A Whisper in the Night: II

She was truly beautiful. A women of average height with jet-black hair that extended to her waist, smooth ivory skin like the glow of the moon, and brilliant hazel eyes that resembled a blooming nebula. Her smile alone was enough to seduce almost any creature that gazed upon it. Though thousands of years old, the forest had preserved her youth for she appeared no older than the age of twenty. And for all that she was beautiful, she was just as cruel and evil.

She moved through the forest with an uncharacteristic elegance and grace, softly caressing the tops of flowers with her right hand, while firmly grasping a crystal wand with her left. The wand emitted a deep turquoise light desperate to escape her grasp as it seeped through the small gaps in her fingers. She wore an all-white hooded cloak that dragged slightly behind her, and even though she was walking through mud, it remained pristine as if making no contact with the ground at all.

The Forest of Eternity is a remarkably wonderful place. The flowers are always in bloom with intoxicating and vivid colors. The trees rise to well over six hundred feet, and more often than not, are crawling with different kinds of vines eagerly embracing them. The colors of the plants and flowers radiate off every surface casting a vibrant aura surrounding everything. Even the mud that Iris was treading through was beautiful as it glistened in the light, like a thousand diamonds were scattered among the forest floor.

“This is the one.” Iris said quietly to herself as she approached the blueish gray door in the base of a nearby tree. She placed her hand on the door and gently ran her finger tips across it. The overwhelming excitement that came flooding over her as she did, felt as if her soul were about to burst out from inside of her. It was almost unbearable, and yet, she couldn’t resist indulging in the feeling. She had never felt anything like it before; she was completely intoxicated.

“I have found it at last.” She continued, the excitement steadily rising in her voice. “The Shadow Crystal lay just beyond this door. Akumen will pay for what he did to me.” Her voice was cold and vindictive. The culmination of the journey she started over a thousand years ago was approaching.

She slowly rested her cheek upon the door as if it were a soft feather pillow, one of her hands gently embracing it as she did. For a second, her smile grew slightly broader before she removed it from her face, withdrew her cheek from against the door, and began to walk away from it with determination. When she was several feet away from the door she turned around to face it and lifted her wand pointing it at its center, her fist still glowing with the brilliant luster of a polished turquoise stone as.

She inhaled slowly. Her focus was pure, and precise. That moment in time was hers. Everything else ceased to exist as she focused her intent into her wand which was glowing brighter still. She exhaled, and as she did, she thought:

“Open!”

There was a loud, CRACK, as a ring of bright golden flames erupted from the tip of her wand and shot directly towards the center of the door. When the golden ring of flames crashed into the door, there was an explosion of sparks and fire that radiated outwards spreading across its surface. When the flames dissipated shortly after, the door remained perfectly intact. But now, it was pulsing with a faint violet glow.

For a thousand years she had searched for this door, and the feeling of excitement and anticipation that flowed through her was something that she wanted to savor. With the shrouding charm now broken, and the door no longer protected, she chose to stand there and relish in the moment with every ounce of her attention.

It was pure bliss. She felt as if she were floating in a sea of euphoria. No thoughts clouded her mind, and all that she was conscious of was the ecstasy pulsing through her veins. She stood in place for several minutes before she finally began walking slowly towards the door. She griped the round golden knob firmly with her hand, slowly twisted it clockwise, then gently pushed the door open and stepped through it.

***

She was flying through space at the speed of light, stretching and twisting in on herself. She couldn’t feel her body, but she somehow felt herself being pulled in every direction at once. The colors surrounding her blended into each other, like drops of paint swirling in a motif of bright colors. She continued to tumble through the chromatic tunnel of twisted colors and shapes, when as suddenly as her chaotic spiral began, she found herself standing upright in the middle of barren and decaying forest, a faint violet glow was shimmering somewhere off in the distance.

The door had led her to the furthest and darkest region of the forest. Or at least, what vaguely looked like the forest. All around her were dead and decaying plants and flowers. The trees were an ash gray color and flickered with a dim orange glow as malevolent flames danced wickedly around their hollow insides. The ground was completely dry and lose gravel was scattered everywhere. The vibrant and dazzling colors that radiate off every surface elsewhere in the forest, were now different shades of a dull and muted gray. A dark and ominous shadow lingered everywhere, and Iris felt as though she were being closely watched. She took a moment to gather herself and looked around carefully before she began to walk.

She had no clue where she was going, but the door had opened onto a winding and narrow trail that seemed to be heading in the same direction as the violet glow that was pulsing off in the distance. With every step she took the feeling of the lingering shadow watching her intensified. She kept walking deliberately along the path with caution in every step. She casually looked around every few minutes at the death surrounding her just off the path. It was strange to see the forest like this. In all her life she had never once come across a plant or a flower with no color.

She followed the path for nearly an hour, enjoying the soft glow from within the hollow trees, before she reached the edge of the forest. To both her left and right extended infinitely a wall of dead glowing trees, and in front of her was a wide-open wasteland. The dark gray sand reflected the moons silvery glow and against the backdrop of the pure black night, the scene in front of her looked like two worlds separated by the distant horizon. One world was a black abyss floating just out of reach above her, and the other was a dry gray wasteland littered with rocks and small hills with a winding path making its way through it.

Far off in the distance, just on the horizon, was the silhouette of a single massive tree trunk on top of a lonely hill. It was pulsing with a faint violet glow that poured out from its hollow top. The anticipation and excitement she was feeling was continuing to grow more and more steadily. She could see it. It was in her hands. The Shadow Crystal and all its powers. “He will die.” she thought maliciously to herself. She could feel pressure building inside of her as she thought about him. As she remembered vividly the last time they saw each other. The pressure was beginning to bind itself to her, consuming her.

Her fingers wrapped themselves tightly around the crystal. She embraced the warm violet glow on her face as the crystal pulsed in her fist. She could see it so clearly. She was there, and it was finally in her hands after thousands of years. She could see him now, kneeling in front of her, begging her for mercy, begging her to forgive him. The pressure made its way from deep inside her all the way to the surface, seeping through every pour on its way there. She could feel the hate pulsing through her uncontrollably. She didn’t want to wait anymore. She wanted to hurt him.

She wanted to kill him.

With great effort she focused her mind back on the present moment and away from Akumen. She stepped forward and began the final stretch to the distant silhouette glowing ominously on the horizon. She was getting further and further from the dead forest, but she didn’t seem to be getting any closer to the tree. She turned back to the dead forest to see how far she had walked, when the ground beneath her began to shake tremendously. With her gaze still fixed upon the forest she saw, one by one, the flames inside the trees burn out. They went out in succession down the horizon until every flicker of light from every tree was extinguished.

As the last flicker of light vanished, the ground in front of her began to crack and fracture. She spent no time trying to understand what was going on as the earth was fracturing at an increasing rate in her direction. She turned around and ran as fast as she could toward the massive silhouette on the horizon. All around her, just off the path, deep cuts were being sliced through the earth as if giant blades were carving intricate designs into a wooden carving. A bright violet light began to shoot out from the cracks, accompanied by thick black smoke that was quickly creeping out and spreading everywhere along the ground.

She continued to run as the smoke followed her along the winding path, the cracks getting larger and wider. Suddenly, the rumbling of the earth came to a halt and so did the advancing cracks. Iris stopped for a second, and as she did, the smoke that was crawling along the ground rose into the air twenty feet spiraling chaotically as it completely surrounded her. In an instant, the smoke fell and there was a cascade of thick black smoke that started to rain down on her. She lifted her wand at the last moment and a bright beam of light shot out from its tip and the smoke was instantly vaporized.

She looked around behind her, her heart beating fast, and saw to her amazement the same wasteland she had just crossed, but there wasn’t a single crack or fracture in it. It looked exactly the same as when she first started to walk across it. The trembling earth, the fractures chasing her, the smoke, it was all just some trick. As soon as she came to realize this, she heard a faint and sinister voice whisper.

The others died. They were weak.

The words lingered in the air and sent a chill down her spine. “Who’s there?” she said in a calm voice, but there was no answer.

The wind softly kissed her cheek and caressed her hair. She stood calmly in place waiting for a reply, twirling her wand around in her fingertips. Nothing. A turquoise light flashed across her face every other second as she continued to twirl her wand around impatiently. She knew she had heard a voice; she felt its cold presence in the air around her. The chill it sent down her spine felt like nothing she had ever felt before.

She did not wait long. After half a minute with no reply she continued her journey along the path and up the hill. When she reached the top of the hill, the mighty tree trunk stood proudly as it pulsed with a deep violet glow. The base of the trunk was massive, at least one hundred feet wide. The tree must have towered to well over a thousand feet when it was alive, but now it rose to only half that. The top of the trunk was jagged resembling sharp steep cliffs made of rotten wood, and in the base of the trunk was an opening large enough for a person to pass through.

Iris stood there surrounded in a brilliant violet aura, as the pulsing light from the tree radiated off her pure white cloak. The excitement she felt now was far more unbearable than she had anticipated. After a thousand years of searching, what was once a lifetime away, was now only minutes. It was almost impossible for her to fully comprehend what was about to happen. The journey she started so many lifetimes ago was finally about to end, and it was going to end exactly the way she had imagined it. The Shadow Crystal and all its powers will finally be hers.

As she began to walk toward the opening in the hollow trunk, the same black smoke began to appear once again, but this time seemingly out from nowhere. It crept eerily along the ground just off the path, keeping pace with Iris. As she neared the tree, the smoke began to take on the shape of vines as it continued to crawl alongside her. When she was roughly thirty feet away from the tree, one by one, the vines of black smoke began to attack her. She continued on her way to the opening in the tree completely unbothered. She simply flicked her wand in the direction of the vines, almost autonomously, as they tried to attack her. Each one vaporizing in a flash of turquoise light.

When she reached the base of the tree trunk she walked straight through the opening without hesitating. The Shadow Crystal was in the very center of the hollow tree. It was roughly the size of two fists placed on top of one another and was bound within a prison of vines. Inside the crystal, Iris saw a thick black smoke spiraling and twisting malevolently within a vat of violet light. Extravagant twisting shadows danced across the interior of the tree while the crystal stood their radiating its sinister energy. She could hardly believe her eyes. Her greatest desire lay just in front of her, and the powers that it will bestow upon her will assure the suffering and death of Akumen once and for all.

Take it. The sinister whisper she heard before said. The power is extraordinary.

“So, now you speak?” Iris said arrogantly. “Who are you?” she demanded.

Foolish girl. You know not to whom you speak?

“I am no fool, whisper.” Iris quickly retorted. “But, perhaps…” She paused to emphasize a point, “…you are? Being trapped behind a Destiny Door and all.” She couldn’t resist in taunting the haunting whisperer. Arrogance had wet her words and pride had sharpened them. She spoke them intending to inflict a wound, but she failed to leave even the slightest mark.

A sinister laugh began to fill the air as a terrible chill crept down Iris’s spine. The hairs on the back of her neck and on her arms began to rise. It felt as though several tiny insects were crawling all over her. The laugh began to crescendo causing a vibrating in her head. The waves were reverberating back and forth in her skull and the pain was incredible. Her vision was blurry and she felt an overwhelming sense of nausea.

Then it all stopped.

I am the darkness that has been following you. I am the visions that you see. I am the shadows, the smoke, the violet light, and this tree. I am your greatest desire. I am the power that you seek. I am The Specter of course, and you will set me free.

Iris did not show it, but she was afraid for the first time in a thousand years. It was subtle though, for she believed she was powerful enough to control the crystal. She thought carefully for a few seconds and replied. “You seem to be forgetting your current situation. I am not the one trapped beyond a Destiny Door existing as a mere whisper. I will free you, Specter, but under my terms, not yours.”

Name your terms, girl. The Specter replied. 

“You must help me find the wizard, Akumen.” She said “I have searched for him for many years to no avail. As much as I do not wish to admit it, he is more accomplished than me at shrouding charms. Help me find Akumen and I will free you.”

I will find the wizard, Akumen for you. But your words are empty, girl. Begin the process that will free me from this wretched place first, then I will help you.

Iris had no intentions of freeing The Specter, but she needed his help in order to kill Akumen. She would begin the process that would allow The Specter to travel beyond the Destiny Door back to the forest as a sign of good faith, and when Akumen was dead, she would fully harness the powers of the crystal, destroying The Specter in the process. Over the thousands of years that she had searched for the crystal, the only thing she could think about was how she would make Akumen suffer, and how when he was dead, she would make everyone else suffer too.

Her heart was cold and black as night, but she wasn’t always wicked. In fact, once upon a time, there was absolutely no evil in her at all. She was happy, and love filled every breadth of her existence. But one day, she lost everything, and her whole life turned into darkness. Over time, it completely consumed her. Now, all she knows is hatred and pain. Now, all she wants is Akumen to die, to pay for the darkness that corrupts her heart.

“You have a deal, Specter.” Iris said.

Then take it. You know the spell.

She lifted her arm pointing her wand at the prison of vines surrounding the crystal. And just as she did before to break the shrouding charm on the Destiny Door, she inhaled slowly and focused all her intent into her wand. She thought to herself:

“Embrace me!” exhaling as she did.

There was a loud, CRACK, as a jet of turquoise light erupted from the tip of her wand shooting out white flames that crashed into the vines in a flurry of bright sparks and fire. There was an explosion that sent several large pieces of burning vines flying through the air while incinerating others in an instant. The Shadow Crystal fell to the ground and began to pulse quicker than before. Iris slowly began walking toward it, each step she took the crystal began to pulse even quicker. She stood directly over it now, wide-eyed with her heart beating out of her chest. The crystal was pulsing so fast now that it seemed like a solid bright light. She knelt down beside it, reached out her hand, and gently wrapped her fingers around it.

The feeling was remarkable. The power of the crystal surged through her, and it was both pleasure and pain. Every nerve in her body was searing with fire, but at the same time it was erotic, and she didn’t want it to stop. Her body began to vibrate violently, and her vision became blurry. Suddenly, she was weak and felt nothing but excruciating pain. She let out a horrible scream and her vision went completely black. She laid down on her back, and began rolling and screaming in agony. Then, as quickly as it started, the pain was gone.

Her vision slowly came back, and she could see herself lying on the ground. The crystal glowing violet in one hand, her wand turquoise in the other. Her body was fully covered in sweat and her legs felt weak. She stayed laying on the ground for a minute until her body fully recovered its strength. She got up to her feet and held the crystal out in front of her. The bright violet glow was pulsing warmly on her face, her eyes were wide open, pupils fully dilated, and her heart racing.

“He must die.”

Kill them all.