Walking Among Gods - Part 3

They ran and ran and ran.

Jasper lost track of the turns he took and the echoing of footsteps in his ears. There was a relentless drumming in his head - and he would have followed its rhythm for miles and miles and miles. The only thing that mattered to him now was surviving, and ensuring that the hand he held so tightly in his own was still there.

He couldn't see Aurora, but he could hear her labored breathing, and the occasional cry of pain as she tripped over something in the dark. Behind them, the creatures with stars for eyes followed, hissing and bellowing like angry snakes, but they didn't touch the two Fae as they ran.

Then Jasper took a step, and his foot came down on nothing. The thread of light before him disappeared, and he fell, plummeting yet again into an abyss. He didn't register fear or panic; just the innate instinct to turn and wrap his entire body around his companion as they fell.

For miles and miles and miles.

The star-creatures were gone. The darkness was vast and empty. And then -

With a blast of sudden, sickening cold, they landed in another body of water, this one frigid. When Jasper and Aurora surfaced, however, they were no longer in the cave.

They were bathed in a crystal-clear pool, and a great sun hung low overhead, showering them in sudden, startling light that made Jasper's eyes ache. His feet found purchase against the pool's smooth floor, and though it was chest-deep, he found that he could stand. He pulled Aurora up with him, and they both panted for breath.

In the light, they looked terrible. Covered in blood and dirt, hair askew, now soaked…

Aurora's clothes were saturated with blood, a red cloud dispersing into the water around her. Jasper dragged a hand through his sopping hair, scraping it out of his face, and dared a look around.

It was eerily quiet. Around the edges of the pool was a beach, and then…nothing. For as far as he could see, just green grass extending in every direction, as though they'd found the center of the world and that's as far as they could go.

"Do you think we've died?"

Aurora's voice startled Jasper and he jumped, wheeling back to look at her. Her face was wan, strained. She was in pain. He wanted to offer her his flask, but remembered it was empty.

And in the Mustang.

"It's hard to say," Jasper answered. His own voice was a hoarse rattle. "I always thought when you died, there'd be a reception committee."

"You mean you don't remember?"

That question made Jasper's blood run cold. "I can't say I do."

Aurora rubbed her injured arm. Despite her assurances that she would heal, she winced when she tried to move it.

"Let's get out of the water, at least," Jasper said. He led the way to the shoreline, moving stiffly. Whatever magic or illusion was cast over this place, he was growing weary of it.

Aurora followed him. When they made it to the sand, she lowered herself to the ground, laying out in the sun. Her dark hair fanned out around her, her bloodied shoulder still oozing in the sand. Jasper sat as well, but kept looking around, searching for their next predator.

It was still eerily quiet.

"Suppose this is Solimar's way of punishing us," he murmured. "If we survive his other little friends in the tunnels, his last resort was to bore us to death."

"I thought he was friends with your mother," Aurora answered. She closed and pressed her hands to her eyes. "I thought that was why the Guardians wanted you to do this - because you were somehow connected to all of them."

"I'm beginning to think that my mother kept some rather disturbing company," Jasper replied. What he didn't say was that he'd begun to also think that Solimar blamed Jasper for what happened to Elysande, otherwise, their reception might have been a touch friendlier.

"Honestly, perhaps it's better if we both die down here. Then we can meet with Sydara and tell her to handle her own problems."

Jasper didn't reply. He lay back against the warm sand, weariness washing over him. It was hard to say how long they'd been in the caves, running from Solimar's monsters. Whatever Solimar's gift was, though, Jasper highly doubted it was worth dying to get it.

Perhaps Aurora was right. So what if they died here? Umbraxis, Morwin, Threeves - it wouldn't be his problem anymore.

He closed his eyes and fell asleep, then, hoping (just a little) that perhaps he would slide into something deeper. Something more permanent. Something -

Jasper, wake up!

The Other roared in his ear, a voice like fire. Jasper startled.

He sat up, expecting another monster to emerge from the water. Still, there was nothing around them - no sound, no shadow, just the endless expanse of nothingness.

Don't go to sleep. He's coming.

The hair on the back of his neck prickled, and Jasper began to understand something he'd missed at first.

The sun. There were no shadows on the ground. None in the water. No darkness anywhere. Both he and Aurora - masters of shadows and starlight - had abilities that were completely useless in direct sunlight.

He was trapped.

Not trapped. Think, Jasper. Your magic isn't shadows.

Jasper frowned. Then what is it?

Beneath him, the ground rumbled faintly. The rhythmic drumming had returned, deep into the earth. Footsteps. Massive footsteps, slowly making their way towards him.

He got to his knees and tried to rouse his companion. Aurora batted him away, like a grumpy child not wanting to wake from her nap. She rolled onto her side to get away from him.

"I think we're in danger," Jasper protested, when Aurora wouldn't stand.

"We're always in danger," she groaned. "Let me sleep."

Jasper bit back a frustrated retort. Danger - there was danger all around them. Every nerve in his body fired at once, responding to the threat, even if he couldn't see it. This was deadlier than anything they'd faced in the tunnels.

Let me help. The Other prodded at him. It didn't demand this time, but gently tugged at his consciousness. You're scared. I can tell. Let me take it.

Jasper forced himself to breathe. No magic. No weapons. No plan. He couldn't even see it.

Okay, he said, choking on an exhale. Take over.

When Jasper blinked again, the world was on fire.

They were no longer in an endless expanse of nothingness, but in a room built of black obsidian, and the walls blazed with green and yellow flames.

His hands dripped with blood, and for a moment Jasper didn't know why.

Then he saw the Fae male sprawled out before him.

Solimar lay on the obsidian tiles, chest rising and falling with staggering irregularity. Jasper fought to recall what had happened - but his mind blanked. The Other was gone, vanished into nothingness.

"Greedy little Fae," Solimar spat, coughing on his own blood. He sat up on an elbow, clutching at a hole that had appeared in his chest.

Jasper's chest heaved. Every bone in his body ached. What had he done?

Solimar continued to stand, his blood pooling around him. He smiled, blood staining his mouth a horrific shade of red, and he peered down at Jasper with hate in his cold eyes.

"The things you'll do for power," he seethed, in spite of that smile. "Do you even regret it?"

"Regret what?" Jasper returned. He steeled himself for a fight, even as exhaustion rippled through him. "Beating you to a pulp?"

Solimar winced. "Killing your mother," he said. "Gods, you don't even remember do you?"

And Jasper couldn't answer, because it was true. He didn't even know for sure that he hadn't been responsible for his mother's death.

"Why should I give you the key?" Solimar continued. His breath rattled as he spoke through punctured lungs. "What reason would Sydara have for giving it to you?"

"I told you, I'm going to lock up Umbraxis," Jasper returned. "I need the keys to do that. You can have it back, I promise."

Solimar began to laugh, a horrible sound that filled him with dread. "You can't lock up Umbraxis," he said. "There's no way to contain him - don't you realize that? Stupid little Fae. The only way to stop him is to kill him, and if the Guardians could have done that, don't you think we would have by now?"

"What do you mean by - "

Jasper didn't finish. The next moment, there was a deafening crash to his right, as something large and writhing broke through the obsidian walls.

Jasper threw himself out of its way, but Solimar wasn't as quick. The massive creature landed nearly on top of him, and only then did Jasper realize it was the crocodile they'd run from earlier, and Varek and Rohan were sitting atop its enormous back.

Rohan had its mouth tethered with his belt and steered it to stand over Solimar, snapping and hissing in protest.

"That's enough," Varek snarled. He slid off the thing's back, green smoke rising around him as he approached the Guardian of the Day. "I'm tired of your games, Solimar. Give us the key or I'll be forced to kill you."

"I'll tell Sydara you sent her regards," Solimar spat. Bright red stood luminescent against the black flagstones.

Varek knelt by the Guardian's head, grabbing a fistful of his hair and pulling. "Don't make me ask twice."

"It's the greatest crime, one Guardian killing another," Solimar continued. "Don't you remember Aelric?"

While Jasper watched, completely bewildered, his mind began to turn. One guardian killing another. All the pieces began to stack, one upon the other, as he took in the scene.

Varek in ice for one hundred years.

Varek despising him enough to kill him.

Solimar's hatred for Jasper, blaming Elysande for his death.

The two of them, toe to toe.

Varek is a guardian.

But a guardian of what? The green smoke unfurling around him certainly wasn't an answer. Time? Order? Chaos? Who was left?

Night was his first thought, but as he watched Varek dig his knee into Solimar's chest, that didn't feel right.

"Give us the key," Rohan echoed, while the crocodile roared.

Finally, Solimar relented. He reached to his throat, pulling free an object on a chain. Held it out to Varek with a bloody hand.

As he did, Rohan urged the crocodile off him. He dismounted, too, and the creature slithered away, cowed by the actions of the unruly Fae. Varek snatched up the object, his lip curling in a sneer.

"You're a disgrace," he growled, before turning to Jasper.

As he approached, Jasper's initial instinct was to scramble away, like a rat into its nest. Varek pulled him off the ground, dusted him off, and placed the object in his hand.

It was a stone made of a deep, cerulean blue.

"The gift of day," Varek said. "In case it isn't obvious."

"Great," Jasper murmured, inspecting it, "but what does it do?"

Solimar coughed, and a mucousy thread of bloody saliva dripped from his mouth and onto the floor. The fires around them began to die.

"It grants you the power to control the light,"' he gasped. The hole in his chest had sealed, but it was still an ugly purple color.

"You'll need it, to stop Umbraxis," Varek added.

Jasper turned it over in his hand. Light. Truth. What else?

Off in the shadows, a figure stirred, groaning. Rohan was at Aurora's side before anyone could move, picking her up off the ground. Jasper's heart stuttered at the sight of her. She was far more mangled than she'd been before he'd blacked out.

What had happened?

"We have the key," said Varek, taking command of the room. Even the way he stood was Guardian-like. Was Jasper supposed to know that? If so, how was he to get Varek's key? "Time is of the essence. Let's go."

A door had formed in the rotunda, and at the end, Jasper could see a thin sliver of daylight. For once, it was a welcome sight.

He followed Varek, one agonizing step after the other, towards the light. The stone in his hand was cold and made his fingers ache. It was nothing like Elysande's amulet.

"How far will you go?" Solimar wheezed.

Jasper stopped. He looked back at him. The Guardian was hunched, holding his middle, wiping his mouth with his other hand.

"For what?" Jasper snapped. He was tired of Solimar's antics.

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Ignore him, Jazz." Rohan was at his side, helping Aurora limp along. "He's as crazy as they come."

Jasper did as Rohan suggested. He turned and fixed his gaze on the light ahead.

When they made it back to the Sanctuary, Lucrezia and Yori met them at the gate. Jasper didn't want to get out of the Mustang when they arrived - he was weary of the company of others, and he wanted to think quietly by himself. He needed to know what had happened in the cave. He needed to know what the Other had done.

Aurora wasn't hurt badly, just bruised a bit. If he'd had a part in that, she didn't say. The only other person who would have known was Solimar, and Rohan was right.

That Fae was beyond insane - he was certifiable.

Lucrezia's face was harried as they got out of the car. She insisted that the other three go ahead, but didn't let Jasper leave.

"We need to talk," she insisted, her voice a hissed undertone.

"No," Jasper returned. "I'm tired, and I'm done with life-altering conversations this week."

"It's important." She took him by the arm and dragged him out of the light, ignoring the way he hissed and wheezed at his touch. When she was sure no one was watching, she took a vial of something out of an inner pocket.

"What's that?" Jasper asked, even as she put it in his hand.

"It's the antidote," Lucrezia said. "No one knows that I've finished it. It has to be a secret, Jasper."

"The antidote to what?"

"To the necroblossom. The thing Threeves used to bring you back to life."

Jasper stared down at the liquid. Bright purple and shimmering, like a cocktail he'd seen in a disco bar in LA.

"It will return you to the state you were in, before he dosed you," Lucrezia elaborated. "But if anyone knows…they'll try to take it."

Jasper put the rest together on his own. "Because it will kill me," he said.

Lucrezia nodded.

He frowned. "And why would I want that?"

"Do you want to be in the service of Bartholomew Threeves for the rest of your eternal life?"

Jasper didn't answer. Of course, it was obvious how he felt - he'd expressed it so many times. But to die? To truly die because of it?

Still, when he looked up at the other Fae, he saw true compassion on her face. He tucked the vial into the pocket of his hoodie, out of sight from the rest of the world.

"There's something else," Lucrezia said, once he'd made his decision. She lifted a long finger and pointed past his shoulder, deeper into the trees.

When Jasper looked, he saw something he hadn't seen since the gorgon incident.

A white Dodge Charger, gleaming with a fresh coat of paint.

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