Book of Darkness
Chapter Nine: Chronos, Master of Deceit
Score came downstairs, herbs and basin in hand, and stopped short when he caught sight of Helaine curled up and fast asleep on the couch. Her head was resting on her arms, a pillow tucked beneath them, and her legs were pulled up close to her body. Her long blond hair was spread out like a fan, and she looked incredibly peaceful. How can someone so temperamental during the day look so serene at night? he thought affectionately.
Setting the basin down on a nearby table, Score quietly moved over to the couch. Slowly, he moved Helaine so that she was stretched out instead of curled up, then placed one of the blankets strewn around the room over her. He’d let her get some rest before waking her up. Stifling a yawn of his own, Score sat down on the second couch in the room, and grimaced when he almost lost his hand down a tear in the cushion. The intruder had done a number on some of the furniture.
Score stroked the cushion with his hand, and the tear immediately vanished, leaving the fabric as good as new. Noticing Helaine’s book on the floor next to her, where she’d dropped it after nodding off, he picked it up and started to flip through it. While the book truly was Helaine’s property, any magic-user could use the spells in it. It didn’t take him long to find the barrier spell that she’d located earlier. Unfortunately, it called for a couple of mixtures that he didn’t know how to do, and really didn’t want to risk experimenting with.
“Good Lord, what happened here?”
Score snapped the book shut and looked up at Oracle, who was standing in the middle of the disaster and looking around with wide eyes. “Warn me before you do that again!” he snapped.
Oracle just shook his head and he looked around him. “I take it you had a visitor?”
“Yeah,” Score replied tiredly. “And I still haven’t gotten any sleep.”
Oracle stepped closer and got a better look at the sixteen-year-old. “I’ll keep an eye on things,” he offered. “Why don’t you catch up? I came here to tell you and Helaine something, but it can wait for morning.”
Score glanced wearily out the window, and the lightening sky outside. “It is morning.”
“Then it can wait a few more hours,” Oracle amended. “Get some sleep. You look exhausted.”
Score managed a tired grin, then stretched out on his own couch – and repaired another tear in the process – before falling asleep immediately. Soon, the only sounds in the castle living room were the soft sounds of two people breathing as they slept.
Oracle looked around the ransacked room and shook his head. He had no idea why the intruder would want to completely tear this place apart, unless he was looking for something, and Oracle couldn’t think at all what that could be. If this person really did have a fixation on the new Triad because of who they had once been, then there was nothing here that he or she could possibly have been interested in. None of what Helaine, Score, and Pixel owned had belonged to the Triad.
Except…
Oracle’s eyes fell on the Book of Magic, sitting calmly on the end table by the couch Score was sleeping on. “You know something, don’t you?” he asked the book.
The book remained silent.
“Don’t act like that,” Oracle chided. “We’re friends, right?”
Friends? Hah.
Oracle rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. Just because I once said you looked like an ancient spell book doesn’t mean I think you’re old. You age well.”
What do you want?
“You were here when whoever it was tore through here,” Oracle said. “Whoever it was has a Triad fixation, so he or she must have been after you.”
What makes you think I’m the only thing here that belonged to the Triad?
“Aren’t you?”
The book was again silent.
Oracle sighed. “Fine, be that way.” He turned his back on the book and set about making some attempt to straighten things up. The nice thing about being a potential was that he had amplified mental abilities, and therefore didn’t really need to touch things in order to move them. Not that he’d ever tell anybody that. The last thing he wanted was to end up as somebody’s maid.
Silent hymns will haunt the mind. A secret hides between two pine. Swirling gems before the eye. Dreams will aid when they don’t try.
Oracle rolled his eyes and turned to glare at the book. “I suppose that’s all you’re going to tell me?” he asked. “It doesn’t help much.”
Think about it, genius.
Oracle sighed and shook his head, then finished straightening up the rest of the room. When he was finished, he found another blanket and made sure that Score was covered up, then smiled slightly as he looked at the two sleeping teenagers. At age sixteen, they were still just kids, really. Compared to most magic-users, they were brand-new. Except that they weren’t. And sometimes, he knew, that knowledge could be a heavy burden for them.
“Silent hymns will haunt the mind.” The words came unbidden out of his mouth, and he narrowed his eyes. “A secret hides between two pine. Swirling gems before the eye. I don’t get it…”
He forced himself to focus.
“Silent hymns will haunt the mind…”
A vague feeling of recognition.
“A secret hides between two pine…”
What had the book been trying to say?
“Swirling gems before the eye…”
A flash of memory, fleeting.
“Dreams will aid when they don’t try…”
Oracle groaned and closed his eyes. “I don’t get it,” he muttered.
Silent hymns…a secret hides…swirling gems…dreams will aid when they don’t try…
Dreams will aid…
Dreams…
Oracle was out of the room in a flash, disappearing and reappearing in Pixel’s room. There, lined up neatly on his dresser, were his four gems. Three of them were the same, perfect size.
But the ruby was just slightly larger than the rest!
“Damn!” Oracle swore. He vanished and returned to the living room, where he immediately looked for Helaine and Score’s own gemstones. Sure enough, their secondary gems were the normal size, but the sapphire and the emerald had grown in size.
There was no way he could leave Helaine and Score alone with these faux gemstones, but until they woke up, he wouldn’t be able to move them. The gemstones were protected by magic, and his telekinesis wouldn’t be able to touch them. And he couldn’t just wake up the two, either.
Oracle glared at the faux gemstones. “What the hell do you want?”
Chronos smirked to himself, knowing that the guardian couldn’t see him. Although he could see the pale man perfectly through the stones he had planted. While Helaine and Score both still had their original gemstones on them, the shock of seeing the castle wrecked had made them focus on more important things, and hadn’t noticed anything strange about the planted gemstones he’d left lying around.
Exactly as he’d planned, of course.
“What is it you think I want?” Chronos asked slyly.
There was a startled gasp from the man as he jerked around the face the gemstones. “You can hear me,” Oracle said, eyes narrowed.
“Of course,” Chronos replied. “These gemstones were an ingenious way to keep an eye on these two, weren’t they? Oh, and by the way, if you’re waiting for them to wake up it’s not going to happen.”
Oracle’s eyes widened. “What?”
“I placed a little magical surprise on that room before I left,” replied Chronos. “Any mortal human who enters that room will be in for a special little trip off to lullaby land after spending a certain amount of time in there - and unless the magic is taken off, they’ll remain sleeping. And the longer they sleep, the longer is will take for them to waken. They will do nothing but sleep…and slowly waste away to a very unpleasant death. Quaint, no?”
“No,” growled Oracle.
“You don’t scare me, guardian,” Chronos taunted. “I know that you can’t do anything to harm me. You don’t even know who I am.”
“Don’t be so sure about that…Chronos,” Oracle snapped.
Chronos was taken aback. “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for,” he said as he tried to regain his composure. “How did you figure it out?”
Oracle didn’t respond for a minute, and when he did, it wasn’t to answer the question. “How do you get rid of the enchantment?” he asked.
“Oh, no,” Chronos said, shaking his head even though Oracle couldn’t see him. “You really think I’m going to tell you? I’ve spent too much time plotting my revenge against the Triad - although Traxis and Eremin aren’t my true targets, you know. It’s Nantor that I really want.”
“They aren’t the Triad!” shouted Oracle, losing his grip on his long-fused temper. “Yes, their bodies are those of the Three Who Ruled, but their souls are different! They aren’t the same at all! They’ve spent the last four years, ever since they arrived in the Diadem, protecting the Circuits!”
“Yes, and they’ve succeeded in deceiving plenty of people,” Chronos said, his voice cold. “They are masters at deceit, aren’t they? But I know for a fact that nobody can change just like that - I will not be deceived! And I will get my revenge!” He held up his hand waved it over the floating crystal, and the image of Oracle faded. Chronos reached up and rubbed his temples, warding off the headache that was threatening to surface.
It won’t take long for those crystals to completely take effect, he thought. Soon Traxis and Eremin will be completely lost to their power. Then there’s only Nantor. Without the power of the other two, I can finally destroy him.
Fate, Destiny, I will get my revenge. I promise you that.
Chronos leaned forward and covered his face with his hands. “Fate,” he whispered, his voice trembling. “Destiny. Oh, God, Destiny! Destiny!”
“Destiny!”
Destiny looked over at Pixel sharply. “What?” she demanded.
“Are you even paying attention to anything I’m saying?” he asked crossly. “What are you thinking about that’s got you so out of it, anyway?”
“None of your business,” Destiny muttered. “Can’t a girl be alone with her own thoughts?”
Pixel’s indignant expression softened slightly. “Look, if it’s about last night, I’m sorry if I offended you or anything. It’s just that it’s pretty obvious to me that you’re dealing with some pretty heavy thoughts…and sometimes it’s okay if you want to focus on them. But right now I need you to help me get out of this place…preferably alive…so I would prefer it if you would focus on what’s going on around you when I need you to. Okay?”
Destiny sighed. Pixel was being very reasonable about it, considering that she hadn’t really listened to a word he’d been saying since they’d gotten through the Trial of Sense. Like she’d predicted, he’d passed that particular trial with ease, and they’d both been feeling so good that they’d completely bypassed the last town and gone through the third trial - the Trial of Sound - which they’d also gotten through easily. “Sorry,” she apologized.
“It’s all right,” Pixel said, giving her a half-smile. “So what now? Stop at the next town or go on to trial number four?”
She bit her lip. “The next Trial is the Trial of Sight. I’ve only gotten through it once - it’s a cave, completely pitch black. It in itself is almost like a void, and to get through it, you basically have to have nerves of steel and be on top of your game. It’s at least a two days walk from here, so we’ll stay at the next town, and then head out first thing in the morning.” She bit her lip. “Unfortunately, the next town is called Sec, and it’s the only one before the Trial of Sight.”
Pixel frowned. “So that means we’ll end up having to camp outside the second night, won’t it?”
“Possibly the night after that, too, depending on when we reach the Trial of Sight,” confirmed Destiny. “It’s not a trial that I would recommend doing in the middle of the night.”
“Okay,” Pixel said. She glanced at him. He seemed confidant, but she had a feeling that a lot of it was for show. He was just as thrilled as she was about sleeping outdoors - and that wasn’t very thrilled at all. “So, do you have a good word at this Sec place, too?”
“Not at all,” Destiny said ruefully. “I accidentally ended up burning it down once - fortunately these places recover almost instantaneously, but still…they hold a grudge. We won’t actually stay in the inn. There’s an old shed that I use when I have to go there.”
“Lovely,” muttered Pixel. “Well, lead the way.”
The shed wasn’t very hard to find - it was right outside the town, where they wouldn’t be bothered, and it looked like the last person who had stayed there had picked it up a little. “Guides and magic-users are pretty much taboo in this place anyway,” Destiny explained as she dug through a trunk in the corner to find at least one blanket that hadn’t been eaten through by moths,. “We use this place a lot. Sometimes it’s not in very good condition, but we lucked out this time. Ah, jackpot!” She lifted a large, fluffy blanket out of the very bottom and tossed it to Pixel. “Spread that out on the floor.”
Pixel did as commanded, noticing that it was in pretty good condition. “What type of fabric is this?” he asked.
“It’s fur,” answered Destiny. “And it’s soft and clean, so don’t ask what type. I don’t know, and I don’t really want to find out, considering some of the things in this place. But it’s comfortable and we’ve got a long trip ahead of us, so we’ll use it.” She managed to locate a small book of matches - there was only one left - and got a respectable fire going in the small fireplace. “How much food do we still have from the last town?”
Pixel checked the bag that they’d bought as well. “We’re pretty good,” he said. “Enough to get us through the next two days, at least.”
“Hungry?” she asked. He shook his head.
“Neither am I. We’ll save it for later.” She sat down on the blanket and stared silently at the fire. Pixel sat next to her and noticed that she seemed to have gotten lost in her thoughts again.
What happened that makes her do that? he thought. I know that she didn’t have a particularly good time on one of her last trips through this place, but I wish I knew exactly what had happened. I have a feeling that this might end up getting us in trouble somewhere down the line. She looks so sad, though - I don’t want to push her into telling me anything.
Pixel had to admit, though, that he had been more than surprised by Destiny so far on this trip. Before, he’d been pretty much convinced that the Destiny he’d met in New York had been a front, a fake Destiny to hide the power-crazed sorceress that she really was. But now he couldn’t help wondering if what he had seen really had been the real Destiny…or at least part of the real Destiny? She hadn’t acted the least bit psychotic since they’d entered the Void, and he’d found himself growing more and more comfortable around her.
But if this is the real Destiny, why was she so power-mad before? What could’ve caused her to be like that? And what could’ve caused her to change?
“Destiny?”
“Hmm?” She looked over at him, and he noticed how tired she seemed. He, too, was feeling a little drained, but he hadn’t realized that it was the same for you.
“We should get some sleep,” he said. “Is it safe for the fire to be on?”
Destiny nodded. “While neither of us can work magic right now, this place is magical. The fire will be fine.” She stretched out on the blanket. “Good night.”
“’Night,” he whispered, but she was already asleep. Pixel sighed, laid down, and closed his eyes.
