that thing was, it clearly couldn’t fly.

Oscar almost let out a sigh of relief… Almost. Before the sound had even left his lips, Tim had tensed again in front of him.

“That thing is back,” he shouted over the roaring wind.

Oscar almost broke his neck looking around, first in front of them, then to both sides of them and finally behind. Nothing crossed his sight, nor did he hear anything over the rushing of the wind.

“I don’t see anything,” Jon said. “Maybe it’s just your nerves.”

“I’m telling you, I can feel it!” said Tim indignantly.

Or maybe all the times he had slammed into a tree at mach speed was catching up with him, Oscar thought. But he didn’t say that out loud. Right now their focus was on escaping and getting back to the house. And speaking of which…

“Uhh, does anyone know what direction to take to get back to the house?”

Nobody answered. He was about to speak again when the ventus came to a sudden and tremulous halt, almost causing its riders to plummet towards the ground below.

“Why’d we stop?” Jon asked.

But Tim looked too appalled to even answer. He was staring directly in front of them. And right before their very eyes, stifling any further questions they may have had, the air rippled. Its movement resembled the surface of water that had been ruffled by wind, and from the ripples another image bloomed. First it was a hand, then legs, then a torso… A woman with shining silver hair seemed to have blossomed into existence from thin air. And it wasn’t the silver associated with age either, but long, thick strands of what looked like polished metal. Her skin was deathly pale and her eyes were dark green, like jade. She was sitting astride a magnificent chariot that was the same colour as her eyes, which was being pulled by three huge hounds — hounds that seemed to be some kind of cross between shadow and fire. Where fur should have been was instead flickering, black and red flames.

They looked incorporeal, but they were probably as solid as the ventus they were riding, with their pure black eyes and gaping maws. They were like demonic pitbulls.

“Who are you?” Tim asked.

“Children,” the woman said. Her voice was nothing at all like Oscar had imagined it would be: breathy and high-pitched. Instead it was deep and hoarse, like her vocal chords were under intense strain. Just hearing it sent a kind of chill down Oscar’s spine. She spoke almost wonderingly, as if intrigued by this sudden development.

The woman surveyed them with those deep green eyes, running one of her fingers across her lips, which glistened blood red.

“My name is Erymithia,” she said after a short pause, as if she had been contemplating whether or not to answer. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of those.” Her eyes flickered onto the ventus they were riding, which actually let out a nervous whinny. “I thought they were extinct.”

“And why would you think that?” Jonathan asked. His hands were balled into fists, his body stiff with tension. He looked like he was itching for a fight, as if he wanted to leap from the ventus’s back and tackle the woman in midair.

A dark smile curved the woman’s lips. Her eyes seemed to have darkened — actually darkened, as though parts of the sclera had turned black “Well we made such a grand show of hunting them down,” she crooned. “My darlings had such fun tearing them apart, why I think they never really got over the fact that they seemed to have killed them all before now.”

Her dogs began to growl, pawing at the air as if readying to pounce.

“You’re one of them,” Oscar said. He had held a faint suspicion, but hearing the way she talked was pretty much direct confirmation. “A Harbinger.”

Her smile flickered for a moment; a look of deepest loathing ran down her face, then it faded. “An ugly name devised for my people by a race of conniving weaklings who did not deserve their place in the magical world. Luckily, they got what they deserved in the end.” She gave a small shrug as she spoke, and her evil smile had fixed itself back in place. “And you are most certainly remnants of Algyria. More than that…” She cocked her head to the side, examining them curiously. “Brothers,” she murmured. “Interesting. How many more of you are left? How many escaped the purge?”

“Why don’t you come over here? I can give you a pretty good estimate,” Jon said, his teeth clenched so tightly Oscar could almost hear them grinding against each other. Something was definitely wrong. Her presence seemed to be affecting him in a way Oscar couldn’t understand. Even Tim seemed petrified with fear.

Almost predictably, Erymithia let out a derisive laugh. “I don’t normally conduct battle with adolscents. No, that part I leave for my children.”

“Children?” Oscar frowned, but then as realization dawned upon him his eyes moved to the ground below. They were now far too high to see it anymore, but he could just picture the huge stone creature standing rooted to the ground where they had just fled, how the black crystal in its chest pulsed with the same jade colour as the woman’s eyes, almost like a heartbeat. “You sent that thing after us?”

“The proper term for them is Necroforagers,” said Erymithia, and as they watched she reached into her cloak and pulled out another of the black stones that had landed on the ground in front of them. Now that Oscar really looked at it, he saw that it wasn’t as smooth as it first appeared. There were strange, root-like protrusions all over it, almost like extra large veins. It looked less like a crystal and more like a calcified heart. “Incredibly powerful, even more useful.” She held the stone to her lips and kissed it. “And so beautiful.”

“You and the rest of the world probably have very different ideas of beauty, lady,” said Jon.

A truly ugly look crept over her sharp features. She turned to them with a look of unbridled fury in her eyes. The hounds began to bark, deep, booming, bloodcurdling sounds that sent flocks of birds scattering across the late morning sky.

The sky, which had been a brilliant, peacock-blue only moments before, was now teeming with clouds. Forks of green lightning seared through them. The very air itself felt electrified.

Erymithia slipped the stone back into her pocket, glowering. “Tell me, boys. Are you willing to die, straight-backed and proud, like your forefathers did? Or will you go kicking and screaming like your mothers?”

Oscar threw out a hand to hold Jon back. The possibility that he might leap from the ventus’s back and charge into the chariot seemed more and more likely with every passing moment.

“Not here, now now,” Oscar said quietly. “We don’t know what she can do, and there’s nothing we would be able to do if any more of her ‘children’ are around.”

“So what are we supposed to do?” Tim asked.

“On my signal,” Oscar whispered. He had no sooner finished whispering his plan than the dogs charged towards them, the chariot trundling along behind as her monstrous hounds clawed along the air currents. A tree-like mass of bright green energy streamed from her palms, held out towards like them a many-pronged trident. Lightning erupted from every branch, exploding across the darkened sky and ripping into all three boys, and the ventus.

She watched as the energy poured through their bodies, trembling violently under the force. But instead of leaving behind charred bodies, the scene in front of her dissolved into threads of purple energy instead.

“What?” she gasped, panic and shock alike evident in her voice. She looked around wildly, just as a surge of blinding light erupted in front of her. It was so bright, so sudden, that she was unable to defend herself from the glare. A screech of pain lit the air, her hands desperately reaching up to cover her face, but the damage had been done.

Below her, unnoticed by her temporarily blinded eyes, the ventus streaked off along the winds in front of them, its three passengers breathing sighs of relief as they raced away, heading back to the mansion.