Arcemis's Arc

Chapter 6 of 16

The forge fell quiet after the battle. Then the air changed. A butterfly landed on Arcemis's sword, wings shimmering. Its light spread until the mountain vanished. Arcemis stood in a pale hall of arches and floating runes. He had crossed into a realm beyond the world. He knew who had pulled him here. Gaia stepped from the light. Her golden eyes held no anger, only weariness. "He is tearing my children apart," she said. Her voice moved like wind through old trees. "Vaphos meddles too deeply. The people of your world lose their minds. I cannot walk far enough into his domain. But you can." "Then send me," Arcemis said. She touched his blade. Gold light flared along the steel. "This will not hold forever here. Strike true, and quickly." The hall shifted. Arcemis stood on black stone. Red eyes opened in the dark. Vaphos walked out, handsome and calm, a coat of black and red trailing behind him. He smiled like a man greeting an old friend. "The Guardian of Light," Vaphos said. "Gaia's little errand boy." He spread his hands. "Do you even know what I offer them? I whisper. They choose. I only open the door." "You break minds," Arcemis said. "Travelers vanish. Villages turn on themselves. That's your door." Vaphos laughed. He snapped his fingers. From the shadows came hounds, lean and green, eyes burning. They circled Arcemis, teeth bared. "Stop the chaos in my world," Arcemis said. "Now." "Make me." The hounds lunged. Arcemis swung. Gold light cut the first in half. Two more hit him. Claws raked his arm. He rolled, came up, and cleaved a third. But the light on his blade dimmed. Gaia had warned him. He was running out of time. Vaphos drifted closer, unhurried. "Your goddess cannot follow you here. When your light fades, you belong to me." Arcemis stopped chasing the hounds. He watched the demon's feet. Vaphos meant to wait him out. So Arcemis charged the demon, not the beasts. The hounds sprang after him. He ducked. Their jaws closed on empty air. He drove his blade up under Vaphos's ribs while the gold still burned. The demon shrieked. Light poured into the wound. Vaphos staggered back, coat smoking. "You cannot kill me," he hissed. "No," Arcemis said. "But I can send you home." He twisted the blade. The black realm shook. The hounds scattered into smoke. Vaphos folded inward and was gone. Arcemis woke on the forge floor. The guardians crowded around him. His arm bled where the hounds had torn it. Gaia's voice reached him one last time, fainter now. "The chaos will fade. But Vaphos will not forgive this. He will crawl back to Rhademus. And Rhademus knows where you stand." Arcemis sat up. The people were safe. Yet he had made an enemy stronger, and now that enemy knew his name and his allies. The hunt was no longer coming for him. It was coming for all of them.