Nurturer of Nightmares

Lucifer

The boat groaned as it crested against another wave, Erelim turning green in the face as he threw up through a window on the lower deck, his knuckles turning white where he gripped the windowsill, salt-scented air whipping through the space and filling the cabin. Several of the sailors who rushed around, carrying crates of supplies, bags full of metal to make weaponry, and bundles of clothing to be distributed, turned just as green at the smell, and I pulled Erelim back, closing the window with a grimace and handing the Fallen Angel a bucket, which he promptly heaved into.

Ressila’s boat was no Fire-Star, and as such, it wasn’t designed to handle the rough waves of deep, open water, the wood groaning with every wave we slammed into.

Each new creak from the wood had me wondering if we were going to sink, and the rumours from the bottom deck that there was water seeping through the lowest level didn’t help with those fears, my mind going over what we’d seen in the Sea of Fire. That creature that we had feared would jump from the waves and swallow us from the sky. Cain and Adelia had seen it, and it had been Cain using his powers to try and save the boat that had led to him and Adelia getting together.

That huge, ancient creature that patrolled the open waters of its territory had a name, according to the more experienced sailors: Carcinus.

It had not so lovingly been nicknamed John by those who believed calling it by its true name would summon it from the depths.

Personally, ‘John’ sounded a lot less threatening than Carcinus, but it didn’t match the image I had in my mind of the beast; the spines that had parted the fog, the rows of teeth…

Shuddering, I hugged my dinner closer, taking a long sip of ale, and Erelim breathed, “I prefer flying to sailing.”

Nodding eagerly, I mumbled my agreement, adding, “At least that thing couldn’t get us up there.” Erelim glanced around the room, searching for any sailors who might panic at whatever he was about to say, before he breathed, “Carcinus… The fact that it’s killed enough to be given a name…” He turned green again, and I said, “My fiancée and child are likely flying over that part of the ocean right now.”

“They’ll be alright, Lucifer. Tatiana is smart, and Venali is a good kid. They’ll reach The Borderlands long before we will.”

It would take us a month at the most to sail from the Northern Isles to The Borderlands, provided Ressila’s captain decided to sail around the Sea of Fire, which was the most sensible decision… And not the one they were going to pick.

Ressila seemed far from a sensible Queen: A ruthless one, yes, but not sensible, especially if she ordered her captain to risk the boat and its crew to sail through the Sea of Fire, shaving off weeks from our travel time.

Even so, Tatiana would beat us to The Borderlands by flying. It would be my fiancée’s job to warn as many people as possible about Ressila’s plans, and, time permitted, to arrange a new army to begin combating her.

Zeella would hear of this, naturally, but he already kept a close eye on Revala and its waters, so he wouldn’t exactly miss a war boat sailing through from the Northern Isles.

The ship let out a loud groan again, suddenly lurching to the right, and Erelim vomited into his bucket again, choking out, “Heaven above…”

“Dislike of sailing?” I wasn’t fond of it, but I didn’t need to throw up every time the boat moved. For Erelim to have such an aversion to it, he must have heard a horror story about it.

“My sea legs were taken along with my wings, I’m afraid,” he replied jokingly, giving me a half-hearted smile before vomiting again, a nearby sailor offering to fetch the onboard Shaman. I accepted his offer with a grateful nod, wondering if they would simply knock Erelim out for the duration of the trip.

Being from Tarvenia, sailing had never been a huge part of my life, and the closest thing I’d come to the sea was hearing tales from the families of people who worked as merchants selling their wares across the Dimension.

They’d tell their tales to my parents, particularly my father, who had listened to their business conquests eagerly, sopping up information like a rag. He’d always wanted to be a businessman, which was exactly why he’d invited the King and Queen of the Sun Palace, along with their two daughters, to visit one night.

He’d wanted to discuss business propositions; trading between Tarvenia and the other three cities. Things like trade routes and open borders; taboo things.

His idiocy had led to Tatiana and I meeting. She’d been so beautiful, sitting at the table. She’d spoken even when nobody spoke directly to her, her head held high enough to be confident, but not arrogant, and her intelligence had shone throughout the night.

By the time the dinner had finished, and my father had convinced the Royals to stay for a few nights more, I had worked up the courage to slip a note to her, begging her to meet after the dinner.

Never in a million years would I have thought she’d come, and then agree to go on a date with me.

Finishing my dinner, I watched the Shaman tend to Erelim, ordering him to remain in his hammock for the rest of the night as he was fed a vial that would supposedly help him sleep better, the Shaman pinning the illness down to stress over the war rather than plain old sea-sickness.

As the rest of the crew settled into their own hammocks, I shut my eyes, trying to get some sleep…

The cave glistened in the candlelight, my mother letting out a loud, dramatic yawn and leaning against my father’s shoulder; trying to convey to my father that she was tired, and wanted his guests out of the house. Even I was growing tired, the tales only becoming more and more boring the drunker everyone got, their words slurring to the point that they were nearly incomprehensible. Each drunken sentence had my mother growing more irritated, her mind itching to finish off the chore list we had before bed.

The Royal Family would be arriving next week, and we had preparations to make!

My father ignored it, instead serving another cup of ale, firing more questions about Karmona and its merchant system to our guests, who seemed just as eager to share as my father was to learn.

Waving a hand drunkenly, the Faery male sputtered, “You wouldn’t believe it, honestly! Merchants everywhere! Even the Nephilim get involved in trading! Just the other night I met a young man from Ordeallan who sold not only items, but information! His name was Joseph, I believe… Yes, Joseph Smith! He sold information about just about anything, really! Said he’d spent some time in Korath, learning about some Demonic-being family that lived there.” My mother rolled her eyes, butting in to add, “It’s all nonsense. Korath isn’t inhabited by Demonic-beings.” They ignored her again, my father leaning in as the man whispered, “I paid a good price for that information, since I was curious. I have it all in my desk if you ever want to see it. Just go in and ask for Addison. Then my servant will know to get you that information. For a little extra, he even gave me something crucial to that information- a ring from one of the old Royal families.”

“Why would it benefit me?” My father raised an eyebrow, and the man wiggled his own, breathing, “They plan to rule this Dimension soon, and anyone allied with them will have a say in how its run. You even get to keep your trade businesses.”

“Who’s in this Royal family? Surely just marrying someone to them would be enough?”

“They don’t marry their children off. Too pure for that, supposedly. But the Joseph fellow did mention something about an arranged marriage. They have some sort of powerful, high-up willing to take the hand of one of their Princesses, once she wakes up.”

“Wakes up?”

“She’s currently dead. She comes back every one-hundred years.”

My mother’s hand flew to her breast as she gasped, “Heaven above! That goes against everything the Archangels plan!”

My father shook his head at her, hissing, “Hush, woman! I want access to this information. If the Royal family won’t help me next week, then they may be a viable option.”

The drunken man rose, a grin on his face as he said, “Well, I’m on the third floor, room ten if you’re looking for me. Just ask for Addison.”

Bidding farewell to my parents, he sneered at me, before stepping out the door, my mother turning to me and saying, “Lucifer, go to bed. Your father and I have to have a grown-up talk.”

An argument. They were going to have an argument.

Rolling my eyes, I rose from the desk, gathering the paper I had been writing for the Academy lesson I had tomorrow, before heading into my room.

The shouting started before the door even closed fully.

I cracked open my eyes to see nothing but the ceiling above me, my dream still groggily rolling about my head.

Addison, Joseph, room ten on the third level… What had that been about?

There was something about a Princess who woke every one-hundred years, to- Destiny. My father and his merchant friend had been talking about Destiny, and the Nephilim man who had sold him that information had been Joseph Smith, Seth’s father.

My father had known about the Demonic-being’s plan with Lazarus and Nazareth! Rising from my hammock, I ran over to Erelim, shaking his shoulder roughly and hissing, “Erelim, wake up! I’ve figured something about!” He groaned, opening one eye and mumbling, “Wha?”

“One of my father’s friends has information about Lazarus in Sidhe! He has Embyrdeen’s ring! We need to go there!”

There was a loud ‘SQUEAL’ of something brushing against the bottom of the boat, sailors jolting from their sleep and shouting, running for the weaponry they’d hung on the walls, shouting about the Sea of Fire and Carcinus, preparing themselves in case the ship sunk.

Some simply fell to their knees and began praying. The movement threw me to the floor, Erelim landing beside me with wide eyes, his face immediately becoming green again.

The Sea of Fire! We shouldn’t have reached it for another few days! With the boat still lurching side to side, I used the post to pull myself to my feet, stumbling through the panicked crowds and peering out the foggy, stained window, squinting at the sea beyond.

There, just a few metres out, was a large rock, the rotting remains of a sunken ship already perched upon it, the skeletal body of the captain still draped over the wheel, long rotted away to nothing but bones and rags.

We’d hit a shallow part of the ocean; the same shallow part that had torn that ship to shreds and left it, laying like a cast away body, on the rock over there.

Ressila’s captain obviously had no idea what they were doing… Erelim joined me, his hand on my shoulder as he breathed, “What’s out there?”

“Shallows. Ressila’s captain has crashed the boat.”

His eyes widened, and he asked, “Are we going to sink?”

“If someone doesn’t help him navigate out, then yes. He’ll tear the bottom of the boat to shreds without aid.”

There was another groan from the ocean below, more sailors crowding around the windows as a huge funnel of water suddenly drained outside, revealing the sand-covered bottom of the sea, like a window had been carved out.

The sand began bulging, several sailors stepping back, turning white and falling to pray with the others, and Erelim glanced to me as the grey and glowing tip of a molten rock began to pierce through the floor of the world, rising high above the waves that suddenly came crashing back down, steam and ash creating a billowing cloud overhead.

“What’s happening?” The Fallen Angel gasped, a flash of red powers appearing underneath the water for just a moment, before the same thing happened, an even larger, sharper rock forming a curve around the left side of the boat, preventing it from turning. A cage. It was forming a cage.

“We’re being trapped.”

“By what?” Only a handful of people had that power, but even less could create things from it.

In fact, only one person could.

“Lazarus.”

It was as if the world heard his name, and let out a furious scream in response; another huge portion of the ocean vanishing in front of us, the boat lurching into the hole. There was a ‘CRASH!’ as the front folded in on itself, denting against the bottom of the floor, and we all began falling, the ground vanishing from beneath us.

I grabbed Erelim, the two of us remaining together as we slammed into the bottom, the hammocks swinging above us, and I wrapped a ball of magic around us, preventing crates and barrels from crushing us.

Someone else, it seemed, had a similar idea, slivers of bright blue wrapping around the crates, halting them in mid-air, the hammocks freezing too.

Far above us, at what would have been the rear-end of the ship, Reni appeared, sliding down the ground and landing on one of those hovering barrels, her face pale as she swore, glancing down to us. She was wearing a pale white dress, flecks of blood across the front of it, and she was barefoot, no weapons or jewellery to be seen on her.

“What the Hell have the two of you done?! Why am I here?!”

“It’s not us!” I shouted back, the sailors around us frozen as well, the ring in Reni’s eyes glowing a bright blue, like her powers were devouring her soul. She grimaced, before turning to peer out one of the windows, murmuring, “Something is out there.” She waved her hand, the water outside freezing for a moment, too, and she ran her hand down her face, swearing.

“Can you help us?” Erelim begged, and Reni breathed, “I don’t know. I didn’t come here myself.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Her face lit up in annoyance as she shouted, “I was brought here by someone, idiots! I thought it was the two of you screwing around with magic, but apparently it’s something else!”

“Are you the one freezing everything right now?”

She nodded, leaping to another crate to get closer to the window, and she shouted down, “Where are you guys right now?”

“On our way to The Borderlands!”

“Yes, but where in the ocean?”

There was a piercing scream from something outside, and the window nearest to Reni exploded, sea water rushing in.

She hissed, waving her hand again, a wall of red preventing it from becoming a deadly waterfall for the rest of us. When she looked back down at us, there was genuine fear in her eyes, which were fading back to a soft hazel, as she slid down the wall, using her powers to cushion the landing as she crouched beside us, whispering, “Whatever is out there is stronger than me. I can get the two of you out, bring you back to my world, but it has a hold on this boat that I can’t remove.”

Erelim nodded, breathing, “Please do.”

I collapsed the magic, allowing Reni to reach in- Just as another rock slammed into the side of the ship, pushing Reni atop us and ripping apart the boards next to us, the ship shredding like paper, my magic and Reni’s powers struggling to cover us in time. Outside, a dark voice began laughing over the crashing of the rocks grating together, Lazarus announcing, “I’m surprised I found you, to be honest. Time-Jumpers are normally more careful of hiding their presence, but you… You’ve been meddling quite a lot. You left an imprint on this world that I tracked.”

Why the Hell would Lazarus want, or even know of, Reni?!

The sailors that had been to the left of us, frozen or not, were dead, their blood slickening the surface of the rock, and Erelim closed his eyes for a moment, Reni struggling to free herself from the tangle of powers that lanced up through the floorboards, pinning all three of us in position.

“Once I found just where in time you lived, it was easier to find information about you. Hello, Gaz’riel.”

Reni gritted her teeth, shouting, “If you’re an enemy of mine, you’ve picked the wrong night to screw with me!” I’d almost forgotten that ‘Reni’ wasn’t her real name, but a birth-given nickname to keep her hidden.

For people like Lazarus, a second name clearly wasn’t an obstacle.

“On the contrary, Queen of the Night, I picked the perfect one. It’s a full moon in your world, isn’t it? An alignment of stars that makes your powers extraordinarily strong. World-Killer levels, almost. I do believe you were in the middle of a certain ritual, too, hm?”

That explained the white, blood-stained dress, then. Erelim gaped at her, asking, “What were you killing?”

“Nothing! It’s not blood, it’s dye!” Reni snapped, rolling her eyes and adding, “Not our biggest problem right now!”

“Why do you want Reni?” I dared ask, Lazarus remaining out of sight as another rock slammed into the ship on the other side, killing more sailors, all of whom remained frozen as they died. Was Ressila frozen too?

“I was curious. Someone is looking for you, so I came looking at the same time someone else was going to find you… I do believe you now owe me your life.”

“I don’t owe you anything,” Reni said stubbornly, “I know who you are, what you do. Lazarus, Dark God of Daemonium. I know your future, too. Every silly little detail.”

His voice seemed to echo from everywhere as he darkly replied, “Is that so? Do tell, Queen of the Night, I’m interested in what you have to say about my silly little future.”

Reni simply smirked, purring, “Wouldn’t you like to know? You and your brother don’t have any sort of mention in my world, but I knew of you. I went looking.”

Nothing. No sort of mention.

Had they won the war, their names would have gone down in history as the enslavers of all of The Borderlands.

Did that mean we’d win the war, and eradicate them completely from history?

“I found what I needed to know about you, and then cast it from my mind completely. You’re no threat to me or my bloodline.”

Reni sucked in a deep breath, then, as the world fell silent around us, and Erelim murmured, “She’s bluffing…”

The two rocks, now touching the rear-end of the ship, began to curve inward on each other, grating together loudly, tearing the ship apart, more water rushing in, only to be frozen by Reni before it could drown us, no sign of strain on her face as she held back the entirety of the ocean.

“You’re a World-Killer,” I said, remembering Lazarus’ words earlier, and Reni replied, “It comes with the family name, I suppose.”

The Maladur family name.

“Your mother’s powers are different to yours, though. She can halt oceans, but not like you. You’ve paused its very life, forced it to stop for a moment. You can do that with heartbeats, too, I’ve noticed. Your mother can do it with souls, should she learn how.”

“I could destroy this world if I wanted to,” Reni simply said, shrugging as though it weren’t that big of a deal to control so much power, “But I don’t want to. I learnt how to wield it.”

She clicked her fingers, the rocks pausing in their grating, before becoming fine grains of sand that froze mid-air, twinkling like stars.

“I could make it daytime.” Another click of her fingers, and the sky outside shifted, the sun shining brightly down, “Or night-time.”

It reverted back to normal, Erelim gasping. I felt my jaw dropping open. Even in Tarvenia, in the entirety of the history of the Fae, nobody had ever commanded the very time of day like that.

“I can change what year it is, who’s alive, who’s dead… I can remove entire bloodlines without shifting from my chair, and eventually, I’ll end you, Lazarus of Daemonium. Don’t seek me out again, and if you’re clever, you’ll undo the damage you’ve done to this ship, and the lives you’ve cost. I could do it, but I don’t want to waste my power on something so minute. By the way, Erelim, I wasn’t bluffing, and the thing you’re looking for can be found in Karmona, in the SeaSide Inn. Be there in three weeks for breakfast.”

The blood rushed from his face, and he gripped Reni’s wrist, begging, “How?”

She gave a small, prideful smile, purring, “Because I can.”

Waving goodbye, she vanished, the ship reverting back to normal…

And I sat up in my hammock, the ceiling covered in mould and smelling of salted meat, Erelim snoring loudly in the hammock beside me. The boat was intact, all of the sailors accounted for.

Rushing from my bed, I leaned against the wall, desperately searching the ocean outside, a sense of déjà vu rushing over me.

There was the rock, with the skeleton captain bowed over it, his clothes waving in the breeze.

And beside him was Lazarus, a stormy look on his face.

Lightning exploded behind him, and I looked out again as the light faded to see him gone…