Callia's Redemption

A few hours later, I can hear the boys speaking among themselves, while Mary and Allie try to encourage Penny. It’s exhausting to have to dig this much, even for an Earth God as strong as her. It’s taxing, and I can already hear her starting to pant.

“What happens if they find us under here,” Alaric whispers. “I mean, we’re trapped with nowhere to go.”

“Who would think to look underground for us?” Garth whispers. “No one is looking for us.”

“Says who?” Alaric snaps, anxiety giving it an extra sting.

“It’ll take them a bit to think of us being underground.” I yawn, breaking into their conversation. Ambra hops onto my stomach and curls in, getting ready for a nap. It’s not wide enough for her to fly. “I transported the horses to the Lava God City. Morticious will have sensed my spell, and think I transported us out.”

“You what!” Allie yells. “Callia that could have killed you.”

“Morticious would have done that if I hadn’t.” I rest my head on Garth’s chest, giving off a sweet pine scent.

“Let’s move.” Garth sighs, cutting off Allie’s snappy reply. He starts walking as we hear Penny working, forcing the tunnel to go deeper.

“How far do we need to go?” Penny asks after three hours of walking.

“Until we’re far enough away from Gstalt and Morticious. Then we can rest, and I can transport us to Mayia. That way I’ll be too drain for them to sense we’ve entered the city.” I hope, I sigh internally.

“We’ll transport ourselves.” Mary says quickly. “You transport the boys. We don’t need you almost killing yourself to get us there.”

“I resent that.” I yawn again. “I’d totally be able to do it.” I’m not going to argue further, since she is technically right.

“Don’t argue Callia,” Allie sighs. “I agree with what Mary said. I’ll use my magic to transport Penny and then travel through the ground with my water body.”

“Good idea.” Penny agrees, her voice a little strained. She’s getting tired.

“Did anyone pack food?” Arin sighs.

“I did.” Mary says quickly. “But I left it in my room since someone had to show up early and try to kill us.”

“Those bastards.” I giggle. I’m hitting a delirious stage.

“We better let her sleep soon.” Allie touches my forehead. “Her body will give up in a few hours.”

“That’s when we’ll stop.” Penny says as she deepens the tunnel. “If Callia can keep going, so can I.”

“It’s not a competition love.” Mary says, causing me to snap open my eyes and look at them. “Oh, like you didn’t know,” She laughs at my reaction.

I grin. “So it’s official?”

Penny nods, going to hold Mary’s hand.

“Finally!” I nearly yell. “You two have been going back and forth since you met. I was a little surprised you two didn’t come together while I was dead.”

Mary waves me off. “Stuff happens.”

I close my eyes again and go back to lightly dozing as we start walking again in silence. I know better to ask questions involving the love life of two other people.

We stop after four hours. At that point we all just went to sleep and waited until I recharged.

My dreams are filled with Morticious attacking me. He was so strong. Stronger than I was. How did he get so strong? Where is Gstalt? Morticious is attacking with black magic and his lava magic. He chuckles menacingly as he shoots fire and engulfs me in it. I cannot move. Disabled from my magic, I can feel death. I know it’s coming. Why won’t it hurry? He shoots a black flame at me.

I bolt awake, alarmed by the dream. It felt so real. My breathing is labored as I look around, only finding darkness. Ambra nuzzles me in the chest, having me stroke her to calm myself down. I can hear light snoring from one of the boys as they still sleep, unaware of what just went through my head.

I calm my adrenalin as I lay back down, slowing my breathing. I try to shove the dream from my mind. Why did Morticious have Gstalt’s magic? That would be a living nightmare if that were to happen. He’d be stronger than I and no power on this planet could beat him. A Spirit would have to intervene, and since they’re bound by magical law, they cannot. So why can they interfere with my life?

“Callia?” A voice breathes, making me turn my head. It’s Allie. “Are you awake?”

“Unfortunately.” I sigh. “What’s wrong?” Her voice is so sad.

“Marok died.” She bursts into tears, and I feel herself pressing into me as she wraps her arms around me.

“How?” I gasp as I feel pain shredding through my chest. I start crying. We try to be quiet as the others sleep.

“He-He” Her breath hitches. Marok was basically a father to her. Allie was orphaned after a fight between the Lava Gods and Water Gods killed her parents. No one wanted to take Allie in since her magic was strong. They were worried it’d outgrow her. Marok took her in and helped her build and grow her magic. Her magic is still growing, which is hard to understand. Usually we hit our peak levels once we finish puberty. If it weren’t for me, Allie would be the strongest being on this planet. Penny is only slightly behind her. Mary is trailing, as is my friend Moria.

Mary wakes up panting. “No!” she hisses.

I touch her leg. “Are you okay?” I ask, debating about performing a lighting spell since I still can’t see anything. I’m starting to feel a little claustrophobic.

“Jon died.” She gasps as she starts balling.

“What!” I screech silently as I light the room. Her eyes are turning red as she wipes at her face. Allie’s face is swollen, and her face is buried in my neck. Mary latches onto my other side and squeezes tightly.

“He was creating another Elemental Stone. The Spirits allowed him to fill it. He placed it to fuel the city and fell over. The Spirits took him away.” She’s starts crying. “Why would they take him?”

“That’s what happened to Marok!” Allie cries.

She pulls from me the same time as Mary as they look at each other. Then they look at me. “Why did they do that Callia?”

I’m in shock. I don’t know what to think. “I don’t know. I don’t even know why they named you the Elemental Leaders.” What are the Spirits doing?

“No!” They cry as they lurch to their feet. “They couldn’t!”

Everyone bolts up as they look at us. “You saw their deaths.” I say simply, trying to figure this out. What game are they playing? What are the Spirits doing?

“No Callia!” Allie starts covering her ears as she shakes her head. “It’s not true!” She turns into her water form and falls through the ground.

“Allie!” I yell as I stand up as I start to follow the mud trail back to the old Water God City. I race after her as I hear the others start shouting for us to come back. I hear the ground start to shake before I fall to my feet. I look behind me to see what Penny is doing but all I see is a black wall. I look in front of me and see another black wall.

“Penny!” I yell as I go and touch the wall. It hums under my fingertips. I break through the wall with my magic as I picture a hammer breaking glass. Penny is running towards me. “What are you doing?” I yell at her as I break up the wall that’s starting to assemble.

“It isn’t me!” She cries as she tries to help me break the growing wall.

“Then who!” I yell as I fall, the ground beginning to shake again. I can’t keep my legs straight and fall to the ground.

“Callia!” Penny yells as the wall slides back up. I race back to the wall and try to break it, but I am hit with a foreign attack from the wall the second I try to break it. The wall pulses and sends me flying to the other wall. Dirt shoots from the wall and solidifies around my wrist, waist, and calves.

“Penny!” I yell, trying my best to break free.

“Would you just hold still?” A willowy voice echoes through the empty cavern.

“No!” I yell as I yank my arms from the wall-picturing pulling them through water-breaking the seal around them. I pull at my legs and then stand, trying to see who I’m fighting. My heart is pounding as I’m searching the room, coming up empty.

I scream as the ground disappears out from under me. I stop as my neck is at level with the upper ground, the hole filling around me. “What is this?” I have no idea what is going on. I’m tired from the last several days and trying to break free from this trap.

“You’re being such a pain.” I hear a voice breathe out as a green orb appears.

I groan and put my face on the ground. “Can’t you Spirits say ‘Hi’ like a normal person would?”

“What would be the fun in that?” The Spirit chuckles as she comes closer to me. So she’s at face level. “You mortals always have the best reactions.”

“I’m starting to think you Spirits are all bullies.” I grumble to myself.

She chuckles. “Careful. If you said that to a Lava Spirit, you’d be extra crispy right now. Good thing I can appreciate your remarks. I like a mortal who’s not afraid to speak their mind. They’re always afraid I’ll kill them.”

I try to shrug but don’t get far. “Been there, done that.”

She chuckles as she pulls me from the ground up to my knees, still keeping part of me contained. “I see you got a little gift from our girl.” The stone shoots out of my chest as she spins it around for her to exam the stone. She focuses on the size of it.

“What are you doing?” I sigh as I plant my hands on the ground so I can lean towards the stone. I watch her spin it. She’s searching for something.

“Just looking. Who made this Stone?”

“I’m assuming Penny did. Why? Wouldn’t you know since you’re an Earth Spirit?”

It is silent before the Spirit answers. “I assumed she was going to use one of the old stones. Did this stone do anything special when you touched it?”

I shrug. “It hummed when the Water Spirit sealed it around the other stones. I haven’t physically touched it. I always used my magic to hold it.”

If she could, I bet the Spirit would look annoyed. “Oops.” She says as she flings the layered stone at my face. I catch it out of reflex. I gasp in pain as I curl into a ball, trying hard to breathe. A field of white is all I see as I hear the Spirit shouting my name. I feel as if the earth has been removed from under me. There is nothing solid under me, though I know there is. My senses are being cut. Soon I’m not able to hear as the white light glows darker. I didn’t just die. I’ve been dead and it didn’t feel anything like this.

Soon a world of stars slams into me. An array of colors in ribbon like forms dances around me. I recognize these colors. They match every color of magic I’ve seen and more. I only see one strand of my color. I’m the only one with my magic. The same with the black ribbon, showing Gstalt is the only one. Well damn, I thought I wasn’t the only one.

“Touch it.” A silky voice whispers as I watch them spin.

My hand doesn’t listen as I try to stop it. It reaches out and touches the lilac ribbon. It feels like satin that is soaked in paint. I scream as the lilac ribbon and other magic surrounds me. The ribbons flow into my mouth and I feel as if I’m being suffocated while I choke on them. I fall to my knees and start coughing violently.

The magic colored ribbons flow out of me in a great cascade as I try to get to my feet. I have to get out of here. There is so much magic here it is overwhelming my senses. I’ve never felt this much power before. I cannot speak or call for help. I can barely even stand.

I fall to my knees once the ribbons have left me. My hands are trembling and feel hot as I hold them up. What is going on? What is this? Am I still dreaming?

“Callia?” A voice asks. I look up and am wide eyed. I see Lee when he was young. His golden eyes match his mischievous shaggy hair. Tanned skin forms around a thickly muscled body.

“Lee?” I choke as I touch his face, my hand going through him. “What is this?”

“Listen Callia, we don’t have much time. You’ve got to defeat Morticious. Forget Gstalt. You cannot beat both and survive. The Spirits want you to die. The Magic does not. You cannot let yourself die. Do not die.”

“But-“ I try to say more but it doesn’t come out. I groan in frustration.

He puts his finger to my lips. “I know. Your magic scares them. They’re going to make you into a Spirit once you die. If you do your magic is lost to this world. It must be kept in it. It cannot disappear from it. The Magic has plans for a new role for you and the others, and it’ll get you there. Do not fight Gstalt, Callia. Do not use that stone alone. It will kill you.”

“But Lee, what if it’s the only way?” I’m so overwhelmed I start crying. I don’t know what to do. Why would the Spirits be afraid of my magic?

“I swear it’s not. The Magic has decided your role Callia. It’ll be okay. Trust your instincts, not their words.” He tries to take my hand. “I have to go, but before I do please know that I didn’t betray you. I failed, but I didn’t betray you.”

I nod. “I know Lee. Garth explained what happened. You’re okay and I forgive you. You didn’t fail. Mako fled before placing his stone in the circle, which is what killed me. I do not blame you so there is no reason to forgive or be angry at you.”

He closes his eyes as he starts to fade away, “Don’t die Callia.”

I’d respond, but the ground falls out from under me. I scream as I claw at the air flying past me. I blink and I’m back in my body, panting hard, as the Spirit hovers over me, yelling my name. I can hear the room shaking but I cannot feel it.

“Callia!” I hear Allie as she starts taking her normal shape. It looks like she used her waterbody to get through the wall to get to me. “What did you do to her?” She demands from the Spirit as I try to figure out how to breathe. My entire body is hot and feverish.

“I-I have to go.” The Spirit says quickly, shooting the stone back into my chest. The wall crumbles as my teeth chatter. How can my body be cold when I feel so hot?

“Mary! Penny!” Allie calls as she sits me up, holding me against her chest. “Stay with us Callia.”

“What happened?” Penny demands as she races towards us.

“I don’t know. I found her like this. She was trapped like this, and an Earth Spirit was in here with her. It’s a good thing you sent me in here Penny. I don’t know what Callia would be like if I hadn’t startled it.”

“What’s wrong with her eyes?” Mary asks as I look around wildly, trying to figure out how to breathe. My chest is so heavy. I feel as if my entire body is changing.

“Get her out of the ground. I’ll transport her. We need to get her to an infirmary now.” Mary says quickly.

Penny grabs my legs and pulls them from the ground as I close my eyes. “I’ll take her now.” Allie says quickly. “Take the boys there and meet me with Moria. I have a feeling we’ll need her help.” That is the last thing I’m aware of.