Beyond the Sapphire Gate: Epic Fantasy-Some Magic Should Remain Untouched (The Flow of Power Book 1) (3 page)

“As long as you can see it
is
moving, I’m not. For a while, I thought I was slipping again.”

Crystalyn opened the book, and began thumbing through the headings.

“But what if they’re dangerous? How can you know they’re not going to hurt you?”

Crystalyn looked up. Did Jade still see images in her aura? She wasn’t certain she wanted to know. Jade’s newfound ability was unnerving, worse than her spiraling symbols. “The symbols haven’t hurt me so far, though according to the notations inside, some of them are used for aggression which is odd. I don’t know how a symbol could be aggressive. It’s something I have to figure out.”

“Then don’t touch them, put the book back,” Jade said her voice taking on a pleading tone. Flipping a stray clump of reddish-brown hair from her round eyes, she pulled her lower lip into her mouth, gaping at the tome as if expecting it to hurl a magic bolt from between its gold-edged pages.

Crystalyn felt an irrational spurt of irritation, which she quelled. The book couldn’t possibly do that, could it? “Stop chewing your lip, Jade. Why don’t you look around? There’s a lot to see in the Big Ugly. I’m going to search for the candle’s symbol inside here. If I know what it represents I may add it into the white candle’s inventory holo, the same with the black candle when I get to it. Knowing what the symbols on the artifacts represent, changes everything. Ruena has to appreciate it, I hope.”

“Okay, but be careful. There’s something about those…” Jade said, moving away.

Crystalyn turned the book’s pages with extreme care. Ruena would notice the slightest crinkle and rage throughout the warehouse like a radioactive squall ravishing Low Realm, as she sought the person responsible. Crystalyn found the symbol she’d recalled in chapter four under the heading: Enhanced Healing. Why healing?

“Speaking of symbols, what are these?” Jade asked, setting two blue objects in front of the desk.

Crafted from sapphire crystal, a pair of trim obelisks rose to door height, tapering smaller from base to top. Engraved a third of the way down, two intricate symbols with many curved lines, like links of a chain without end, stood out. Crystalyn was delighted. “Whoever carved these was very good, wouldn’t you say, sister? They’re identical. I don’t remember them in this book, I’ll check inside the other one.” Setting the black-lettered volume next to the white one, she opened it slowly. Penned with dark ink, the matching lines of the links without end symbol stretched across half the first page under the heading: Travel. Underneath, black spidery handwriting went on for two paragraphs written in an unfamiliar language, unlike the white-lettered book.

Why travel? The symbol might represent a past agency, no one traveled anymore. There was nowhere safe left to go, except the Mountain. But she had doubts, it was too complex. Which meant it probably represented something else, for there was something going on with it…A power resided within the symbols pattern. Subtle, yet strong, chained to something vast. Reaching out to the symbol, she tugged the chain, not too hard, yet with the firmness of knowing it was right for her to do so. The chain gave way, creating an opening, inviting her to step through…a
gateway.
Her head reeled as the power she’d sensed thrummed through her. Or was it already within her?

Churning faster and faster, the symbol lifted from the page and slowed, growing in size. Suddenly, a beautiful sapphire color raced along the symbol’s pattern, swallowing the black lines, glowing brighter.

“Crystalyn!”

The symbol floated across the desktop toward the obelisks. Both symbols on it spun in place. Black, translucent spidery extensions of their patterns raced up and down each one as the symbol from the black-lettered book soared between them. Locking in place, the symbol’s translucence brightened. Jagged, azure bolts pulsed within the symbols radiance in alternating directions, above and below. A dark blue mist drifted out of the symbol and scrolled to the floor, drawing a misty, clockwise swirl as it went. Deep within it, darkness stormed with a constant flux.

Stepping close, Jade stared at the spiraling, dark curtain. “What is it?”

“I’m not sure. It’s almost like there’s a storm brewing inside.”

Jade inched closer. “You’re right, it is a storm, and it’s getting worse. There’s blue lightning flashing above a dark, swelling sea behind the mist. Where is it? What is it?” Raising her hand, she reached for the alien landscape beyond the swirling symbol.

A sudden feeling of disquiet hammered Crystalyn. “Get away from there!”

Reality slowed.

Jade raised a single, deliberate fingertip to the dark curtain, and vanished.

The symbol faded, the mist dissipated.

From a great distance, Crystalyn heard a voice scream. “NO! Don’t touch it! Don’t touch the symbol!”

After a time, she clamped her mouth closed, putting an end to the screams. Motionless, the obelisks mocked her with their solemnity. Why had she brought Jade here? Anger darkened her mind. Her vision blurred. Anxiety rose in the pit of her stomach. All were emotions involving her afflicted mind swings, she knew, but cared not. Jade, her sister, her lifelong friend, the very person who’d helped her through the black times by putting up with her confrontational tongue and manipulative mind, the one who tolerated her illness for what it was, was
gone!

Her eyes sought the symbol, lying chained and inert, in the book. A power still awaited there. She focused on it, got it floating between the obelisks.

The symbol spun translucent between the obelisks, the mist darkened behind it, azure lightning flashed.

Her anxiety rose, stronger this time.

The dark curtain began to recede.

Gathering her will, she concentrated on the symbols pattern, visualizing the intricate, interlocking lines and complex curves, the gateway hidden inside.

Once again, the doorway of spiraling darkness dropped to the floor.

Stowing the books in her pack, she picked up the black candle, and climbed onto the desk. Taking a deep breath, she jumped into the swirl.

THE WHITE-LETTERED BOOK

Resting against rough stone in a narrow alley, Crystalyn found herself looking at two stout men facing a petite girl. The girl gripped a dagger outstretched in one hand. One man leered at the girl, his stance relaxed. His cautious partner glanced toward the mouth of the alley, then at the girl. Both men held short, hook-tipped swords.

Gazing the length of the alley, Crystalyn didn’t find Jade, though her sister must be close. They had both come through the same…gateway.
Where was she?

Her gaze returned to the swordsmen. Both sets of brown eyes stared at her, scowls fixed upon their faces.

Suddenly, the girl spun, moving with blurring speed.

A flash of metal brought white-hot pain lancing through her midsection. Her head banged the wall. A second, lesser pain rang through her skull. Strength fled from her legs.

Time slowed. She slid slowly downward. Vague images of the girl and the alley floated in and out of her vision. Abruptly, she found herself half sitting, half slumped over. Confused, she tried to stand, but her limbs wouldn’t accept commands.

Darkness draped her mind.

Why was it dark?

Her eyes had closed. Forcing them open required a great effort. Distorted images flitted by. Blinking, she focused on her waist.

Her mind finally registered what her body understood. The hilt of a jeweled dagger protruded from her stomach.

Fatigue descended heavily upon her then, funneling her vision to a vortex. Closing one eye to focus, she fixed on the dagger, which seemed so far away, like gazing through the wrong end of a sight glass. The small hand of the girl encircled the dagger and pulled, releasing an appalling sucking sound. Her blood fountained.

Crystalyn plastered both hands over the spouting hole, despairing at the blood spraying from between her fingers. A cavernous cold leached into her bones then, adding to the weariness. Thoughts of sweet, dreamless, sleep slipped into her mind. She may heal with sleep…

A majestic white and silver image flitted into her mind. Lovely in its simplicity, the symbol was a perfect pentagram in shape, outlined in white, the fine silver lines inside matched a spider’s webbed design. Where had she seen it before?
Oh, yes, in the white-lettered book.

Focusing on the symbol, Crystalyn projected it outward. The vortex of her vision expanded, snapping the world into acute clarity. The symbol hovered in the air near her head. Instinctively, she sent it toward her wound. Glowing silvery bright on contact, the symbol sank into her skin. Shockingly, her awareness still clung to it, caught in its wondrous webbed design.

Unraveling as it went, the white symbol followed the puncture, leaving behind a silver and white mesh as it pushed her vital life fluid before it. One-third smaller, it reached the main bloodstream.

Sealing her blood vessel with what she thought of as symbolic gauze, the symbol drifted across the artery, applying mesh on the opposite side.

Concentrating, she rotated the symbol a full turn, performing a quick reconnaissance. Her blood flowed normally, delivering platelets as usual. Slowly, she continued the rotation, only to halt at the gauze patch installed on the arterie’s far side. A dark green substance had eaten through part of the seal and was pouring into her bloodstream from deeper within her organs. Now what was she supposed to do? Scarcely half her symbol remained.

A symbol she’d read under the heading Dilutions: formed in her mind. Combining them, she redrew the symbol into a new one. Intricate gold and silver lines, winding back and forth, filled the pentagram inside. Where webbing was before, there was now a hedge-like maze of lines with no beginning or end. Glowing faintly silver and gold, and triple the size, she rode it into the mossy stuff invading her organs and circulatory system.

On contact, the fluid vaporized into puffs of transparent mist, her bloodstream sweeping it away. The silver-gold symbol poured into the gap leading deeper inside her, filling it with an almost tangible fury. Finished, she sealed the opening with the remainder, releasing her awareness back into herself.

Comprehension of the outside world coalesced around her, bringing with it a splitting migraine. Consciousness began to slip away, draining from her like a mountain stream racing to a canyon’s edge. She fought the sensation, willing her body and mind to coherence.

The alley sprang into clarity. Movement caught her eye.

The girl meticulously wiped the jewel-encrusted dagger on one of the swordsmen’s pants leg. Once satisfied, she lifted her taupe dress to the thigh and stowed the dagger in a sheath. Then her small hands moved over the corpse with a practiced ease, patting the body. Several coins, a plain dagger, a small wood box, and several other items vanished into a leather bag hanging at her hip.

Crystalyn’s stomach churned strong enough she felt she was going to vomit. Thankfully, the feeling passed. She needed time to replenish her strength, but she wasn’t going to get it. The girl would soon realize she still lived.

Using her legs and hands to push herself to a sitting position, dizziness assaulted her. Crystalyn rested her head on her chest, fighting the sensation.
Please don’t let me blackout,
she pleaded in silence.
Please, Great Father!

After a while, the lightheadedness lessened, the pack at her feet sprang into clarity. Both leather-bound tomes lay half-exposed inside the main compartment. A warm feeling spread through her as she looked at the white-lettered book of symbols. It was a good thing she’d read it; the book had taught her the symbols to use. In a way, tier one of
The Tiered Tome of Symbols
had saved her life. What other wonders might she gain from the black-lettered book?

Soon, she would study every page. It might save her life or someone else’s. Providing she lived long enough here—wherever
here
was.

Right now, her list-ordered mind demanded goals. First priority—search until she found Jade, no matter what it took, or how long. Second, once she found her sister, both of them would look for a pair of obelisks. Third, once they found them, she would open the gateway using the
same
symbol. The last part was important she was convinced, for a safe return trip home. It was a simple strategy. But it was
a
strategy.

Without straining her upset stomach as best she could, Crystalyn shoved the books in her pack, keeping the girl inside her peripheral vision. Busy with her macabre task, the girl ignored her as if she was no longer among the living. With any luck, she would continue to believe so long enough for her strength to ebb back.

Crystalyn stole a look around. Sunlight faded from the mouth of the alley, the shadows stretching long from it. Soon, darkness would claim it all, assisted by the stone buildings lining both sides. Grayish-black dust, ground fine from decades of shod feet covered the ground, clinging stubbornly to sun-faded wooden crates that were intermixed with broken glass and rotting vegetables. Other unidentifiable, refuse littered the ground in places. Nothing else caught her eye.

The “nothing else” brought anxiety gushing into her weary, pain-shrouded mind. The black crystal candle was nowhere in sight.