Was I slipping between worlds? My breath came quicker, fear whispering that maybe the visions were more than dreams, what lay behind the doors tempted me enough to almost peek, but whatever secrets they kept were best left alone. Footsteps echoed from ahead, and I pressed myself against the wall as I rounded a bend in the narrow path.
I began to feel as though I had slipped back to medieval times. Ancient iron torches flanked weathered walls, their flickering light barely chasing the shadows from the passage. Venturing a glimpse past a bend ahead, I saw Fionn open a large, bolted door at the end of the path and ushered Seraphina and the others inside.
“Hurry!” he said with a tone of urgency. “She needs to be restrained before she awakens.”
Though he closed the door, I heard no indication of a lock, so I crept toward it, my heart hammering in my chest. Again, Iwondered why no one had noticed my presence. It was as if they were so focused on dealing with the young girl, they didn’t notice anything else.
I approached the door of the cell that each of them went into and slowly turned the metal latch. Thankfully, it made no noise as it released. Carefully inching the door open, I peeked into a dimly lit dungeon. Cuffed chains flanked its mouldering walls, the reek of age and dampness almost overwhelming. It was a far cry from the elegant, airy rooms above.
Clutching the edge of the door, I watched Fionn hold the girl against the wall while Torin manacled her ankles and wrists. Seraphina and Cillian stood nearby anxiously looking on.
Once again, I found myself unable to tear my eyes from the girl. What was she? Where did they find her, and what did the brothers want with her?
The girl’s head drooped on her chest, her features veiled by her hair. Glowing like polished copper in the light, the coarse texture reminded me of a horse’s tail.
Where the manacles exposed her ankles, intricately tattooed symbols resonated in vibrant colours.
“Cast the holding spell, Seraphina,” Fionn said with unusual seriousness. “I don’t know if the manacles will hold her.”
It was the first time I’d noticed him subdued, almost worried, and now I felt even more uncomfortable about whom the young girl might be.
Seraphina raised her hands and began to chant in a foreign tongue. Her eyes fluttered, then closed as pale tendrils of plasma snaked from her fingertips and encircled the girl in a veil resembling a shimmering cobweb. The brothers silently watched. Too afraid to even twitch, I found myself holding my breath. Only when the barrier was complete did she open her eyes.
“It's done,” she said.
Another barrier,I thought. This seemed to be Seraphina’s speciality. I returned my attention to the girl and studied her with interest. Though she seemed as fragile as a pinned butterfly, I felt a sense of strength, even power, beneath her vulnerable facade. I felt an intense desire to sketch her, so intriguing were her delicate features, and so similar she was to the unearthly creatures I’d created in my paintings.
Lulled by her appearance, I was unprepared to see her huge emerald eyes snap open. The others watched guardedly, but she scanned the room with the alertness of a captured animal. She began to shake at her restraints with a fury belying her delicate form, and the fairy-like creature I had assumed her to be began transforming before my eyes.
“Prepare yourselves,” Seraphina said in a cautionary tone. “Guard your energies. The Elorium awakens.”
Elorium?I thought, my mind racing.
Tense silence ensued as everyone watched and waited for the Elorium to awake. I cowered behind the door, wondering what kind of creature could cause such unease.
Suddenly, the girl’s body jerked. Her hands shook as she struggled to move them from the chains. As she gradually regained consciousness, she gulped down several breaths of air but seemed to have difficulty breathing. Finding herself restrained, she began to violently jerk.
I watched, anxiously wondering if she would be able to survive the atmosphere of this world.
“The Elorium has awakened,” Fionn said.
Seraphina and the brothers drew closer, formed a half-circle around her, and clasped hands. Glaring at each with glassy doll eyes, the creature, for she was no longer a girl, began to snarl, shriek, and rattle at her chains in a frenzy. Her head whipped around at impossible angles, her hair snapping like wires. Her sharp, pointed teeth bared in a snarl as she snapped and lunged.I flinched despite the distance, wanting at once to run away yet compelled to watch.
“She exists in the human realm now,” Fionn said. “Her Order can’t help her. Guard your energies!”
As he spoke, her green, orb-like eyes bore into him before they darted to rest on each face before her. Fionn seemed to enrage the creature even more. Not only did her struggles increase, but the muscles of her body also began to shift and flex in a terrifying way. Her limbs extended, and her fingers transformed into talons. What sounded like the cracking of her ribs revealed the stubs of wings emerging from her flanks.
Seemingly in pain, the Elorium began to wail and shudder. The chains rattled but the barrier kept her from pulling free. Now the creature’s gold-webbed wings began to extend and partially unfold.
“Don’t break the circle! Protect your energy so she can’t feed from it!” Seraphina yelled.
She stared at the struggling Elorium, who fixed its soulless eyes on her. Uttering rapid-fire words in a guttural language, the creature hissed in a way that sent shivers down my spine.
“She has little power here!” Seraphina shouted above the din.
The creature glared at her with increasing venom. Her skin pulsed, causing her tattoos to change form and undulate up her legs.
“She’s trying to break the spell!” Seraphina said.
