The Palace of Elements

 

Kimbriel’s consciousness gradually returned. Her head ached and the faint metallic taste of blood tinged her tongue. She briefly recalled the enormous gnarled head of a sea dragon rising from the waters, creating waves that had batted the tiny skiff that she was traveling in. The last thing Kimbriel recalled was striking her head as her companions, the sorceresses A’var and Tembria, began shouting spells to subdue the beast.

Kimbriel lay still for several lingering moments and breathed deeply, drawing in the scents of salt and brine. A’var and Tembria must have driven the dragon away; the skiff’s movement had returned to a gentle rocking. She focused on the comforting warmth that filled her chest. It emanated from a large golden pearl that was attached to her skin, just above her heart; this jewel faintly throbbed, matching her heartbeats. She had often wondered if the other children on Astral Island, where she had lived until just a few days ago, had one. It had been with her ever since she could remember, which was…how long? Forever perhaps. It must be a part of her yet she feared that it could be removed and lost. What was it? For a reason that she could not explain, Kimbriel wished to keep it a secret even from A’var, Tembria and the other sorcerers who served as the children’s guardians on the island. She kept it concealed beneath the white shift that she always wore.

 “Kimbriel, are you awake?” asked A’var, gently shaking her. “We are almost there.”

She pried her eyes open and blinked to clear them. A’var, running a hand through her tight, woolly curls, was leaning over Kimbriel. The child focused on the sorceress’s layered necklaces that were decorated with several tiny stones, glass beads, and even a hollow reed-pipe, and then her bright sari that consisted of many layers of gauzy, multicolored fabric. “We have Tembria to thank. Without her ability to talk to the creatures of the sea, we would have made a meal for that dragon.” Her amber eyes glinted against her dusk-brown skin.

Kimbriel sat up slowly in an effort to fight the brief dizziness that overcame her. The skiff, which resembled the hollow of an iridescent shell and was fueled by A’var’s magic, raced gracefully over the now smooth, gray-blue waters. A gauzy sail attached to a wooden mast flapped and rustled above her head. The sky was smeared with overcast and the sun, buried beneath that cloudy mass, spilled down a watery light.

"Hopefully we won’t meet any other dragons,” said Tembria in her soft, impassive voice. Kimbriel’s gaze slid from A’var to Tembria, two contrasts in color. Tembria’s skin was pellucid, tinged with blue, her eyes as colorless as water with only the faintest webbings of silver. Her straight hair fell over her shoulders like wispy strands of kelp. Two narrow slits trailing along either side of Tembria’s neck were the only indications that she had once been a mermaid. A long brown dress, mottled with patterns of gray and dark blue, covered her legs: one was whole, the other shrunken and shriveled, evidence of a cruel experiment that had gone wrong. A gnarled wooden staff lay across her lap. “I’ve heard that the Sorceress Nightfire doesn’t like visitors. She uses these pets of hers to keep them away.”

“But we need to take four elements from her palace,” said Kimbriel. “Won’t she be willing to give those to us if she knew that they will save our world?”

 "We’ll have to see. She has been responsible for some atrocities in her past. But her palace, which is the midpoint between these two realms, is vital for this spell if we are to keep both realities from blending together and, in the process, destroying one another, which is what will happen if we don’t gather the necessary items and cast the spell,” said A’var. “She may even have been the one who had cast the destructive spell to begin with.”

Kimbriel tasted blood. It was only then that she realized she had been gnawing on her thumb. The elders of Astral Island had selected A’var and Tembria for this mission because they were the most powerful of all the guardians. But why did A’var and Tembria need me?

 Every day, for the eternity that was her memory, children were taken away from the island in shell vessels, never to return. No one knew where they were taken—although rumor had it that it was the distant Real, a place that no one knew much about since not even the sorcerers could go there—and yet, somehow, the number of children remaining never seemed to diminish. Until recently, when the mysterious spell was cast and their world started to end. Kimbriel had both dreaded and anticipated the day that she would be chosen to leave Astral Island. Did the children all end up at Nightfire’s palace? Neither A’var nor Tembria offered that information when she had asked.

As if it were a living creature, the shell boat bounded up onto the smooth gray shore of the tiny island that acted as a pedestal for the enormous edifice. Kimbriel bit down hard on a fingertip in an effort to suppress a gasp. The building was shaped like a castle but appeared to be made not of stone and mortar but other elements: its turrets glowed the crimson of embers; the transparent walls undulated like shifting waves; buttresses, appearing to have no more substance than their gauze sail, billowed in a faint breeze. It was from there that they had to retrieve something of each element: air, water, earth, and fire. These must be placed inside a seed, which would then be planted in the ground.

Fear tugged at Kimbriel. She wanted to stay huddled in the rounded corner of the shell-boat where she felt safe and warm. The steady pulsing of the pearl soothed her, helped to calm her restless heart.

A’var bent to help Tembria from the boat. Tembria’s voluminous skirts lifted momentarily as she shifted to move, revealing her mismatched legs.

A chill swept through Kimbriel. Tembria had been born a mermaid and had spent her childhood frolicking in the waves. But several human sorcerers attempted an experimental spell on Tembria to see if a mermaid could be turned into a human. They botched the experiment: her tail divided into two legs, one perfect, the other crippled. No magic was able to fix this error or transform Tembria back into a mermaid.

The tales that Tembria had often told of her childhood in the sea both confused and intrigued Kimbriel. Tembria was once a child, as was A’var and the other guardians. But Kimbriel had been a child for an eternity…or so it seemed. Neither she nor the other Astral Island children ever aged. Whenever she had shared this mystery with any of the guardians, they simply told her the same thing: “You’ll find out when you are chosen to leave the island.” And the warm pearl at her chest had always been a part of her as her own skin.

Nerves tingled within her stomach. Was she going to find out once they entered the palace?       

I see that you were able to get past my pet dragon,” said a voice behind them.

Startled, Kimbriel turned. A tall woman, clad in a multi-layer robe of undulating colors and clutching a golden staff, stood a short distance away. Her skin glowed with a reddish-gold incandescence but her hair was a black that seemed to absorb all light. Her eyes were the shade of crystal; colorless yet lightly tinted with all hues. They held the harsh sparkle of diamonds. “Not everyone can get past my dragon to reach my home.” Kimbriel swallowed and clutched Tembria’s arm tighter. She focused on the pearl’s warm pulsing. “Welcome. My name is Nightfire. You must all be exhausted. Please come inside.” She turned.

Kimbriel hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath until she inhaled deeply in relief. Perhaps this task they had to complete would be easy. Why shouldn’t it? After all, Nightfire wouldn’t want the world to end, would she?

But Kimbriel’s companions stared down at her with eyes filled with warning—Tembria’s like ice, A’var’s an amber-gold that glowed against her dusky face.

“What’s—“ she started to say but Tembria squeezed her arm in warning.

“Be careful,” A’var silently mouthed. “Play along but don’t trust her.”

Kimbriel nodded as they followed Nightfire to a door that rippled as if it were water, as did the outer walls. She gasped as they passed through the door into a vast chamber that seemed to reach for miles in all directions. The walls and ceiling stirred with blue, white-laced patterns as if they were made of glass and holding back crashing waves.

“This is one of my water chambers," Nightfire said. "My palace is enormous; even if you stayed here your entire life, you would never be able to see every chamber.”

In spite of Tembria’s awkward movements, they seemed to glide through it as if they were magically floating. The rooms circled inward, like an onion, and diminished in size the further they went. In some sections, the rooms were made of smoldering coals; in others they were formed from dark, undulating water; there were earth chamber gardens; and chambers of woven air. Some of these were variations: chambers of ice, others of mist.

Where does this place end? Kimbriel wondered as she and her companions continued to fly through the chambers after Nightfire, on a current of magic.

“My palace is the central point on the Astral Plane,” Nightfire said proudly. “It is the point where the four basic elements—fire, water, air, and earth—come together.”

They came to a stop in a chamber that was a combination of these elements. In spite of the fact that it was one of the smallest chambers that they had passed through, its size was still impressive with its high ceiling and walls jeweled with a mixture of fire and water, much like the outside. In the center stood a long table, as incandescently golden like Nightfire’s skin, that was covered with food: baskets overflowing with apples, corn, grapes and berries; platters covered with steaming fish and roasted chicken; mounds of freshly baked bread; goblets of wine.

The sights and blending scents of all this food made Kimbriel feel light-headed. It had been hours since she’d eaten from the rations of bread, cheese and water that her companions had brought along. 

"Go ahead and eat," Nightfire said. "Eat as much as you like and leave behind whatever you can't finish. Another feast will be laid out for tomorrow, or when you are hungry again. This is another aspect of my palace's magic: food that replenishes itself after every meal. It matters little for me since I do not need food, only injections of fire from my golden staff.

"But some of my flesh-pets, such as my dragon, rely on such morsels. When you are finished eating, I will show you to your chambers.”

After the meal, Nightfire gave each of them a room just as she’d promised. This thrilled Kimbriel since she had always shared a room with several other children, her bed one of many in a long row of beds. Her pearl tingled with hot, excited pulses as she entered her new room, which contained the elements of earth and water. The walls were several wide trees standing so close to each other that they nearly touched. Their high branches of red and green leaves intertwined to form a patterned ceiling. A glow, which Kimbriel guessed must have been sunlight trying to penetrate, shimmered against them. The carpet, Kimbriel realized as she stepped further into this chamber, was actually formed of soft, thick grass that reached her ankles. In the center stood a bed with a wooden headboard. Its blankets were woven from hundreds of flower petals. A small pool lay to one side. For me to bathe in and drink, Kimbriel thought, already feeling warm and comfortable in her surroundings.

"Do you like it?" asked Nightfire in a pleasant tone.

"Yes," Kimbriel murmured as a dreamy, sleepy sensation slowly came over her. "I feel as if I could be happy living here for the rest of my life." The pearl seemed to answer in gently vibrating hums. 

"You may stay here as long as you like," Nightfire said as she slipped from the chamber.

Kimbriel, drowsy and content, looked toward the pond. Yes. A bath would be nice after all that traveling. As she shed her shift, she studied the pearl, as she had many times before. It appeared to be made of a rich fallow light, a light that sprayed everywhere, lathering the chamber-forest with a glow similar to daylight.

Is it a part of me, just like my arms and my hair? Kimbriel wondered. Could it ever be removed?

At that thought, it grew hot and beat against her chest.

“Sorry! Sorry!” she gasped. “I didn’t mean that.” She placed her hand over it. “Whatever you are, I could never part with you. You are my most precious possession.” The heartbeat pounding smoothed into a faint, trilling hum. Burning wetness touched Kimbriel’s eyes.

She slid into the pond and soaked for a long while. She discovered that a bar of soap was within her reach when she needed it, as well as a soft towel.

When she was finished, Kimbriel slipped her kirtle over her head, snuffing the pearl’s sun like glow, and collapsed onto the fragrant bed. Her skin tingled from the bath, her stomach was comfortably full. All she needed now was rest…

It seemed that she had only dozed for a few moments when she felt someone shaking her.

“Kimbriel, wake up.” It was A’var. “Nightfire has retired and Tembria has gone in search of the elements. Come. We don’t have—“

There was a rumble, followed by a shaking that lasted for endless seconds: the trees were swaying, the pond rippling. The pearl echoed her fear in hot, frantic pulses. She clung to A’var who held her in a tight embrace until the tremor subsided.

“We must go now.” A’var pulled Kimbriel to her feet. They dashed into the next room, an Air chamber. It breathed with a slight breeze, its walls and ceiling billowing. Kimbriel clutched A’var’s hand as she tried to keep her balance on the shifting, air-woven floor, and fleetingly wondered if this is what it felt like to walk on a cloud. She was now aware of its gauzy-fine texture and eager to leave this chamber before she could fall through.

The next chamber was of water. The undulating walls, floor and ceiling started out as a vivid blue—Kimbriel  had to blink for the sudden brightness hurt her eyes—but they gradually slipped into waters of sunlit transparency the further in they went. She paused a moment to stare through the surrounding walls, wondering if she could find a fish or any other type of sea creature in order to help her companions with the spell.

The ground jolted again, knocking Kimbriel off her feet and separating her from A’var. The water-walls crashed down in rugged waves. Kimbriel was swept under; her mind screamed in panic. She was trapped in a confused current, buffeted by the icy water. Her head momentarily broke the surface. Salt water burned her throat, stung her eyes. She barely had time to breathe, or scream, before she was pulled under again. Her consciousness started to waver as she plunged deeper. She could not see.

Something grabbed her with slender, sinewy arms. A sea monster! she thought, recalling Nightfire’s dragon.

“You’re going to be all right,” soothed a familiar voice as she felt her head emerge once again. “I’ll make sure of that.”

Coughing water from her lungs, she turned, meeting Tembria’s liquid eyes. In spite of her shriveled leg, the girl was swimming with the ease and grace of a dolphin. Clinging to Kimbriel with one arm, she swam rapidly toward the shell-boat vessel that they had originally traveled in. Soaking wet A’var was sitting in it. She pulled Kimbriel on board, and then helped Tembria.

“I…Thank you,” said Kimbriel to Tembria in a shaky voice as she rang out her soaking hair.

“I suppose there is some good to my having been born a mermaid.” Tembria bowed her head and slumped her shoulders. “When I was young, halfling creatures such as mermaids, centaurs and satyrs were viewed by the humans as freaks, as outcasts.” Her voice trembled with a suppressed anger. Her hands clenched her staff, which she had retrieved from the floor of the vessel. “Some of the sorcerers would experiment on creatures like us, to see if they could make us more human. I suppose they thought they were doing us a favor, trying to make us fit in. I didn’t volunteer for this surgery; I was forced.” Although Kimbriel had heard this story many times before, it still disturbed her. Her hand crept to her mouth. She chewed on a jagged nail. “The sorceress who performed it promised to turn my fins into beautiful legs. But she botched the experiment. This is what I was left with.” She inched her skirts up slightly, revealing her deformed leg. “She was Nightfire but she went by a different name then.”

Sickness wormed its way into Kimbriel’s stomach as she shared a startled glance with A’var. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, unable to find anything else of comfort to say. She could feel Tembria’s pain as if it were her own.

“That’s why we should avoid Nightfire and gather the elements as quickly as possible,” said A’var. 

They were racing gracefully over the angry waters, yet the sensation was more like that of floating; they were no longer being tossed about.

“I have gathered all of the elements except for one: the seed, which is the most important,” said Tembria, pulling a tiny sealskin sack from her sash. “It is located in the center, at the heart. But we must hurry because the palace is gradually falling apart. The world is ending and will end if we don’t cast the spell in time.”

Kimbriel’s anxiety thickened.

They remained silent for the rest of the journey. Water ended to be replaced by Air; the vessel carried them smoothly through fierce winds. Next came Earth: although surrounded by dirt, sand and stone as if they had been buried in an avalanche, the shell-boat sliced neatly through as if it were nothing more than water. They were carried out of this and through fires that burned uncontrollably. Kimbriel could only sense the heat as faint warmth.

Nightfire's palace proved to be vaster than Kimbriel had at first fathomed. It was a world itself. Some earth chambers contained actual mountains while an occasional water chamber was simply a vast lake. There were no corridors. . .just those interlocking realms.

The most disturbing aspect of this journey for Kimbriel was the apparent absence of time. They could not see the sun or moon from any of these rooms. Yet each chamber was magically lit as if the sun was shining somewhere overhead. Kimbriel forced herself not to worry; all they could do was continue onward and hope that the palace didn’t collapse and the world end before they had time to gather the last element and caste the spell.

The chambers gradually grew smaller, becoming the size of ordinary rooms.

"We are now getting quite close to the Soul Chamber." Tembria's sudden voice shattered her thoughts. "It may have been difficult to notice at first, but the rooms diminish in size closer to the center."

"The palace didn't look this enormous from the outside," Kimbriel said. "I feel as if we have been traveling forever."

"This palace spirals down to the ocean floor. . . or maybe even beyond that,” said Tembria. “The Soul Chamber is the very center. The rest expands outward, circling like an onion. Nightfire claims that her home will continue to grow and add rooms as long as her soul remains in its chamber."

"The palace will stop growing once we remove the soul," A’var whispered.

After several more hours of travel, they finally reached the Soul Chamber, which was encircled by a grass-covered earth room. A rich golden light emanated from a slender, vertical crevice that appeared to be the only opening.

Their vessel came to a stop in front of it. Kimbriel and A’var helped Tembria out before Kimbriel dashed to the opening. She stooped to peer through it.

All she could see was light mixed with shadow in a tiny room no more than a few paces across. She could not tell if that was seeping in from some unseen gap or if the chamber itself was made of those ethereal substances. The shadowy sections appeared to be tattered and crumbling but the light parts made her think of a rich sunset; she wished that they were liquid so that she could drink them. But the darkness filled her with dread, made her think of events that she hoped to forget.

"You must enter the chamber to gather up the soul,” said A’var to Kimbriel. “You are the only one who is small enough.”

"I figured that you would try to steal my soul," said a mock-gentle voice. Kimbriel whirled. Nightfire stood before them, her skin burning like the golden sections of her spirit. She clutched, in one hand, her matching staff; tiny flames danced on its tip.

Nightfire paced toward the bright entrance and nudged Kimbriel aside. She reached her slender hand through. As she lovingly stroked the tangible entity, the bright parts grew even more brilliant but the dark sections crumbled like burnt parchment and fell away to dust.

She grabbed a pinch of that ash and tasted it. "Bitter. Very bitter," she murmured, crinkling her face. She turned to face the others. “It may not be a perfect soul but why would you take it from me? It is my most valuable possession. My home will die much faster without my spirit to sustain it. . . as flawed as that entity is.”

Kimbriel thought of her secret pearl and understood. Perhaps that is my soul, she thought. Why would I ever want to part with it? Such a thing could kill me!

The ground jolted again, knocking her against the wall. Kimbriel’s pearl vibrated in rapid pulses that tickled.

“You don’t deserve a soul, not after what you have done to me!” shouted Tembria in a voice that echoed about the grassy chamber. Kimbriel stared at her in surprise. She had never heard soft-spoken Tembria raise her voice. The former mermaid pulled up a section of her skirt to reveal her shriveled leg. “This, this is what you did to me in the name of experimentation. You should be destroyed along with the worlds.”  

The rainbow hues in Nightfire’s eyes dimmed. She remained silent for several endless seconds. When she spoke again, her voice was soft and trembling. “I know what I did was unforgivable. That is why I deserted everyone, to escape my past. I removed my soul to create this home for myself. You can have it if it will help save our world. But I’m afraid that, due to my actions, it is quite flawed.”

Kimbriel stared at her companions in shock. She was not expecting Nightfire to give in so easily. A’var nodded at her, indicating that she enter to retrieve the soul.  

Kimbriel squeezed through the narrow crevice of the Soul Chamber. No wonder the others couldn't enter, she thought. Even my head nearly bumps the ceiling, and I’m much smaller. The soul reminded her of her own eternally incandescent pearl but, unlike that of untarnished light, was mottled in many places.

When she passed through the bright golden sections, lovely sensations overcame her; she could smell pleasing fragrances that reminded her of springtime and taste sweet flavors within her mouth. Euphoria tingled through her and the pearl created such warmth that she thought it would glow through her clothes.

But when she approached the darker portions, her tongue felt as if it had dried and crumbled to bitter dust and a sullen despair overcame her. The pearl's vibrations became distant-sounding wails. Was this what Nightfire had suffered when she experimented on Tembria? Kimbriel wondered. What other evils had she inflicted?

Will I be able to carry it? wondered Kimbriel as she reached for a bright corner. Her pearl was tangible; maybe Nightfire’s soul was as well.

She could barely feel the soul's edge; it was finer than a cobweb and created faint tickle-whispers against her hands. She peeled it away from the wall, cautiously for fear that she might tear it. Did that matter? she wondered in an afterthought as she continued her slow work. We are going to place it in the ground anyway.

Another jolt nearly knocked Kimbriel off her feet and the opposite wall collapsed inward, pinning a portion of the soul beneath it. Once the chamber stilled, Kimbriel knelt to lift up the tiny wall and free the spirit. A loud creaking sound from above made her pause.

“The ceiling is about to collapse!” A’var called.

A loud crashing hurt her ears as she pressed through the crevice.

"Is it trapped?" asked Nightfire, striding forward to peer through the entrance.

 "Yes," said Kimbriel, shaking dust from her hair. "A wall and the ceiling have caved in. We must retrieve it somehow. But how--"

"Perhaps we can compress the walls and ceiling around the soul," suggested Nightfire.

“Good idea,” said A’var.

They all began pushing against the walls on every side. In the midst of her whirling mind, Kimbriel wondered what the walls were made of. They looked like stone but had a solid yet rubbery texture that seemed to be a combination of wood and mushroom skin. They folded in easily, shaping a tight oval container, no bigger than an armful, around the patched soul. A perfect seed, filled with potential life.

"We must now bury this," said A’var as she took the sealskin bag from Tembria.

She knelt and pried her hands into the ground, shaping a sizable hole, into which she placed the soul-seed. The room quivered with minor shakes, releasing an occasional rock or dirt clod. A wisp of wind blew from the bag’s opening and gently stirred the soil. “The first element air,” she said. A sprinkling of ashes followed before she piled the supple earth over everything. She poured a few droplets of water from the bag over the mound. “Followed by fire, earth and water, all mixed with the palace’s seed. A tree should sprout from this. It is from that that we must pick the necessary fruit to begin the second half of the spell.” 

They waited… and waited. The earthquakes became more frequent but still remained gentle. Kimbriel's muscles ached with tension; how much longer before a greater one struck, destroying this chamber… and the rest of the palace as well?

A few fallow leaves poked out of the ground. Kimbriel’s pearl echoed her excitement in trills that only she could hear. Twig-sized branches followed, then a tree as tall as a weed. It grew at a rapid pace, becoming Kimbriel's height, then taller… higher yet, its expanding branches reaching in all directions.

 It remained relatively small—the lowest branch was just above Kimbriel's head—since the ceiling of this chamber wasn't very high. Its oval leaves were a shimmering gold, its fruits, the same shape yet slightly bigger than the leaves, were a deep blue.

"We now have a fruit from that seed," said A’var, plucking one. “Now I will use my music to add life and complete the spell.” She trilled a melody on her pipe. It was a simple tune but it made Kimbriel think of waves, of birdsong, of all things living.   

Kimbriel blinked and rubbed her eyes hard to make certain she wasn't dreaming as the fruit expanded, hollowing out, becoming a chamber itself that swallowed the one they were sitting in; it was as if the entrance to that earth cave had stretched and lengthened into an enormous opening.

 Was that yet another room, added suddenly to this already fathomless palace? Kimbriel wondered, looking upward into it. It was an intense blue and resembled half a sky. Powdery stars glimmered against its depths. Could those represent the stars above our world? Or the world called Real? Kimbriel pondered, feeling slightly dizzy with amazement. Were they all from the same world? Did that sky consist of water or air… or a peculiar mix of both? It seemed as if she were looking into a lake.

She noticed several seeds at the bottom. They stirred and divided, changing their shapes: they became fish, mammals, birds, insects. . .more species than she could imagine. How did they fit into such a tiny space? Kimbriel tried to choke back her amazement.

The world was restored! A joyous cheer slipped from Kimbriel, one that was echoed by A’var. They laughed and hugged.

“You can’t hurt me with that,” shouted Nightfire’s voice. “Not only can I merely stand the fire, I bathe in it as well. My veins flow with that element after all.” Kimbriel turned.

Tembria was holding up Nightfire’s staff, which she had replaced with her own.

“Tembria, what are you doing?” A’var strode forward and reached out to pry the staff from Tembria’s hands. “She was helping us.”

“Stay back. This witch mutilated me and she will pay. You all will. I was the one who cast the spell and I will complete the destruction. As you know, once the Palace of Elements and the Astral Islands are destroyed, Real will end as well since no more babies will be born there.” Kimbriel froze. Her pearl grew uncomfortably hot and created a throbbing that vibrated through her entire body. “It will be the end of humans. It serves them right.”

“But you were helping us,” said Kimbriel, confused. “You even saved me.”

Tembria laughed. “I had to be your friends. This enabled me to get close enough to the elements to do this.” She whirled Nightfire’s staff over her head, creating an arc of fire. The chamber walls steamed and darkened at its touch; the acrid scent of burning tickled Kimbriel’s nose. The creatures withered; winds stirred the flames higher. 

"You will die along with the rest of the world," A’var shouted.

“No I won’t.  I know of other worlds that are easily accessible. Some of these are entirely water. I shall find a way to return to my original form.” She tore a hole in the fire, shaping a portal. "It looks as if too much fire has been added to the spell," she said as she stepped into the portal.

Kimbriel's despair drowned her fear as she watched the portal slip closed behind Tembria. The heat of the fires brought stinging water to her eyes and caused the pearl to pulse with discomfort. But before the flames could touch either her or her companions, they faded, leaving gray-black ashes over the ground that smoldered with dying sparks.

Kimbriel looked around. The palace was gone. She, A’var and Nightfire were standing ankle-deep in ash upon the rocky slab of island that was once the edifice's pedestal. The sun hovered low on the horizon. Its chill, dismal glow was weak with twilight. The sea lapped in all directions around the tiny isle. But even it was fading: the waters were evaporating. Nightfire’s pet dragon lay at the bottom asleep, near death. Its enormous body heaved with slight breath: that was the only indication that it still scantly clung to life.

That was the creature that had attacked our vessel, Kimbriel thought, fingering her forehead. The skin there was still sore.  

No one spoke. Nightfire was kneeling on the ground and appeared to be staring at something beneath the cinders. Her skin was pale and ashen.

"We had completed the spell and just needed to wait for the world to recover," A’var snapped as she paced, stirring up an acrid dust. "I'd like to burn Tembria with the fire she used! She betrayed us and destroyed everything."

“No,” Nightfire whispered. “There is another item that we can use…an element that would restore the rest. It must be something made of love: the purest essence.”

“But where are we going to find something like that?” asked A’var.   

Nightfire picked up whatever she had been looking at and weakly rose to her feet. Her movements were sluggish. Kimbriel and A’var gathered close to see what she held.

It was her soul, as brilliant as sunlight but marred by dark, crumbling patches.

"This is all that remains of my palace and my life." Her tone was low. "But our world and Real still might be spared if we can find this last item. It will not only strengthen my soul but restore what Tembria had destroyed."

Kimbriel's heart felt as if it were made of the same bitter ash that covered the ground and clotted the sea. Where could they find anything of use in the death that surrounded them?

“This is all my fault,” whispered Nightfire after a pause. Tears spilled from her now colorless eyes. “I was the one who experimented on Tembria, I caused her to hate humans and wish for their destruction.”

Kimbriel’s mind fumbled for comforting words. Her face burned, tears stung her eyes. She was about to approach Nightfire in an attempt to comfort her when the pearl froze against her chest. She stopped. A numb chill started at the base of her spine and crept up and down her back, up and down. The purest essence. What else could the pearl be? But she couldn’t part with it! No! Something else would have to do!  

"Maybe one of us must be sacrificed," A’var said in a steady, solemn tone.

"It is only fair that it be me," Nightfire said in a voice spent of emotion. "I was the one who mutilated Tembria for a ridiculous experiment. I should die to save the dying world. But I know that, through my own selfishness and the destruction that it brought to the world my soul is quite murky… as you can see."

"No," Avar broke in. "It ought to be me. I don't have much of a place even among the sorcerers of Astral Island. I’m not nurturing. I've always wanted to face danger, fight in battles, not look after countless children. And what better battle is there than the salvation of our world?"

Kimbriel's mind grew loud with turmoil, blocking out the words of her companions, each willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of their world and the mysterious realm called Real. She stepped away to think. I couldn't allow them to die. Not when I have the perfect essence in my possession. The pearl hummed in distress at that thought.

But I can't part with that either. I'd lose it forever. I don't have to stay in this world. Kimbriel looked down and nudged a cinder with her toe. None of us do. Tembria had escaped. We can too. There are a myriad of other worlds to choose from. We can find an even more beautiful one to live on.

A brief joy leaped within Kimbriel's chest. A stale breeze brushed against her.

But how do I know what any of those worlds would be like? Didn’t Tembria mention that if this world ended, no more babies would be born in Real? What did she mean by that? It sounds bad. The pearl grew hot.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she reached beneath her kirtle and pulled. To her surprise, the pearl came off easily. It glowed against the dismal surroundings as it unraveled into a brilliant gold fleece, unmarred by darkness as Nightfire's spirit was, and interlaced with shivers of rainbow and pearlescent white. It was too brilliant to look at. Kimbriel felt naked and empty, as if a part of her had been removed… as if it was her soul. Maybe it was….

A’var and Nightfire turned toward the light, their faces and eyes painted with its flaring gold. Their gasps of awe seared her ears.

"Here is the entity we need." Her voice cracked with unwanted tears. "I don’t know what it is but I believe it is the essence that we are looking for.”

Silence. A silence that was louder than their gasps had been.

"Place it over my spirit," said Nightfire. 

Kimbriel's grief stabbed deeper; she forced her gaze away and fixed it on the fleece’s undulating surface.

Its throbbing became a frantic hum. Tears spilled from Kimbriel's eyes onto its shining surface.

I am losing a part of myself, she thought.

The dark spots in Nightfire’s patched spirit smoothed away, giving it the same smooth, fulgent sheen as Kimbriel’s. A portion of it expanded into a depthless abyss. Kimbriel reluctantly released her golden sheet of silk, tried to comfort herself as she watched it slide across the blackness that started to churn and bubble. She felt a tugging sensation. Was it urging her to follow?

She momentarily looked up at her companions. The glow had returned to Nightfire’s skin, the rainbow brilliance to her eyes. A’var was smiling, an expression that made her face impossibly beautiful. “I am so proud of you. Follow your soul, for that’s what it is. It will lead you into Real where you will learn what it is like to grow and live. When you emerge, you will be given a new name. No one there will know of the sacrifice you had made to save our worlds but we will never forget…”

Kimbriel allowed herself to fall into the abyss. She raced after her soul and felt a tingling sensation as it was pulled into her. A deeper joy than she had ever experienced swelled within her. It was not lost! Now it was more a part of her than ever.

She was surrounded by darkness but a bright tunnel lay ahead. She pushed herself toward it.  

 End