Dragon and The Ruby Read online

  Lenorela sat quietly listening to her, but Alysia could tell that she didn’t understand anything she was saying. She realized that she didn’t mind since she was complaining, anyway. The pain had receded while she spoke with her friend, and now she could stand the effort of sitting up.

  “Why can’t I control where I end up when I enter my old world, Lenny?” Alysia asked suddenly.

  “It is because of the bridge and its makeup, CeeCee. It is not a rule that will allow itself to be manipulated. Chaos found out how to move between worlds using this bridge in time. His minions are invisible to the people of your world, until he finds a way to break through the parallel planes.”

  “I am so lost, Lenny. Planes?”

  “Okay, let me explain it to you this way,” Lenorela said. “Yalem doesn’t really exist in the way that your old world and my old world exists. Think about it as planes, or realities. Yours and mine stack in a similar column, whereas Yalem has no column to restrict its movement. Due to this, a powerful Yalemite can break the space time continuum. It is why you are able to do the things that you can do here, and it is why you’re able to travel back to an age that you don’t recognize.”

  Alysia made a motion with her hands to symbolize her brain exploding. “Boom,” she intoned, and then put her hands in her lap. “So, how is it that the portals allow Chaos to break the column that our worlds are in? How was he able to capture an Alysia Knight, to talk to her about joining him?”

  “I wish I knew. He’s done it multiple times, and every time he’s done it he’s recruited thousands of soldiers into his army—”

  “You said that his minions are invisible to people of my world, but when I went through last time a group of high schoolers saw me and made a comment about Euphoria. I can also tell you that my world was ransacked by a horde of demons. Chaos had me killing them, so I know for a fact that they weren’t his.”

  “They weren’t, they’re abominations. Practically animals. When Chaos breaks into a world, they always seem to precede him. I have no explanation for their presence, but everyone here believes that it is another dark lord using Chaos’s portals.”

  “A lord that even Chaos is unable to detect? Why even bother, Lenny? This is all so overwhelming, and innocent people are dying over their mischief.”

  Lenorela smiled and tapped her temple with her forefinger. “We play by different rules, remember? If we can shut down the portals, then there will be no Chaos on our worlds.”

  “But I was told that Chaos switched realities in my world. I no longer exist there, and my father and mother are living completely different lives!”

  “Yes, CeeCee, but they are still alive. Doesn’t that count for something? The drawback with messing with a world in a past time is that you force future realities to become something different. Events change, people go missing, a son becomes a daughter, and the future that you were a part of becomes one that never existed. The Ert told you Chaos changed realities, but that wasn’t entirely true. Perhaps he thought that telling you this would make it easier to digest. CeeCee, your world is still your world, it’s just that … well, Chaos never happened, so in turn, Alysia Knight never happened.”

  “Because of my father, Lancert?” she asked quietly. “Without him attacking there was no need to plant me in the world. My destiny has always been to fight Chaos, so technically, James Knight will never be my father.” She began to cry quietly when she said this, and Lenorela brought her over some tea.

  “Drink this, sweetheart, it will make you feel better. This is a horrible conversation for someone in pain.”

  Alysia took the cup and sipped at it slowly. It was thick, as if flavored with a lot of honey, but bitter and grainy. She made to give it back, but Lenorela insisted she keep it, so she gulped it down and then handed her back the ornate black and gold cup.

  “So again I ask, how is it you know that the portals will set my world back in order?” Alysia said.

  “I told you I’m not sure it will, CeeCee, but we know it is doing something because Chaos is trying everything he can to stop me.”

  Alysia wanted to ask more, but she wasn’t sure if Lenorela had the answers. She felt a deep exhaustion, as if she hadn’t slept in days, and she knew that the tea was the cause of it. On the more positive side of things, her pain had subsided, but the thought of never seeing her parents again made her want to scream.

  “Thanks for everything you’ve done for me, Lenny. I know that I ask a lot of questions,” she said.

  “Nonsense, you should keep on asking them. I want you to be aware of everything, so that you can be fully prepared whenever things happen. Now get some sleep, let the medicine do its work. The sun of Yalem has healing properties, so its light will help you to recover.”

  As Alysia slept that night, the dragon ring pulsed. She was deep into her sleep from the tea that Lenorela had given her, and it would have taken an earthquake to rouse her from her dreams. The ring pulsed again and she pushed off her covers, revealing a pair of muscular brown legs. She wore a nightie that once belonged to Lenorela, and on her feet were tall socks, placed there to keep her warm during the night.

  Lenorela was nowhere close to see Alysia rise like the undead. She was in her own bed, deep in her dreams, and the library was soundproof, so even if she was awake she wouldn’t hear a thing. Alysia threw her legs off the cot, stood up suddenly, then froze. For ten minutes she simply swayed until the hand with the ring pulled her forward, leading her to that secret book.

  A whisper came to her then, a gravelly voice with hints of humor in its tone. “Come to me, CeeCee. My wayward warrior. Let us see how you fare without the witch to guide you along. Oh, don’t forget your sword … did you forget your sword?” It began to laugh mockingly, as if it were the funniest joke it had ever heard.

  She touched the book and it slid backwards, revealing the path down to the chamber of teleportation. Alysia had no light to navigate but the ring didn’t need it, and the warrior woman descended the stairs quietly, as if she had done it a hundred times.

  When she was inside the chamber, she walked to the center of the room and stood wavering for over an hour. The ring brought up her hand, and a light began to form in her palm. It was no bigger than a penny at first, but grew to the size of a tennis ball within the span of a minute.

  “Step into the light, CeeCee, and forget the ring,” the voice whispered to her once more. “You won’t be needing it where I’m taking you. No, leave it for Lenny. She will keep it nice and safe for you.”

  When Alysia Knight stepped through the portal, the only evidence left behind was the dragon ring, wedged within a crack in the floorboards.

  Chapter Three

  The bathroom was strange to Alysia Knight, who had grown accustomed to taps that could sense and turn on when your hand was near them. The white porcelain was odd; back when she was in the world, bathroom tiles were always dark. She slid to the handicap stall, since it was twice the size of the others, and put up a prayer that it would be clean.

  She sighed with relief when she entered; the custodians had done their jobs well. She used the mirror to clean herself and then tied up her braids to prepare for combat.

  For two days now the demon had stalked her, ever since waking up in this strange, older version of her world. She didn’t even know how she had arrived here. Life had become a series of blackouts, broken up by brief moments of consciousness in the strangest places. She remembered Lenorela, and she remembered the mansion, but it seemed as if living there had been a long time ago. She also remembered the conflict on her world, the fight with Hope, and most of all, her father.

  She missed James Knight, and couldn’t shake the regret she had for being so mean to him for his relationship with Tracy McLeay. It was so cliché to be regretful about it now, but she couldn’t help her feelings, and she wanted nothing more than to go back in time and tell the two of them how much she loved them.

  When the demons had been
defeated and the world left in ruins, her father, Tracy, and their new baby decided to make the best of it. She wasn’t able to do that, especially with two young demon girls in her company. Why would the world accept people who looked like Isobel or Jasmine? Not to mention herself, Alysia Knight, whose looks had been transformed to have reddish-brown pupils and elongated eye teeth.

  All three of them would have been hunted down and blamed for the Earth’s demise, unlike James and Tracy who would have been heralded for keeping humanity going. These thoughts and fears had dominated Alysia’s mind after the conflict with the demons had ended, and it drove a further wedge between her and her father.

  The day she woke up ready to apologize for the things she had said was the day she was cursed to live in Yalem. No apology, no family, and no human world to worry about. Not to mention Jasmine and Isobel were somewhere out of her reach.

  She walked over to the toilet, held her breath in anticipation, and looked down inside the bowl. Clean as clean could be, and the water was blue from the chemicals used to disinfect it. Sighing in relief, she sat down and massaged her aching legs through her jeans. Jeans? She looked down and noticed for the first time that she was dressed in the same outfit that she was in—wait, did I ever return to Yalem, or have I been here, dreaming about a demon invasion? she thought, completely confused.

  The last thing I remember was meditating on the rooftop at the beginning of the school day and then, Lenorela brought me back and … nothing. I can’t remember anything. She reached for her sword Euphoria and noticed that it was missing. This made her panic, and she got up quickly and scanned the entire bathroom. The blade was not there.

  She looked down for the ring that Lenorela had given her for protection and this too was gone. I’m defenseless, I am naked. Does this mean that I can die? Am I … mortal? she wondered, and walked over to a mirror to look at herself. The woman that stared back at her through the glass was young and pretty. She wore no makeup, but her brown cheeks had an unnaturally red tint. Her pupils were the color of rich wine, a brilliant red, which radiated darkness as if to reject the light. She smiled, and her white teeth were almost perfect. The eye teeth reminded her of fangs, and her lips were thicker than she remembered them.

  “At least, I’m still me,” she remarked, and leaned over the sink while hanging her head. “Why am I here? There has to be a reason. Who would send me here knowing that I wouldn’t know what I am supposed to do?”

  A chill went through her body when she remembered the demon. She had woken up in the middle of the football field, and he had been in the stands staring at her. He possessed the body of a police officer, but hadn’t bothered to use his firearm when he chased her through the school and forced her to slip into the gym and hide up in the ceiling for a day.

  The following night, hunger forced her to break into the cafeteria, but then he was after her again. She had been in a daze, but still aware, just not whole enough to try for her sword or fight him instead of running around the school. Tonight she fled to one of the bathrooms and her entire consciousness had returned.

  Now, after all of the introspection, she remembered her stalker, and it angered her that he would have the audacity to chase her the way he did.

  Marching out of the bathroom, Alysia entered the hallway and walked slowly in the dark. She let her feelings become her eyes instead of relying on the exterior safety lights, which barely spilled in through the windows.

  This hallway was what connected most of the school’s classrooms, so there would be a lot of traffic during the next day. There was bound to be blood and damage to the lockers if she and the demon were to rumble. Maybe I can convince it to fight me outside, she thought, but then a cold chill ran through her again, and she knew it was too late.

  “What do you want from me?” she asked, slowly turning to face him.

  “Chaos Lord wants to talk,” the fat man said, as he stood as a silhouette at the end of the hall.

  “Tell him to come, himself if he wants to talk. If he thinks that I will allow a disgusting creature like you to touch me,” she chuckled, “then he knows very little about me, and that is disappointing.”

  “You and I both know the implications of the lord coming here before his time. You must come with me. There is no other way.”

  “Even with possession, like you’re doing now? Is Chaos too good to occupy a human body, even for the sake of having a conversation?” Alysia pressed.

  “Your attempts to trick the lord into revealing himself will not work, Earth child. Come with me back to Yalem, and the lord will have you as his honored guest so that you can talk about the future and your career as a warrior.”

  Alysia walked towards him briskly until she was close enough to smell the demon sweat that had soaked through his uniform, making it damp. “Tell your lord that the only compromise is this: Return my world to what it was the day before he invaded. Give everyone back their lives, and leave us alone. Show me that he is willing to do this, and I will happily bend the knee.”

  The demon started to breathe hard as he considered what she was saying. He put his hands on his hips and looked down, then looked up quickly and shook his head. “Impossible! Reverting your world means losing you. Your tricks will not work on lord Chaos, Earth child. What has been done, has been done, but you can make the best of it by—”

  Alysia slammed her fist into his solo plexus and quickly drew her hand back and threw an uppercut into his chin. The shock to his abdomen forced him to double over, but her small size made the second blow ineffective against his face.

  She had used the leverage of her lower body to drive the energy into the fist, but even with this power—which would have shattered a brick if she were in a martial arts demonstration—it merely stung the demon.

  She bounced back with her fists up to protect herself against whatever counter he would answer with. He charged her to grab her, and was too fast for her to step out of the way. In the blink of an eye she was against his damp body, being squeezed inside a bear hug.

  Alysia closed her right fist but placed her thumb behind her forefinger so that it formed the phoenix eye fist. She ignored the pain to allow her energy to flow to that central point and punched the demon in the eye, causing it to explode like a soft-boiled egg.

  The big man bellowed like a great elephant, and his arms loosened as if he wanted to reach up and touch his missing eye. Alysia took advantage of the break and stretched out her hands, then slapped both of his ears simultaneously, sending a jolt of pain straight to his brain. He dropped her immediately, and reached up to hold his head as the pain became too much to ignore.

  “Tell Lord Chaos that he made a mistake in choosing me. My father is an Ert, and the next time we meet, it will be across a battlefield on the plains of Yalem!”

  She drew back her right fist and dropped into a deep horse stance, then thrust forward with everything she had and slammed the heel of her right palm into his nose. A crunching noise confirmed her strike, but the beast was still wavering on one knee.

  She threw up a leg, and climbed on his back, then braced herself to choke the life out of him with her thighs. She had managed to hook the left foot behind the right knee when his strong arms came up. He fought to unhook her legs but she retaliated by repeatedly hammering her fist into his face.

  For three long minutes this struggle continued, Alysia fighting to keep her legs in place and the demon fighting to get her off him. Meanwhile, the bloody mess that was his face was being punished again and again by Alysia’s fists. She wondered if it was a futile effort and if demon possession could put a human being beyond the mortal barriers of survival.

  With the trauma to his face, the man shouldn’t even be breathing. Yet there he was, strong as an ox, fighting to remove her from his body.

  This would have been so much easier if I had Euphoria, she thought, as she felt herself growing even more tired with the struggle. But there was to be no rest for her, no matter w
hat. A break in the fight would mean a loss, and she would be set upon by the dripping demon who would have his way with her before dragging her off to Chaos. Once she made the first strike, she had made the decision to go all the way or accept what would be done to her in turn.

  She tightened her legs, interlocked her arms with his, and started to rock back violently. This took all of her strength and she screamed with frustration, tightening and tightening as she rocked and rocked, screaming to give herself the strength. Then something gave and the big man went limp. He collapsed beneath her weight like a deflated, skin-covered balloon. Hairy, damp, and with the smell of decayed meat, he slid down to his belly with his swollen face and missing eye, thrust out towards a locker.

  Alysia untangled her arms and legs and rolled to the cold floor of the hallway. She stared up at the ceiling as she sucked in oxygen and exhaled quickly, over and over. That sucked so much, she thought to herself, as she lay there swimming in the sensation that comes when adrenaline departs the body.

  Her biceps ached as well as her thighs, and the sweat from the demon was all over her body, forcing her mind on the prospect of a shower, or a dip in a pool, a lake … anything.

  When she found the strength to get back up, she looked around and saw that there was a closet for cleaning supplies at the end of the hall. Limping over to it, she threw the door open and saw a mop and pail, several brooms, and a blue uniform and gloves.

  She took out the uniform and folded it up, then took the mop and unscrewed the handle from the head. “Weak wood, but you will do,” she said between breaths, then leaned it against the locker as she considered her next move.

  The last time I fought with the demons, the bodies vanished before the school day started, she thought. But to run the risk of children seeing her carnage on an assumption was just too careless an idea for her. She walked over to the cop and inhaled for strength, then grabbed his collar and tried her best to pull him towards the closet. It was harder than she anticipated, especially now that she was drained, but after a concentrated effort—which took the better part of an hour—she had him seated in the closet, and the blood and vomit mopped up with what used to be his shirt.