Gathering of the Chosen (31 page)

There's no way I can get out of this
situation on my own,
Raya thought.
I'm not as strong or as
powerful or as smart as the others. Just like when that assassin
attacked me. I only survived because the others arrived in the nick
of time.

Raya flicked her eyes toward Abacos. The
Steed was looking at Raya with terrified eyes. She didn't know how
she must have looked—the Void was holding her head and making it
impossible for her to look down at herself—but she could guess that
she was giving off a very unnatural aura that was probably scaring
Abacos.

I need Abacos's help,
Raya thought.
He's the only being I can depend on in here right now. But
how?

Raya tried to think about what kind of
powers that the Steeds must have. Unfortunately, Teacher had never
taught her much about Hollech or his Steeds. As a matter of fact,
Raya recalled how violently her father reacted anytime anyone even
mentioned Hollech around him. That still puzzled her to this day,
but right now Father's reaction to Hollech's name was irrelevant to
her current situation.

If only Father were here,
Raya
thought.
He could help me.

Then Raya felt the Void touching the back
of her ears, causing her to shudder at the cold, slimy touch.

You are rather silent for a human,
said the Void.
I thought you were going to speak defiantly about
how humanity will continue to survive against the forces of nature
or some such cliched garbage like that.

Raya huffed. “That's because I
don't
speak to my obvious inferiors. Father always taught me
that being royalty meant never lowering yourself to the levels of
wretched creatures like you.”

Inferiors? You truly do not understand
the power that I wield,
said the Void.
You must think that I
am nothing more than a slight breeze, when the truth of the matter
is, I am far closer to a raging tornado.

Then Raya felt it. Along her back, she
felt something that might have been long, thick claws raking her
skin. She opened her mouth to scream, but then felt the Void's
shadows enter her body through her open mouth, causing her to choke
on them. She couldn't feel any air coming into her mouth and her
eyes were starting to water heavily.

But I have no reason to continue to let
you live, you pathetic mortal,
said the Void.
You may be a
princess, but I am the Void, a force greater than any mortal
individual. I will consume you from the inside out, until soon
there is nothing left of your body, not even a withered husk to act
as a warning to other mortals arrogant enough to cross my
path.

This time, Raya
knew
that she was
going to die. She could feel the air leaving her body, feel the
Void as it tore at her back, but there was truly nothing she could
do about it. She just prayed one final prayer to Grinf and the gods
to save her, though it was an incoherent prayer because she
couldn't think rationally or coherently due to the pain she was
in.

That was when a powerful, blinding flame
came out of nowhere, causing Raya to close her eyes to avoid being
blinded herself. Even with her eyes closed, however, Raya could see
the light from the flames and feel the heat all around her. She
even heard the Void let out a shout of surprise from the attack, as
if it, too, had not expected this to happen.

Then Raya heard a loud whinnying sound and
opened her eyes in time to see Abacos charging at her. She at first
thought that the Steed was going to kill her, but then much to her
surprise, Abacos ran around Raya. She looked over her shoulder
(which she realized meant that the Void had let her go) and saw
that it was Abacos who was firing flames from his mouth. The light
tore away at the deep darkness of the Void, which surprised Raya,
as she hadn't thought that anything less than a god could come
close to damaging the Void.

That was also when Raya realized that she
actually was free of the Void. Air returned to her lungs, which
tasted sweeter than ever, but she hardly gave herself time to focus
on that. She just stepped back, watching as Abacos burned away the
flames with his fire, leaving charred grass or blackened walls
wherever his fire touched.

Why is Abacos saving me?
Raya
thought, too stunned by this unexpected turn of events to move.
I barely even know him. Could it be because he thinks I'll win
the Tournament?

Raya shook her head. Now wasn't the time
to worry about that. She could see already that Abacos was burning
a path for her to reach the exit. She just had to gather the
courage to do it, and quickly, because she could already see the
shadows of the Void returning to smother the flames from
Abacos.

When Raya saw a break in the flames, she
ran toward the exit. She ran so fast that she almost slammed into
the door. She caught herself in the nick of time, however, and
pulled at the door's handle. Unfortunately, it wouldn't budge, even
when she put all of her strength into opening it.

Come on,
Raya thought, scowling as
she pulled and heaved.
Open, damn it, open! Who had the bright
idea of locking this door? Did they really think that we godlings
might try to run away or something?

Raya stopped pulling at the door and
looked over her shoulder. She saw Abacos still breathing flame and
kicking with his hind legs, which was a great way to distract the
Void. Unfortunately, she could also tell that the Void was
beginning to recover from Abacos's initial assault. The shadows
were thicker and even absorbing the fire that Abacos breathed. It
would likely be only minutes before the Void achieved enough power
to put an end to Abacos's assault, at which point Raya was pretty
certain that there was no way that she or Abacos would survive.

So Raya shouted, “Abacos! Get over here,
you stupid horse! I need you to break down this door! It's the only
way we'll survive!”

Much to her relief, Abacos understood what
she said, because he let out one final burst of flame at the
approaching Void tendrils and then dashed over to her faster than
she could blink. When Abacos reached the door, he turned around and
kicked the door in with his two powerful hind legs. The impact
knocked the door inwards, but it didn't actually give out until he
kicked it again, which finally sent the door flying off its hinges
into the dark room on the other side.

Relieved, Raya dashed through the open
doorway, but paused when she heard Abacos give off a whinny of
surprise. She then looked over her shoulder to see what had
happened. She wished she hadn't.

The Void had pierced Abacos through his
heart with one of its tendrils, which had become as sharp and
pointed as a knife. Abacos's blood dripped golden, like a god's,
but despite that, the Steed tried to move forward toward her, as if
the sharp shadow knife in its heart wasn't an issue.

“Abacos!” Raya shouted.

But then Raya felt a shudder in the
darkness and a gigantic set of dark teeth appeared above and below
Abacos. Then, before Raya could say anything else, the teeth
slammed shut down on Abacos. There wasn't even a sound. The teeth
simply slammed shut and Abacos was gone.

Although Raya wanted to run, she could not
help but stand there and stare at where Abacos had been standing
mere moments before. She thought that her eyes had to be playing
tricks on her or something, even though she knew that they were
working just fine.

“Abacos?” Raya repeated. “Abacos!”

Your horse is dead,
said the Void,
its voice coming from everywhere around her now.
I don't see why
you are so despondent. You never even liked horses anyway. You
mortals always get upset about the silliest things.

Raya's every instinct told her to run, but
she couldn't. She had to avenge Abacos. She couldn't just let the
Void get away with its vile actions. It wouldn't be just.

She stepped back into the room, her hands
shaking at her side as she faced the Void. “You monster. How dare
you kill Abacos. He was just an innocent horse.”

Innocence and justice matter not to
me,
said the Void.
All that matters to me is that I consume
everything. Gods, humans, and yes, even horses. Nothing is above my
hunger. Nothing.

The Void's words just made Raya even
angrier. She pointed at the Void and said, “I will make you pay for
what you did, Void. I swear by Grinf's name that I will ensure that
you receive the judgment you deserve for your vile and wicked
crime.”

How do you intend to hurt me?
said
the Void.
You can't even touch me. And if it hadn't been for the
horse, you would already be dead. You are nothing more than an
insignificant candle fighting against the powerful hurricane that
is me.

“I …” Raya tried to figure out how to
respond to that, but the words just didn't come to her no matter
what. “I … I will …”

And it is hilarious, isn't it, how you
act so high and mighty when I know how selfish you really are?
said the Void.
I know of your 'takings,' mortal, and while I do
not care about human morality, even I can see the irony in your
talk about 'justice' when you are anything but.

“My takings?” Raya repeated. She gasped.
“Did
you
put that letter in my room?”

One of my followers did at my
orders,
said the Void.
He sneaked into your room and put the
letter there in order to scare you, for mortals who are afraid are
easier for me to consume than mortals who are not.

“How dare you,” said Raya as righteous
indignation rose in her. “Why, I am so angry that I—”

Save the words, mortal,
the Void
interrupted.
You should have run when you had a chance. At least
then, you would have had a chance at survival, if nothing
else.

The shadows of the Void drew closer to
Raya. She stepped back instinctively, but then looked over her
shoulder and saw that more of the Void's shadows were coming from
behind. She was completely surrounded on all sides and, without
Abacos, she was certain that she was going to die.

Raya looked around desperately, but no
matter where she looked, she only saw the Void's shadows closing in
on her. She was beginning to rethink her decision to stay behind
and avenge Abacos. She could just imagine the shadows of the Void
clamping down on her, just like poor Abacos, and killing her
instantly.

At least my death won't be drawn
out,
Raya thought.
Not that that is much of a
comfort.

But Raya would not give up. She forced
herself to think as fast as she could, considering any and all
possibilities that she could use to get out of this situation
alive. She would avenge Abacos later, she decided, after she made
sure that she was safe here.

The Void's shadows were now mere inches
away from Raya's feet. Raya kicked at them, but her feet touched
nothing, and even if they could, she doubted the Void would care.
The Void was so much more powerful than she that she really
couldn't hurt it no matter how hard she tried.

I guess this is it, then,
Raya
thought, trying to fight back the tears welling up in her eyes.
This is the end.

But then an idea occurred to her: Raya was
half katabans. It was not a fact that she focused on too much—she
had always received unconditional love and acceptance from her
parents and everyone else on Carnag for it, after all—but it was a
fact. And katabans could access the ethereal, that other plane of
existence that could be used to travel great distances all across
Martir without needing to use ships, airships, or land vehicles of
any kind.

Can
I
access the ethereal?
Raya thought, wiping the tears from her eyes that were now coming
whether she wanted them to or not.
I've never even tried it and
Mother has never tried to teach me how to do it. But I don't have
any other options at the moment. I must give it my best
shot.

Raya held out a hand before her and
concentrated hard on opening a portal to the ethereal, trying to
ignore the Void's tendrils that were slowly coming closer to her
feet. She also tried to ignore the fact that she very well might
not have that power at all, because her human half might somehow
negate her innate katabans abilities.

So quiet all of a sudden, mortal,
said the Void in a mocking voice which Raya did her best to ignore.
That is fine. I can see you've accepted your fate. Perhaps you
are wiser than you appear.

Raya didn't respond. She just focused hard
on opening a portal into the ethereal. She felt nothing except for
her head starting to hurt a little from the intense concentration,
but she didn't give up, and she wouldn't give up until she either
succeeded or the Void killed her.

Then—quite without warning—the ethereal
portal popped into existence before her. Raya hadn't sensed it
coming. It merely popped open before her, without any warnings at
all. That was almost enough to shatter her concentration, but she
decided not to question it.

So Raya threw herself through the open
portal headfirst even as the shadows of the Void touched the heels
of her feet. She heard the Void let out an angry curse, but didn't
get to hear much of it, because as soon as she passed through the
portal, it closed behind her with a small yet audible
pop
.

As for Raya, she staggered forward across
the pure white road of the ethereal, breathing hard as she did so.
She hadn't realized how exhausted she was, but perhaps the
combination of the Void's earlier attack on her body and opening
the ethereal had drained her more than she thought.

In any case, Raya found that she could no
longer retain her consciousness. She fell face-first onto the white
stone road before her, but was out before she even hit it.