“I quite favored Jesha and Valkee. They kept to themselves. Stayed out of trouble. Took care of their territories, which I appreciated because I worked hard on those lands. A shame Decius got to them.” Korah the Regal speaks, but I can’t wrap my mind around what’s going on. How is this possible? All this time, the rumors said she was hiding in Vakeeli. Many said she’d created her own island that was not made for man and was living on it, but she’s here.
It makes sense, the power she uses to send people to Vakeeli, if only for a moment, and it explains how she can travel through universes without pain or weakness. No Mythic can do that. It’d require far too much energy, but a Regal can do anything. Their energy is strong enough to split mountains and wipe away the existence of men with a single snap of their fingers.
She hands Willow an odd-shaped berry and tells her, “Looks like a regular Earth strawberry, but I only disguise it as one. Eat it. It’ll quench some of the thirst.” Then she offers one to me, but I turn it down, though I am thirsty.
Instead, I get up from my chair and walk across the room, collecting my gun from the shelf.
“Do you plan on shooting me with that thing? A Vakeeli weapon?” Korah asks. I turn, and her eyes are trained on me.
“Straight from Blackwater,” I answer, tucking it into the inside pocket of my coat. “And no, I don’t plan on shooting you, though I’m sure you could dodge a bullet if you needed to.”
“Sure, I could. But do you really think an item like that will kill Decius?”
“No. But it’ll protect us for now from whatever vessel he uses on Earth.”
“Ah yes, vessels.” Korah runs a finger over the wooden table next to her. “Have you encountered any yet?”
“One. A snake,” Willow answers, then visibly shivers.
“When was this?” Korah asks, tapping the table with one of her claw-like nails.
“Last night,” Willow responds.
“There will be another soon. If there’s one thing I remember about Decius, he becomes very impatient when he’s close to his targets.”
Korah sighs and faces the table, and I wait for her to speak—to address this colossal elephant in the room about Decius—but when she picks up the container, opening it and plucking out a berry for herself, I can’t help the question that slips out of me. “Why are you here?”
She looks me up and down. “In my own house?”
“On Earth.”
She bites into the berry, and juices trickle from the corners of her mouth. “I’m certain you heard the rumors while you were in Vakeeli. What are you, around one hundred and twenty years old? Yes, about right. Anyway, if you’ve heard them, then you know about Decius overthrowing Selah.”
“So, you just left her there? Didn’t even try to set her free?” I ask.
Korah stands tall. “I warned Selah not to create the Tethered. Hassha and I both did, but she didn’t listen to us. Now she’s paying for that mistake.”
“Why didn’t you want her to make them?” asks Willow.
“Because we knew it would disrupt so many things. Creating land, animals, and other creatures was simple. They can’t overthrow us because they have no mind of their own. But creating beings who can think for themselves, and who also carried more energy from Regals, well…it was bound to go horribly wrong. Selah gave the original Tethered too much freedom—too much power. She thought they’d all worship her and stay in their place. She was wrong, and now they’re all dead, and they continue to die because of it. All but one, anyway.”
“Isn’t there a way to wake her up? We heard that she’s the only way to defeat Decius,” Willow goes on. She cuts her eyes at me, and I’m glad she doesn’t mention that it will require me to wake her. If this woman really is Korah the Regal, she either knows for a fact who I am, or she has another solution to waking her sister that she hasn’t tried yet.
“I don’t know anything about that, so I can’t help you.” Korah moves across the room, plucking items from the shelves and placing them on the center of her table. Feathers, jewels, rocks. Pointless things. “I will be having after-hours customers soon, so you need to leave and never come back.”
“So that’s it?” I step closer to her. “You’re just going to send us off to die like the rest of them? Why are you so afraid of him?”
She whirls around to face me, and her eyes glow an electrifying purple. Ah. There she is. Korah the Regal with her energy brimming to the surface. She narrows her eyes as she points a stern finger in my face. “I am not afraid of him. I no longer wanted to tolerate him, or the disgusting place Vakeeli has become. You’ve seen it. Look at you. I can feel it all over you—the agony that place has put upon you. You reek of it, you sad little boy. Why would anyone ever want to go back to that retched world, especially someone like me? Someone they’d hunt down just to harness my power?”
I clench my jaw, refusing to look away, even though I feel prickles in my brain, like she’s prodding it with her sharp nails, going through the crevices and searching for all my truths.
“I have family there. I’m monarch of Blackwater,” I inform her.
She scoffs, turning away again. “Look, you may cherish your precious Blackwater and all its…well, black water, but I don’t care. I can’t help you, end of story. I suggest you stay on Earth and keep killing whatever vessels come after you. That would be much easier than going back. Decius will likely tire of it eventually…at least until you both die and a new Cold Tether couple is reborn.”
“And if he doesn’t?” I counter. “If he finds a way here?”
“He won’t.” She peers at me over her shoulder. “He has no way here unless it’s through corrupt vessels, I and Hassha made sure of it. And with the corrupt, I cannot control that because I don’t use my energy for wicked things. Only for good. Now leave.”
“Please.” Willow’s voice is faint, but we both hear it. I know Korah hears it because she lowers her head, hiding her eyes as she arranges the items neatly on the table. “I get why you don’t like what Vakeeli has become. Trust me, I understand it more than anyone. There’s violence everywhere, darkness, and hardly any regard for women. I can’t imagine what people would do if they got a hold of you. They’d have no respect for all you’ve done, all you’ve created, and that’s not fair seeing as you gave them so much to live with. But…I sense there is a reason you left instead of destroying it all. You still have faith in Vakeeli, just like me and Caz do.”
Korah’s shoulders tense.
“Caz has a family there, and in the short amount of time I’ve been there, his family has become mine too. Plus, my twin brother…he may still be alive somewhere in Vakeeli, and I would hate to not find out if he’s still alive all because Decius decided to kill us. And Caz…he’s trying to make Vakeeli a better place. He and the queen of Vanora are. There are people who want to make it a good world again, but we can’t do that if we don’t put an end to Decius and all this fear. So, I’m begging you, Korah. Will you please help us?”
The room falls into a fizzled silence. One of the candles crackles behind me as I focus on Willow. Tears have lined her eyes, but she blinks them away, awaiting Korah’s response. I have no idea how she can still remain so hopeful after being flat-out rejected.
With an exasperated sigh, Korah turns her head and faces Willow. “It is your empathy that will help this sad boy,” she proclaims.
Love of Vakeeli. If she calls me sad or boy one more time…
Willow smiles at her with shimmering eyes.
“Look, I can’t promise that I can help you defeat Decius. I haven’t been in Vakeeli in over four centuries, so my energy is not what it once was.”
“Well tell us how to kill him,” I insist. “There has to be a way. He may be powerful, but he’s not immortal. The other Tethers died because of him. That means he can die too; it may just require more of something.”
Korah walks past me to get to a shelf, taking down a thick green tome. It’s bound in leather and engraved with her name on the front cover. She carries it to the table and opens it, spreading the yellowing pages and revealing paragraphs of cursive script. None of it is written in modern word. It’s all in ancient Vakeeli symbols and letters. I only know some of it, but not all, and I wish I’d paid attention more with those tutors Magnus hired instead of picking fights with them.
“Hassha and I found out the wood of a Trench tree doused in Regal blood can weaken him. It’s why the Trench has practically become a wasteland. He tried burning all the trees, but after so many years, I believe there are still some that can be found. Shape the wood into a spear or any weapon with a pointed tip, have Hassha add a little blood, stab him with it, and he will weaken—possibly even die. We tried it once and it kept him down for centuries, but somehow, he returned. By the time we realized it, our lives had changed, and we didn’t want to deal with Selah’s creatures anymore, so we went into hiding. Wood from a Trench tree could work because it’s his origins—he was born there and was overseer of The Trench. It’s where his roots are, you see, so anything from there has a possibility of defeating him if mixed with our blood. We are the creators of Vakeeli, and what we create, we can also destroy.”
“Sure, all right. I just can’t believe you haven’t gone back for your sister. She’s your family,” I mutter.
“My sister and I didn’t want to die for Selah’s mistakes,” she snaps, fixing her gaze on me. “We told her to test it out with one of the Tethered, not run off and make seven of those abominations. She’d drained all of her energy creating the Tethered, and we knew it was going to take years for her to gather that much energy back.” She looks between us. “No offense. You two seem decent enough.”
“Do you think Selah is still alive?” Willow asks.
Korah gives her a funny look—one I can’t discern. “I know she’s still alive.”
I consider telling her that I know where Selah is with what The Council told me with Inferno Isle, but I’m not sure it would matter. I’m the only one who can awaken her—whether Decius is alive or not. If she senses there’s another way of getting to Selah without having to interfere with Decius, she may not be so willing to help us end him, and I can’t risk that, so I step away, studying the mirror on the wall instead.
“Is this where you create portals?” I ask.
“It is. If you must go back, there is a possibility I can send you to Hassha. Like I said, my energy is weaker now that I’m on Earth. I’m not sure my blood will help you defeat him, but Hassha has never left Vakeeli, so her blood is potent. She can find a way to protect you from Decius while you’re in Vakeeli, and even find a way to get the wood from a Trench tree. Only thing about her now is she has a family now, and she does not like intrusions. She and her warriors will kill you first then ask questions later. I don’t know if that’s a risk you’re willing to take.”
“Is it possible for you to give us some blood and send us to The Council?” I ask. “That way we won’t have to bother Hassha.”
“I can’t get you all the way to Luxor. The Council have energy blockers around their borders. If they sense mine, they’ll put up a guard, prevent visitors. That’ll only delay you. I’ve never liked The Council, and they most certainly don’t like me.” Korah blows a breath. “I’ll get you to Hassha, or as close to her as I can, and you tell her everything you told me. And take this.” She turns for the brown chest again, withdrawing something. She places the object in Willow’s palm, and Willow looks down at it before closing her hand around it. I get a glimpse of it, something small and gold.
“Show her this, and she won’t deny you,” Korah says, clutching Willow’s wrist. “She’ll know I sent you personally.”
