Chapter 13A: Usurper of the Underworld

Chapter Thirteen

With each passing second, I begged spacetime itself to just let her rest. As the doctor quietly looked over her body, I held my hand against my chest. I could feel her struggle just to take in every breath, like her sickness was days away from dragging her to death. The doctor peered closely at the scarred skin on her leg; he searched her shin for signs that she had caught the plague. Aeliana cried as she kept her mouth hidden by her hand, she cried as if to confess that she could no longer stand. She had promised to fight with me for the future we would forge, but it seemed instead that she would fall victim to this world. I pondered if this plight was pareidolia or pattern, but I swore if I lost her then the stars themselves would shatter. They had proven to pry us apart by every twist of fate; they had dared to defy the destiny that we would create.

The doctor started to explain with a lurid stare, “Some say that this plague can spread through the air. I recommend that you both check yourselves for signs of sickness over the next few days. Back when I lived in Bones City, I saw many patients afflicted by this plague. I knew another doctor who detested the plague as if it were her mortal enemy; she detested the disease because it had locked her three children in stone. They all went from excitable childlike demons to motionless husks of flesh and bone. They could not move a muscle, and eventually they could not even breathe. She buried them herself and then swore that she would do everything it takes to somehow defeat the disease. I thought that she had succeeded, because the plague had perished by the day I left that city. But now, I see that she not only failed to extinguish the epidemic that eradicated her family. It became stronger than ever before and now devours children and adults alike.”

Afraid that the same fate could befall Aeliana, I asked the doctor in a hopeless plea, “Is there a way to stop it that you can foresee? I know that even the highborn have lost family to the plague.”

The doctor merely shook his head and confessed, “Not a single medicine even passed the first test. My former colleague wouldn’t have had to go on her crusade if there were a simple answer to the plague. I thought that perhaps the hopelessness could have changed since I left, but if even the highborn are losing family, then there truly is no way to save the victims. Sometimes in the history of humanity, we have seen plagues so perilous that they simply kill everyone who isn’t naturally immune. It causes a massive gene shift leaving only those with genetic immunity. Perhaps in the end, they’ll say the same about this virus, at least if there is anyone left. But of course, it’s easy for an old man like me to abandon the world as if it is already dead. This plague has burned itself out before by devouring all those unlucky enough to catch it, so perhaps the same can happen again.”

I said to the doctor as I glared him in the eye, “I don’t care if humankind in the end will live or die. All that matters is that Aeliana can somehow still survive, and I will pay any price so that that future will arrive. I cannot accept failure or a simple deferral, and I will commit any crime it takes just to save my girl.”

The doctor took a moment to ponder as he lifted Aeliana into the air. I walked over to him and took her into my arms. She trembled as I held her and set her forehead against my chest. She smiled slightly when she realized that she was in my arms, and then the doctor poured a tonic into a plastic cup. He tilted back her head and poured the tonic into her mouth. She struggled at first with discomfort and a clear dislike for the taste, but she still swallowed the medicine with her eyes closed.

The doctor answered after taking a moment to think, “You must understand that she is already on the brink. No faraway solution can possibly save her life. I gave her a potent medicine that should stave off the symptoms for a couple days, but she’ll be motionless within the week. It won’t be long after that.”

“I understand the severity, but I need a solution,” I said with an unwavering constitution.

“This island is inhabited mostly by monsters who left their old lives behind. I may not have powers of my own, but I am familiar with the powers people gain by slaying the innocent. I knew someone in Bones City – a doctor who called himself the apothecary of the dark. He possessed a power that could practically heal any wound or disease, but I’m sure you can understand that this made the apothecary very valuable. No one knows exactly how much of this is true, but the story goes that he wanted to escape the violent world into which he had stumbled. He said it was only a matter of time before the forces in the dark devoured him as they did anyone else. So instead of staying in the underworld, he destroyed his own body and then healed himself with his power. He sculpted himself into a different person, and then he burned his home to the ground. He disappeared into the crowded streets of Bones City where no one could find him. I imagine he could not have started over without help, so someone in the underworld may still know his whereabouts. I think at this point this apothecary is your only chance,” the doctor explained as he gave Aeliana a nervous glance.

I nodded and thanked the doctor for his time. I paid him all the money I had taken with me when I left my home, and then I raced off into the night. I knew I did not have a moment to spare – not if I wanted to save Aeliana from a horrific death. She groaned uncomfortably in my arms, but I tightened my hold on her and then activated the power I had stolen from Elijah. I raced through the village and in between small homes. I jumped between rocky ledges which were lit only by the flowing lava in the distance. Trees swayed in the breeze around us as we raced toward the ship we had docked on the rocky shore.

When I reached our stolen ship, I knocked it through the shallows and into the ocean with a single kick. I splashed through the shallow waves and then jumped onto the wooden deck with a mighty jolt. Aeliana struggled to say that she could stand upright, so I set her on her feet and then grabbed the paddles while I still had my strength. The steaming sea splashed all around us, but I overpowered the current and quickly pushed us away from the volcano. Every droplet of suspended water summoned a tiny fire in the way that they invoked the light of lava behind us. It almost looked like a scattershot of sparks spiraled around us like little fireflies frolicking in the light.

“I didn’t want you to have to go through all of this for me,” Aeliana muttered as she struggled just to breathe.

“It’s like you said before when you said that we’re a team. There exists no other way that we can carry out our dream. I don’t care if this sounds dramatic because we both know it is true: All this world means nothing if I cannot have you. That is why to save you I will cover any cost. I will pay the price no matter how many lives must be lost. At the very least, I know now where to start. This ends with Bellaina – with the queen of the dark.”

Aeliana nodded slowly but kept her nervous gaze. I could tell with one glance that she had no compunction with threatening or killing those who stumbled into our path. Her only concern was that she hated having to rely on me. After spending her life in the sands surviving only by the daggers in her hands, it was practically anathema to value her life enough to trouble someone else.

Note: There are still 2 more parts to this chapter