The Power of a Kiss - Part 5

Something was probably broken inside her. Although everything was still numb—physically and emotionally—Alicia could feel blood dripping from at least four spots along her body. On her back, on her chest, down her legs. She pulled her sword closer, cradling it against her chest. Right now, she needed to pick up the fight, but didn’t think she could.

In front of her, Maeve, the Phantom Blade. Currently, she was encircled by her swords, still drinking in the power of Scott. Where was he? In her mouth, she assumed . . . or maybe somewhere more intimate. Given the way the elf’s power continued to expand, she figured Scott was incredibly tiny by now.

To the left, Empress Noire and her forces were approaching. How did they infiltrate Hilltop Castle? But then she understood at once. The high elves never sealed the throne room entrance, thinking the Noirites wouldn’t dare try to get in the same way twice. This had been a costly mistake.

The wolf girl, Kiva moved away from the pack, advancing toward Alicia as she lay in the hall. Smelling an easy target, she bounded quickly, jaws snapping. And the moment her teeth were about to close around Alicia’s throat, she made a whimper and jerked backwards.

Audra held the beast by the tail. It was good fortune she was here—the assassins had been sleeping at the far end of the Hero’s Hallway. But with the noise Maeve was causing, there wouldn’t be a closed eye for half a mile.

Kiva scraped at the stones, realized she couldn’t escape, then turned back to bite the dark elf. She turned into humanoid form, arm sailing across, a deadly blade in her hand. Audra’s arm came up but the shower of sparks meant she wasn’t harmed. The blade glinted off the metal vambrace and only fueled Kiva’s anger and frustration.

The rest of the Noirites were approaching but Alicia could hear the scrape of metal and could see the burst of cold energy. For now, most of them were engaged.

She picked herself up off the floor just in time to see a clear bubble appear in the hallway on the other side of Kiva and Audra. Looking back the opposite way, there stood the towering Adelheid. Her hands were out, maintaining the shield that closed off the hall.

“Get her!” said the queen, and she hooked her chin toward Maeve.

Alicia nodded and struggled to take steps. She wasn’t sure how she was going to ‘get’ anybody, but she would try. As she neared Maeve’s room, she found the Phantom Blade still in a trance, still with the circling blades. The wind emanating from her body was almost enough to dislodge Alicia.

She mustered all her strength and entered the room, leaving behind the fighting in the hallway. Maeve wouldn’t listen to reason. That much was clear. This would have to be done the hard way.

The blades spun around her in the same pattern, held there by ancient magic. But Alicia could see a small gap every few seconds. If she was quick, she get Maeve’s attention. She held her sword out, but reconsidered because she didn’t want to hurt Maeve—she just needed to bring the girl back to her senses.

Alicia tossed her sword up and grabbed it by the blade, aimed and waited, then tossed it through the gap. She thought it would be picked up by the wind but the hurl had been fast and true, and the pommel hit Maeve right in the stomach.

Her glowing eyes grew wide and she made a horrible sigh but Alicia hardly had time to see if it would matter. A brilliant blast erupted from Maeve’s core, taking out the walls. The ground trembled as the Hilltop Castle began to rock on its foundation.

When she picked herself up, she saw the walls crumbling all the way down the hallway, exposing all the fighters as if they were on the battlements. Adelheid’s shield faltered as she looked around, eyes full of tears over the treatment of her ancestral home.

Maeve stood, eyes beginning to dim. But Alicia figured she would retaliate, that the power was too strong in her to simply dissipate with a punch to the gut.

But Alicia’s own body was battered and she didn’t fancy another round, so once Maeve began to look around, she rushed her, figuring she would be met by resistance but the fight had gone out of the Phantom Blade. With hardly any effort at all, she pushed the girl right over the now exposed edge of the room. They tumbled down the wall, landing in the courtyard below.

Not waiting for Maeve to recover, Alicia struggled to her feet, pushing the pain out of her mind. The tumble down the side of the castle didn’t cause any fresh wounds, but it certainly made the ones before hurt even more.

Without a weapon, she charged Maeve, who easily grabbed her shoulders and sidestepped. Alicia went hurtling end over end. When she recovered, Maeve’s arms were out, little daggers hovering above her palms.

“Your power is fading,” said Alicia. “Where is he? Where is Scott?”

For a moment, Maeve’s face faltered. She left the daggers floating and reached up and felt her lips, as if checking to see if the tiny man was there but Alicia knew—he’d been lost. Maeve looked back up to the ruined hallway. A large battle raged between the Noirites and the high elves, and the assassins—guests of the castle—were caught in the middle.

“This isn’t over,” said Alicia. “Now come on.” She limped away, heading to the staircase that would lead them back to the hallway.

***

The only thing good about being this small was the ability to slip between the dangers.

When Alicia’s sword thumped Maeve’s stomach, the Phantom Blade made a deep exhalation. And on that breath of air was Scott, caught in a dollop of spittle. He flew out of her mouth and, as far as he could tell, hit the wall and rolled to the floor.

He was vaguely aware that the sky was bleeding in, that the walls and ceiling of the castle had blown away. And he was aware of the fighting. It was all around him. The sounds of screaming, swords clashing. The heat of fireballs and the chill of frosty air.

He’d been hurt, either by Maeve’s aggression or the dislodging from her mouth. Last night, he went to check on her, only to discover she wasn’t herself. He couldn’t explain it, only knew that she wanted to use him to gather more power. In all the time of being an Echo Auger, he’d never been drained so fully.

This was the smallest he’d ever been. He was so tiny that he couldn’t even confirm the large shapes dancing all around him. Somehow he’d floated right into the middle of the battlefield. From this spot on the cracked, stone floor, all of the elves looked like massive, blurry shapes.

The light above was blotted out as a foot hung in the sky. He held his breath, knowing this was probably the end. Even if he wasn’t hurt, he probably wouldn’t have been able to get out of the way in time. His mind was too busy to use the shadow-stepping magic.

The boot came down but he was so small that he lay between the treads. A moment later, the foot was gone. It happened more than once—feet stepped on him but didn’t crush him. If he were this small, just how powerful had Maeve become? Given that the walls and ceiling were gone, he probably had his answer.

When he looked down his body, he was horrified by his condition. The scrapes and cuts were deep. Along his leg he could see the muscle through the torn flesh. At the sight of it, he screamed out, the pain now catching up to the situation. But in the next moment, he saw something quite extraordinary—the wounds were all knitting together. As quickly as he'd registered the pain, it began to subside.

Chancing another look at his horrifying leg, he saw the gap was smaller, closing at the edges like someone was pulling a zipper. He was still struggling to understand the bond between Echo Auger and the one who possessed him, but right now wasn’t the time.

At least he was growing back. It was slow—possibly slower now than it ever had been—but it was happening. When he first left Maeve’s mouth, he felt light as a feather. Now, he was a little more grounded, his weight keeping him from shifting so much. But he reminded himself that with a bigger size came the bigger likelihood that he’d be stomped.

He stood, his legs now able to support the weight. The world was still so massive, the fighting shapes still like giant blobs of color. There was nowhere safe for him, nowhere that he could reach. Normally, he’d find a wall and press himself against it but there were no walls. So, he ran. He didn’t know where he’d go or how far he’d get, but knew he needed to get away from the battle.

But there were so many fighters—he didn’t think he’d get past them. And as it turned out, he never got the chance.

A brilliant white light flooded the battlefield. It took all sight and sound from him. Those fighting took a moment to look up and see it, for every eye in the hallway was enthralled by it.

***

Maeve said nothing as they entered the castle on the ground floor and made their way back to Hero’s Hallway. Well, Hero’s Balcony was now a better term, thought Alicia. Once they reached the top, she wasn’t sure how anyone could manage to fight with so many people crowding the hallway. Before her was a sea of dark elves, assassins, and her high elves.

At the far end stood Adelheid, a look of quiet determination on her face. She wasn’t fighting anyone. In fact, she’d summoned the spectral bubble to surround her body so even if there was unintentional magic or steel hurled her way, it would bounce off.

“Whose side are you on?” Alicia asked Maeve. It was a valid question and the girl looked almost embarrassed. She raised her sword and came down on Gwynevere’s massive blade, then flashed a sad look back to the high elf. Perhaps that was her answer.

It was a good thing the walls were gone because the dark elves’ magic user, Eir, was sending jets of flame from her wrists. She fired off into the crowd indiscriminately but it was up to the other magic users to provide shielding or misdirection.

Alicia held her side—she was still hurt—and it caused her great pain to lift her sword with her right arm. That was unfortunate since this was her primary hand. So, she did what any good swordfighter did, and switched sides. The blade felt awkward in her left hand but she had no choice.

So far, the battle favored the high elves. There were more of them, and more of the assassins who did battle alongside them. The dark elves, led by Empress Noire—who swept her staff out in a wide arc of purple energy—had assumed they would catch them unawares.

She battled her way to the front because the fight didn’t concern her. Adelheid’s stoicism and lack of participation did. Half of Hilltop Castle had been blown away by Maeve’s misuse of the Echo Auger, and it was painful to see her home in such a state.

And where was Scott, anyway? He had to be incredibly small. With the way the fighters danced around each other, it didn’t look good for his survival. By now he was probably paste on someone’s boot. She used this thought to fuel her sword arm as she ventured into the throng of fighting.

The warrior, Kamari, seemed to notice the way Alicia favored her right side and took advantage. She raised her sword, clashing high against Alicia’s blade. Then she pushed her weight to the right, laughing as the high elf winced in pain.

Alicia used her body weight to dodge the incoming slashes, feeling every stitch of anguish in her side as she bent back to let the sword pass over her head. At the last moment, she found an opening and shoved Kamari over the edge, thinking she’d take a second tumble down the wall with another woman. But Kamari fell without her. Alicia jerked back to her feet, held there by Hima, who just nodded and moved on down the hall.

Maeve was behind her, eyes glowing purple with her own magic, for Scott’s power had already fled her. All the other combatants gave her a wide berth as her phantom blades circled close to her body. She fought with no emotion, her eyes and mouth barely moving as she heaved her sword and brought it down again.

Still working her way closer to Adelheid, Alicia put the pain out of her mind and pushed through. A part of her was guilty over how she’d treated the assassins. They could’ve just run off after Maeve started destroying the place. But here they were, pushing back the Noirites as if they lived here, as if they’d always been here.

“We’re not finished yet,” said Kiva, barreling over Empress Noire—who was approaching an eyes-closed Adelheid—and thrust her sword in Alicia’s face.

She kept her head down, her body scrunched to take some of the pressure off her side. Kiva rushed her, blade arcing high and then low. Like the last battle, Alicia let the girl use her own body weight against her, and when she saw an opening, she thrust. Kiva corrected her balance to intercept the blade but it exposed her right side.

Rather than correct her mistake, she dropped to the ground, her human skin exploded from her body, and up rose the wolf again, teeth champing, tongue dangling. Alicia dropped her sword to her feet to catch the mashing jaws. She didn’t have the power to throw the beast over the side, so she collapsed with it, then snatched the dagger from her boot.

As Kiva came down, the blade went up into her gut. Warm blood poured over Alicia as the beast howled. She tucked in her tail and ran by, weaving through legs until she was out of the danger zone. Alicia rolled over and watched her go—a trail of blood behind her.

As she looked through the legs of all the combatants, she saw at least four shapes on the floor, unmoving. And since she could still see the shuffling boots of Empress Noire, Gwynevere, and Maza Remoire, she assumed at least some had to be her people.

Back on her feet, she came face-to-face with the spellcaster, Eir. The lady twisted her hands into claws to fire a point-blank shot at Alicia’s midsection. She raised her sword, knowing she needed to lop off the girl’s hand in order to stop the blast because the blade wasn’t wide enough to block the incoming missile.

But at the last minute a hand snatched her sword arm and held it back. In its place was a glowing, blue shield that absorbed a brilliant arc of fire. She could feel the heat on the other side. Nym pushed out with her spectral shield, knocking the spellcaster off her feet.

While on the ground, Eir held out her arms and several chunks of stone from Maeve’s fallout rose into the air. Both Alicia and Nym dropped to the floor while the mage knight conjured up another shield above them. The rocks hit with a loud thump, then broke apart and rolled away.

Alicia, finding a hidden reserve of power, launched herself forward and tackled the spellcaster. The elf screamed as she went down and without thinking, Alicia hammered the pommel of her sword into her face. A wet snap signaled the break of her nose. She rushed on, now close to the end of the hallway where she’d had the altercation in Maeve’s room.

It was no longer there, just like the rest of the hallway. Even Adelheid’s massive room was without walls and ceiling, the large bed unmade behind her. She was still standing where the door had been, a protective aura covering her entire body. She was unarmed but held an amber-colored stone in her hand, thumb rubbing rigorously across it.

Empress Noire was still moving to challenge her.

But Alicia had a clear line to the leader of the Noirites. She rushed her, sword held high, pain radiating through her midsection. At the last moment, the empress spun on her heel and raised her staff to ward off the attack. Alicia was surprised by her speed and ferocity. There was clearly a lot of magical augmentation in her body.

“Beaten once again,” said the empress, giving her staff a twirl. A red glow fanned out. “I’m assuming the Echo Auger is gone?”

Alicia didn’t have an answer for her, nor did she want to speak. She wanted to end this. She wanted to feel safe in her castle again. Biting her tongue against the pain, she lunged forward, sword faking low, then slashing overhead. Empress Noire didn’t take the bait and she easily turned the blade aside.

Again and again Alicia jabbed but the dark elf seemed to anticipate her every move. Alicia figured it was due to her own sluggish movements rather than Noire being so skilled at parrying and riposting.

Until now, Noire was playing defensive, toying with Alicia. But that was fine because the high elf’s main goal was to protect Adelheid. She didn’t know what was happening with the half-golem queen, only that she wasn’t working to expel the invaders.

But the time for offense had come and Noire lunged with her staff. Alicia watched the edge of it turn to frost just as the tip bit down on her cheek. She screamed out and lost her sword. When she rolled over, she found it teetering on the edge. As she crawled toward it, gravity took the blade end and it fell over.

She rolled back just in time to see the end of Noire’s staff coming right for her. One thrust she dodged and the next one she caught between her hands. The end of the staff was jagged—not wood, but some kind of marble carved to resemble a gnarled oak. The shards cut her hands as she tried to hold the pointy end from piercing her eye.

Noire laughed above her, pushing down with all her might while Alicia’s arms began to burn and wobble. All around her, the sounds of her sister elves, the sounds of the assassins who’d simply stayed the night, were drawing to a close. On the ground, she looked to her right—so many high elves lay in pools of blood. And to the left, Adelheid who’d just opened her eyes. The amber stone was now floating on her palm. It vibrated and Alicia could see little fissures appearing along the surface. For a moment, they made eye contact.

And then the stone exploded, the blast making her ears pop. But in the next moment she was gone. And so was Adelheid. And Empress Noire. And everyone else who battled at Hilltop Castle.

***

Adelheid’s mother had been a golem named Trita. She came from a land far to the east of the Cloud Dominion, in what was called the City of Glass. It was the only place where golem-kind and elf-kind coexisted. At one time, there were even humans. It was here that Dinnin decided that his creatures had grown too plentiful and that he wanted demi-gods to help govern the world.

He created the idea of the Echo Auger.

For centuries, humans were thought to be inferior to elves. After all, humans had shorter lifespans, were clumsy, and couldn’t see alternate spectrums of light. At nighttime, they were all but useless.

Some thought Dinnin’s reasoning was to make a mockery of elves, some thought he had a soft spot for humans. But the only way an elf could reach godhood was through a union with humans. Their bond had to be so great that the elf transcended mortality and the human had to give up their life.

For a time, there was an Echo Auger for every elf. The City of Glass became an odd place because every elfin creature was imparted a measure of power. Some only gained minor abilities, such as water-walking, the ability to conjure food out of thin air, or to leap from tall structures without injury. Others were given incredible power, such as immortality, the ability to change size at will, and the power to control someone’s mind. This created an imbalance in society that remained until the Dark Day.

A group of vagrants made up of golems and elves decided they didn’t like the pact Dinnin had forced upon them. For years, they’d been devising a way to return the balance—and power—to the elves and golems. Men had no place in their world.

A particularly cunning dark elf named Gretal was given supernatural intellect from her Echo Auger. An alchemist by trade, she invented some of the most remarkable elixirs that the world still used a century after her death. One particular concoction was a deadly disease that only affected Echo Augers. She dosed her own as a test and allowed him to carry it throughout the city.

In two weeks, nearly every human was dead. The elves and golems mourned, their power subsiding. All of the deities who reached full communion with their Echo Augers had already ascended. What was left in the City of Glass was a collection of morose elves and golems who didn’t know their place without their companion. It wasn’t discovered until twenty years after her death that Gretal was responsible. By then, the world had changed.

Adelheid’s family moved west, away from the City of Glass once the Echo Augers began to die. Trita’s Echo Auger’s name was Shell and he spent most of his days at a mere six inches tall, for her mother’s power was invisibility. She used this ability to keep them fed, to keep them hidden in communities that didn’t welcome golemkind.

Adelheid never knew how her family came to reside at Hilltop. Her mother had always said it was an ancestral home but she didn’t believe it. Still, Trita had firsthand knowledge of the place and could talk about its history as if she’d grown up there. In time, Adelheid believed they did have an ancestral link.

When Trita died, Shell passed on to Adelheid. But it wasn’t just an Echo Auger that the golem had given her. It was also the stone.

They called it the Rebirth Stone, although Adelheid never knew the story of how her mother had come to possess it. She’d heard many stories—from an Echo Auger in the City of Glass crafting it to Trita finding it in a basket in the dungeons of Hilltop Castle. Either way, it held immense power and Adelheid didn’t take this lightly.

One morning, she and Trita were riding a few hours from the castle. When it was just the two of them, Trita pulled the stone from her pocket and showed it to a teenage Adelheid.

“What’s that?”

“One day you’ll have important people in your life. Lots of them. You’re going to be a great ruler someday.”

“I don’t know about that,” said Adelheid. “No one will accept a half golem, half elf. I’ll be hated by both sides.”

“The world is still changing. You will not be. Now listen: This stone is old. Older than our people. While its power is great, it can only be used once. So you must be sure you mean it.”

“How do you use a stone?” she asked, laughing. “You mean like skipping across a pond?”

Trita smiled. “No, dear. Not like that. It’ll take a very intricate spell to cast. You’ll need to recite around three-hundred words.”

Adelheid rolled her eyes. This was too much like schoolwork. But she said, “Okay.”

“The magic is tied to our home. If Hilltop Castle is ever threatened, if you know that the ones you love will be destroyed. Then use the stone.”

“If the stone can do all that, then why didn’t you use this to save my father?”

Trita lowered her head and shook it. “I wasn’t ready to make that sacrifice and I regret it every single day. But you should know something about the Rebirth Stone.”

“What?”

“It can fix a lot of things. But it demands a sacrifice.”

“How so?”

Trita looked at her, eyes pleading and dark. She said, “It means for you to save the ones you love, you’ll have to die.”

***

Scott had no idea what was happening.

He was still incredibly small. The world had grown silent and that worried him. Where was the battle? Where were the screams, the clashes of swords and the heat and icy touch of magic? It was all gone. He’d fallen asleep . . . or maybe he’d been knocked unconscious. The last thing he could remember was seeing Alicia’s giant boot next to him, then running toward her as she lay on the floor, about to have a staff shoved right into her face.

Then, the world went silent.

He sat up and felt the ground beneath him. It wasn’t the same stones as the castle hallway. In fact, he thought he was on some massive animal, for it felt more like fur than grass. It was dark and warm, like little wisps of yarn. As the ground moved, he realized that’s exactly what it was, because he was lying on someone’s cloak.

The world rose, then fell. Rose, then fell. Breathing. He was on someone’s body, but who? His tiny eyes couldn’t see far—the world beyond was dark but the sky was purple. Maybe it was morning. The way the faraway shapes rose into points suggested he was looking at trees. As he turned a circle, he didn’t see any unnatural shapes, no boxy greys that meant castle walls. The only thing he saw in front of him was a long black field, spotted with golden designs. Scott tried to conjure up all the people he’d met in this strange new world who would wear such a thing but couldn’t form the image in his mind.

He crawled up the hill, feeling the warmth of the person beneath him. When he reached the top, he saw silky black hair, strands as thick as his arm. As the giant elf breathed, he saw a sliver of skin—it was a dark elf. One of the enemies, or one of the assassins who joined sides with the high elves?

Scott realized he was standing on her shoulder and as he looked up at her hair, realized there was a cat-like ear sprouting from the side of her hair. Not an elf at all, but a cat-girl.

Maza Remoire.

This rapier-wielding baddy could hold her own in a fight and Scott knew she wouldn’t be forthcoming with him. He was the enemy and she’d probably squash him flat without a second thought. Right now, she seemed to be sleeping . . . or perhaps hurt.

Scott sat down, then eased himself to the ground, falling to the spot between her shoulder and cheek. She was breathing—her breath came out hot and sweet. If she woke right now, she could probably eat him without chewing. That notion got him moving.

He tried to conjure up his shadowstep ability but it didn’t work. Unlike before when he couldn’t teleport into places with light, his ability now didn’t even activate. It was as if he never even had it. Maybe it was only temporary, that Carina’s dying gift was now just a memory.

Without any clue of his location, he decided to start walking. There was no telling how far Maza had been pitched from the battle—and somehow Scott had become attached to her while she soared away.

He’d learned enough about Hilltop’s location to recognize the landscape. There were no stones under his feet, only tightly packed dirt and dry leaves. As he turned a full circle, his limited vision told him right away that this was a new place, that he wasn’t near the castle. Even if the Noirites succeeded in taking it over, Scott saw no evidence of Hilltop or the surrounding city. Only lumpy mountains and trees.

It was taking a long time to grow back.

Something had changed in the world, although he couldn’t understand it. The sun was starting to rise, the purple pulling back to reveal blue and gold. A white object caught his attention. It was only a few feet away but it took him nearly five minutes to reach it. He hoped it wasn’t a bug or worse yet—a spider. But once he reached it, his mind pulled in a hundred different directions.

“What the hell?”

It was a smashed cigarette butt, half the length of his body. Along the rim of the filter read the word Marlboro.

A cigarette butt. A brand from his world. How did it get here in the Cloud Dominion?

He was still staring at it when he heard Maza, only ten feet away, shifting. As soon as he turned, he saw her lifting herself off the ground, leaves clumped in her hair. She seemed to be searching her surroundings and although he couldn’t see her face clearly from this distance, he could tell in her body language that something wasn’t right, that she detected a strangeness to her surroundings.

And then, her head turned toward him. Surely, he was too small for her to see. Surely, he’d walked enough to hide amongst the blades of grass and tiny stones along the forest floor. But no, Maza had cat-like eyes and could’ve seen him another twenty feet off.

Before he could even hope to run, she pounced, her hands wrapping around him, locking him away inside a prison of fingers.

“There you are,” she said. “Where are we, little man? I do not recognize this place.”

And neither do I, thought Scott. Although Maza had no way of knowing that. For all the dark elves knew, he, the high elf Echo Auger, had lived in Hilltop his entire life.

“I can’t see very well. I have to grow back more.”

“Fine,” she said. “But you’re coming with me.”

He didn’t have much choice. The giantess was immense and all-encompassing. When she pulled her hands away, her beautiful face dominated his entire world. Her eyes were so big, so deep. As she spoke, he could see his reflection in them. But lucky for him, he could also see that he was growing back.

As she picked him up and held him on her palm, he was able to look around from a bird’s eye view. Although his blurry vision couldn’t see far, it did confirm that he was in some kind of forest.

“Where are we?” she asked. “Speak.”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll have to be a little bigger before I can see into the distance.”

“How long will that take?”

“I don’t know. I’m growing slow. Maeve . . . took a lot of my power.”

“And look where it got us.”

“I don’t think this was because of Maeve,” he said, and although he didn’t doubt the link between elf and Echo Auger, he thought it unlikely Maeve sent him and Maza so far away from the battlefield.

She said nothing, just kept walking. Eventually, she needed both her hands so she placed him atop her head and instructed him to hold onto her hair. It was like grasping ropes. At such a small size, the silkiness was lost, replaced by a coarse bundle of straw-like hair.

Within fifteen minutes, he’d grown so large that he slid down her back, still holding her hair, and stood on her shoulders. By now, he could see much better and could confirm they weren’t in any place he’d ever been.

“Where are your people?” he asked by her long, slender ear. It stood at attention when he spoke.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen anyone, no bodies, nothing. Do you not recognize this place?”

“I’m not from this world,” he told her. “But no, we should at least be able to see Hilltop and the city.”

Again, she said nothing. Just walked along in silence. But he could hear her muttering, could hear her angst increasing by the minute. She didn’t like being separated from her people.

“I didn’t know Noirites could get so upset,” he said, an attempt to inject levity into the quiet situation.

She smirked, her whole body shuddering. “They accepted me when no one else did.” Scott didn’t know what else to make of that, only that Maza wasn’t really an elf, although she tried to blend in with them.

Her skin was dark, the same hue as their lighter-toned kind. She kept her hair smooth and silky and pulled over her long, feline ears. But the tail is the part she worked the hardest to conceal—it was coiled around in a circle and tied with a string, then hidden beneath her flowing cloak of black and gold.

Scott became large enough to walk on his own. Surprisingly, Maza didn’t leave him, which would’ve been easy considering her long legs. He stood, roughly, as high as her knees, which meant he struggled across a lot of the brambles and fallen trees.

He wasn’t sure why he was going in the same direction as his enemy, and she probably wondered the same thing. This event, whatever it had been, had united them, if for no other reason than to both find out what really happened.

“Stop,” she said, and he smashed right into the back of her leg. He was glad the forest was warm—he was naked and didn’t know how he’d survive in the cold.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Water. I’m thirsty.”

And now that she mentioned it, so was he.

Maza changed course, heading off toward the west with a gait that meant she had a purpose. In another five minutes, they came upon a babbling stream moving right through the middle of the forest. The edge was high and Scott looked over, wondering how he was going to reach it.

But then Maza hopped in the water. It came up to her thighs, so she scooped up a handful, then presented it to him. After staring at her for a moment, she said, “Well go on, then. I’m not going to hold it all day.”

He put his shrunken hands along the bottom of hers so that he could steady her, then leaned in and drank. The water was cool and refreshing.

Maza drank until her hands were empty, then her eyes went wide as she stared at something in the sky.

“What . . . is that?”

Scott followed her gaze and he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. After all, he’d not seen one since he’d left Earth.

It was a car.

A small, blue sedan-type vehicle was hanging in a tree, as if it had been deposited there by giant fingers. How did it get there? How did it even get into the Cloud Dominion?

“That’s a car,” he answered.

“Car?”

“It’s a vehicle.” When her ears flicked to the sides, he clarified. “It’s like an automatic chariot. The horses are mechanical.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Because they don’t exist here. That’s something from my world.”

“I don’t understand.”

For the next twenty minutes, he explained everything, unsure of why he was coming bare to this enemy. If Alicia could see him now, she’d be very upset. But then again, Alicia was probably dead. There was no sense in assuming she’d be okay after all that had happened.

Scott explained what a car was, Earthrealm, the portal and how he’d come to be in the Cloud Dominion. What he couldn’t explain was why there was a car hanging in the tree, why he’d found a modern-day, Earthly cigarette butt in the weeds.

“It’s like our worlds are overlapping,” he said. “What did your people do?”

“My people did nothing. We don’t have the ability to conjure such magic. What did yourpeople do?”
 “We don’t have that power, either,” said Scott, although he wasn’t sure if this was a lie or not. The elves seemed to surprise him at every turn.

She chuckled and wiped a hand across her forehead. The sun was coming up and the forest was hot and sticky. She was sweating and Scott figured the armor had to be sweltering.

“Your leader is far more powerful than you could ever know,” said Maza. “My kind has feared her for decades. And before we were separated from everyone, she seemed to be in the midst of deep magic.” Scott, having been so small on the floor, couldn’t verify this but didn’t think Maza had any reason to lie.

“I don’t know,” he said, and threw his arms up.

She stared at him a moment, her intense eyes making him want to look away, yet he couldn’t pull himself from her. She was a beautiful girl and he rarely got to consider anyone who wasn’t a high elf. Maza’s cat-like features made her all the more alluring. On Earth, she’d be one of the most attractive women in the world.

“You’re growing,” she said, and he looked down at his body, now aware that he’d gotten bigger since their stop at the stream. By now, he was probably closing in on three feet tall. As he stared down at his cock, it began to awaken, growing hard and long. It was embarrassing but he couldn’t help it. Maza just laughed. “I didn’t mean growing like that.”

Before he could answer, she turned around and waded into the water. She unfastened her cloak and placed it on the opposite bank. Scott marveled as she began to undress, first pulling off her boots, then her vambraces and pauldrons. Finally, she slipped the breast plate over her body and dumped it across the stream. Her back was beautiful, her skin the oddest shade he’d ever seen. A long, jagged cut ran from her right shoulder blade down to her hip.

She sat down, disappearing beneath the water. Scott was surprised—he thought cats hated it. But bubbles rose to the surface for a full thirty seconds before she lifted herself out. As she cleared her face, she moved backward, toward him, as if she wanted him to touch her.

So, he reached up and started scratching the spot between her ears. Instantly, her body went rigid, as if he’d put a spell on her. But then he saw the goosebumps breaking out along her neck, could hear the soft breathing—almost purring—exiting her mouth. The more he scratched and rubbed, the more she sank into him.

Finally, she turned around and put her hands to the left and right of him. Her body, very much like an Earth girl’s, grabbed his attention at once. She had large, nearly perfect breasts. They were always hidden beneath the armor. When he finally pulled his gaze from them, he saw a fire in her eyes—one of deep arousal.

Clearly, he’d hit the right spot.

She kissed him, her lips mismatched against his. At once, he felt his inches slipping away. Her tongue swelled larger in his mouth as he felt her draining his size. Likewise, he could feel her become invigorated as she took his essence. He wondered what kind of gift he would bestow upon her, but for now, he just enjoyed it.

When she separated, her eyes were glowing, but that was normal for anyone who first tasted the power of the Echo Auger. It was addicting and he could see it in Maza’s expression that she wanted more.

Her kisses moved from his lips down to his cheek, then to his neck. Because her face was so big, he had to turn his head to the side to accommodate her. She used her tongue, gently tracing across his throat and down his chest. Now, his massive erection didn’t look so massive.

She backed away, then settled a little deeper in the water, and rested her hands across his legs, as if waiting for permission to go to the next stage. This was restraint he didn’t expect in those who kept company with dark elves. He assumed whatever Maza wanted, she took. Still, he nodded his acceptance.

A grin festered on her face, growing wide and toothy, and then she descended on his cock. The vigor she used to suck told Scott that she’d been a long time without a partner. It was as if she were discovering this pleasure all over again, and getting her proverbial money’s worth. He leaned back on his elbows, looking up at the car, as her dark hair began to spread in front of him. The more his little heart beat, the quicker he seemed to shrink.

After only a few minutes, he was small enough to throw his feet up on her wet shoulders. Still, Maza sucked him and he fought to keep from shooting his load so soon because he didn’t want to ruin her fun.

But eventually, he lost the battle. His legs, now too short to reach her shoulders, slipped off. He pumped cum into her mouth as she grinned and moaned, her breath sticky on his body. Slowly, she wound down her efforts until finally separating from her. Scott was roughly a foot tall but he could feel the ground shifting beneath him as he continued to shrink.

Maza stood up straight, her large breasts blocking most of her face. She wiped her chin and rested her hands on the bank in front of him, staring with a sense of wonder. He knew right away that she wasn’t through with him.

“So this is what it feels like to have an Echo Auger’s power flowing through your veins?” She made a giddy little laugh that sounded so out of character for her.

She lifted herself out of the water and sat on the bank next to him, her giant body seemingly going up forever. Scott stood and placed his hand on her thigh—it was warm, but he could feel the muscles tensing.

And then, without waiting for his approval, she picked him up and shoved him between her legs. His head rammed against her labia once before she figured out the angle and pushed him inside.

She relaxed but only a little. The fit was still hurting his shoulders. Her fingers gripped his ankle and she shoved in and out, making herself wetter with each pass. Scott had played this game several times before and could read someone’s body language quite easily—even from the inside.

So he could hear her otherworldly wails as she neared orgasm. When it came, he was already clenching, already closing his eyes against the immense pressure and heat and wetness he’d be slapped with in just a moment. And as her juices washed over him, he was expelled like an arrow from a bow.

But Maza was quick—she was ready to catch him as he flew out, despite his entire body being so slick. Both of them were panting.

As she began to dress herself, a painstaking process of donning armor that she rarely took off in the company of others, he found himself wondering what powers he’d bestowed upon her. All of the elves had glowing eyes after absorbing him but the abilities could be wildly different.

Again, he tried his shadowstep ability, if for no other reason than to confirm he still had it. But again, it failed. It was as if he’d dreamed the whole thing. Carina’s dying gift was no more.

Maza said little as she reattached her cloak. Once she was dressed, hair slicked back, she bent over and snatched him. He’d started to grow, so she gave him a lick from his legs up to his face, ensuring he’d dwindle a few inches again. When he was palm-sized, she placed him between her breasts and started to walk, aimless of where she was and where she was going.

***

Alicia woke to Maeve shaking her.

Her eyes opened and she became aware of the great pain in her side. As she looked down the length of her body, she saw a horrible, purple bruise at her ribcage and she knew at once that one of them was broken.

“I thought you were dead for a minute,” said the Phantom Blade.

“Me too,” said another voice that she didn’t recognize at first.

They were inside an ornate building but the windows were shattered. Alicia’s head rested on a cool marble floor. As she turned to the side and lifted herself up, she realized it wasn’t a building, but merely half of one.

A forest stretched in all directions but the small room in which she lay appeared to have been deposited there. Three walls stood while the fourth one was in rubble. It took her a moment to realize she’d been in this place before—it was part of the museum back in the Earthrealm.

But why was it here, detached from the building and in the forest?

“Here,” said Renalla, the assassin who’d been staying at Hilltop Castle. She reached into her side pouch and pulled out a small bottle of reddish liquid. “One healing potion.”

“Is this for real?” asked Alicia, knowing that such things were rare and often very expensive.

“It is. We have the greatest alchemists back home. They can turn dirt and rocks into the most useful ingredients.”

Alicia stared at the bottle for a moment, seeing a tiny glimmer inside, like silvery specks. She looked at the assassin with apprehension.

“You’ve been knocked out for ten minutes. If I wanted to kill you, I would have.”

Maeve said nothing, her face darkened. She sat down and looked toward the edge of the forest.

Alicia unscrewed the lid and drank the contents. It wasn’t much, barely a taste, but the effects were almost instantaneous. She felt a warmth spreading down her stomach as if she could track the liquid inside her. She felt a numbness at the sore spot, and right before her eyes the purple bruising vanished, replaced by her silky, white skin. The pain was gone.

“Thank you,” said Alicia. She stood, feeling the strength return to her legs. “Where are we?”

“Difficult to say,” said Maeve, still not making eye contact. “Adelheid used the Rebirth Stone.”

“I don’t know what that is,” said Alicia, but it had to be the strange amber-colored rock that Adelheid was fond of rubbing. Alicia just assumed it was a fidgeting tool, something to occupy the queen’s bottled-up energy.

“Adelheid told me the story long ago,” said Maeve. “Whenever Hilltop Castle was threatened, she was to use the power of this stone . . . this heirloom, to reset the world. Take it back to a time when it wasn’t threatened.”

“That makes no sense,” said Renalla.

“Why is part of the Earthrealm here?” Alicia asked.

Maeve shrugged. “I think since the Echo Auger is here. It reset part of his world, too. But old magic is complicated. Seems as if in doing the reset, the worlds have started to merge.”

“Then we have to fix it,” Alicia said, and she stepped out of the marble room and onto the forest floor. “We have to find Adelheid to undo this.”

She walked off ten paces and turned back to see Maeve still in the same spot. Renalla had a questioning look upon her face.

The Phantom Blade said, “Adelheid is dead.”

“What? How can you know that?”

“Because she also told me the Rebirth Stone needs a sacrifice. She gave her life to protect her ancestral home.”

“That can’t be true,” Alicia said, feeling the anger rise in her voice.

“It is. I’m sorry.”

“This is all your fault!” Alicia said, and she rushed Maeve. She expected phantom blades to rise to meet her but they didn’t. Maeve just stood there as Alicia slammed a fist across her face. The sound was so loud and sudden that Renalla gasped and took a step forward to come between them.

Maeve grabbed her jaw and tested it, then spat blood on the floor. She nodded and said, “I deserve that. But whether or not I took Scott, the Noirites were already in the castle.”

“Why did you take him? He’s probably dead by now because of you.”

She nodded. “I needed to feel powerful again. If I could’ve controlled it, maybe Adelheid wouldn’t have had to sacrifice herself.”

“Well you couldn’t and now we’re here,” said Alicia walking off. She shrugged off Renalla, who’d tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

For a little while, Alicia led the other two through a dense forest. It was unlike any place she’d ever seen. The trees here were all towering oaks where most of the ones outside of Hilltop Castle were pine.

Throughout the journey, they spied many other objects that didn’t belong. Things that looked advanced and mechanical, and certainly in colors that didn’t belong in the spectrum available in the Cloud Dominion. Alicia didn’t know what any of these things were, but was certain Scott could identify them all.

It pained her to think of how he’d probably died beneath someone’s foot. The best scenario she could hope for was that he survived and was pitched randomly into the reset world, just as the three of the ladies had been. Even that presented challenges, for he would be small at first, and if the natives of the Cloud Dominion didn’t know where they were, an Earthrealm human would certainly be lost.

A short while later, Renalla, attempting to break the silence, said, “If Adelheid possessed the ability to reset the world, why didn’t she do it when she was in captivity? Wasn’t the whole place under dark elf occupation while she was locked away?”

Maeve answered. “I don’t think she had the stone on her. She kept it in a jewelry box on her nightstand. It was a blessing no one took it. But after that, after she was free, she carried it always.”

Again, they walked in silence until Renalla said, “We need to get to higher ground. To see where exactly we are.”

But neither were listening. Alicia had pulled out her sword and Maeve had conjured up her phantom blades. They heard a rustling in the leaves just to the right.

“Hide!” Alicia whispered, to which the three elves put their backs against thick trees and waited. The sound was getting closer.

The high elves had an elaborate hand-signaling system for situations like this. She waved her hand to get Maeve’s attention.

They’re going to pass right between us.

Yes.

Be ready to fight.

They looked at Renalla who just shrugged.

And in another three seconds, they pounced . . .

***

Just as Scott and Maza had discovered in one part of the forest and Maeve, Alicia, and Renalla discovered in another, Tayte and Hima were realizing the world was different. While not privy to the same information regarding the Rebirth Stone, Hima knew something was wrong.

“It’s like our worlds are merging,” she told the assassin. “We were all sent away from Hilltop Castle and are now . . . I dunno, in the overlap.”

Just then, a noise ripped through the forest and out came Gwynevere. She was unarmed, her eyes frantic as she tried to understand what was happening. When she saw the two elves, she grabbed a handful of dirt and tried to blind Hima.

The elf stepped aside and waved her hand, unraveling the blue spirit flame from her core. Gwynevere was too slow to dodge and the coils of cold fire wrapped around her body, solidifying into bluish ice. With her body so tightly wound, she fell over with a heavy thud.

Hima put a foot against the ice to keep Gwynevere from rolling away.

“Where’s the rest of your kind?” she asked.

Gwynevere looked as if she was going to spit at her, but a long, slender icicle appeared in Hima’s hand, the tip dangerously close to the dark elf’s eye.

“I don’t know,” she said at last. “I was about to kill that high elf back at the castle and the next thing I know, I’m waking up in the forest.”

Hima believed her. It was the case for her and the assassin.

“We should leave her,” said Tayte. “Let the wild animals have her.” Gwynevere’s eyes went wide for a moment, then narrowed back to slits. She wasn’t one to show emotion, and certainly not fear.

“No,” Hima said. “She comes with us until we figure out what’s happening.” With a wave of her hand, the ice around Gwynevere’s legs crumbled away. The top half of her was still encased.

When the dark elf was on her feet, Tayte pushed her forward and said, “Walk.”

The forest was quiet. It was almost as if there were no animals, no birds, no bugs. The more they walked, the more they saw evidence of the Earthrealm and Hima wondered how the rest of her friends were faring, especially the tiny man who probably struggled to make sense of everything around him.

“Your leader used some hefty magic,” Gwynevere grumbled. “Seems she didn’t know quite what she was doing.”

“Shut up,” said Hima.

“We may be it,” the dark elf continued. “Your friends, the pretty elf with the pale skin, the tiny man . . . I bet they’re all dead.”

Tayte kicked her in the back. Gwynevere stumbled and the moment she hit the forest floor, the ice cracked right down the middle. Tasting freedom, she scrambled to her feet and ran off.

“Dammit,” said Hima, and chased after.

Tayte reached into her boot and pulled out a pair of daggers, then tossed them at the fleeing elf. Both missed the mark by inches, sinking into a thick tree instead.

Hima hurled icicles in her direction but was met with similar success. The dark elf was fast. In just a few seconds, she’d climbed a hill and disappeared down the other side. The elves figured they’d lost her for good until they reached the bottom of the next hill.

She was on the ground with Alicia standing over her, foot on her back. Each time Gwynevere struggled, Alicia put on more pressure. It was satisfying to hear the dark elf cry out in pain and discomfort.

Alicia wasn’t alone—both Maeve and Renalla were there. The assassins met and hugged, then checked each other for wounds. Hima loved that sense of comradery. It seemed to be fleeing the paladins by the second.

“Is Scott with you?” Alicia asked her.

Hima shook her head, to which the high elf nodded and looked away. Hima put an arm around her and said, “Look, we’re all just scattered. But he’s out there somewhere. I’m sure of it. Just like Nym and Shizare and Adelheid.”

At the mention of their leader’s name, both Alicia and Maeve stiffened. Hima looked to both of them for an explanation.

“What’s wrong?”

***

“This place looks familiar,” said Scott. He’d been steadily growing for the last hour and each time he grew too heavy, Maza looked down, pulled his face up by the chin, and kissed him on the lips. One ten-second kiss was enough to bring him back to a more manageable size.

They were standing on a cliff, looking out to the water. At the top of the hill was a massive stone building that was ornate enough to be a church, although a church unlike any he’d ever seen before. As Maza turned a circle, Scott finally pieced together where he’d seen this place.

“Stop!” he said. “Please. Go right. Go to the temple on the hill.”

“Why?”

“I just need to see something. Please.”

She didn’t move at first, but finally he could feel her breathe a heavy sigh, then she marched up the steep incline until they were at the apex of the hill. She stood in the doorway of the temple but there was no one inside. The place looked as if it hadn’t been used in some time.

“Now what?” she asked.

“I know this place,” he said. “It’s where we buried Carina.”

“Who?”

“Nevermind. The building wasn’t here before, just the altar at the far end.”

“This building is quite old. I don’t think it could’ve been built in our lifetime.”

“No,” said Scott, conceding the point. “It could not have been.”

And that’s when he realized that not only were the worlds in chaos, but so was the timeline . . .

They left the cliffside and returned to the forest. Scott knew where there was a small town—the place where the assassins had tracked the bandits. Scott figured it wouldn’t even be there, but if he could get his bearings, then he could figure out how to get back to Hilltop Castle.

If it were still standing.

If it had already been built . . .

They were only half a mile into the forest when they heard a rustling ahead. Maza drew her rapier, expecting to take on the full high elf army when the leaves exploded and out came Kiva.

She was in wolf form, and limping heavily. Just before changing back, she let out a howl. It was the same one she used on scouting missions when she needed to alert the others.

Soon, more dark elves approached.

“Empress,” said Maza, just as Noire broke through the trees. Both Kamari and Eir were with her, each nursing wounds that looked awful. They’d had run-ins with Alicia before the world went to hell.

“Where is Gwynevere?” asked Maza.

“We hoped she was with you,” said Empress Noire, stepping closer. “My, my, what did you find?” She looked directly at Scott.

“Something for my troubles,” said Maza, stepping back defensively. He surely hoped there wouldn’t be a fight over him, not again.

But Empress Noire considered the tiny man—and her soldier—for a long time. Finally, she stepped back and said, “We’ll discuss this later. For now, we have to figure out where we are.”

“We need a guide,” Maza said. “The little man doesn’t know much.”

“We have a guide,” said Kiva, and it was only now that Scott noticed Kamari was holding ropes in her hand. She stepped forward and yanked, and four bound captives stumbled closer.

The first was Shizare, her mouth covered, arms wrapped tightly. Behind her was Nym, equally confined. After that was Audra. The final elf lagged behind and Kamari said, “Come on, you!” She jerked the rope and the elf went down.

As the shadows parted around her, Scott expected to see Alicia. This elf was small and lithe like her, but the moment she stepped beyond the shadows of the trees, he saw the shock of white hair—and he felt his blood going cold.

As she got to her feet, she cast the others in a cold gaze. If not for her mouth being covered, she would’ve been telling them all how she felt over such treatment. Scott couldn’t believe his eyes. He was seeing a ghost.

Now he knew why he couldn’t shadowstep. The power, gifted to him in death, was no more.

Because she was alive.

Carina.