Eternity’s Well Preview

The blare of the ambulance’s sirens roared above Elior and his twin, Eliam, as they careened down streets and avenues of Vidania Prime in pursuit of their first official assignment. Bags of saline sloshed and bins of supplies rattled behind them.

“We’ve gotta get to those people before the research building collapses!” Elior shouted. 

“Who thought it was a good idea to put a magical research lab in the middle of the city, anyway?” asked Eliam.

 It was the brothers’ first day as search and rescue operatives, and a major incident had already called them into action. They didn’t have much information about what the magitechnicians were studying in the lab. Often the magitechnology from hybrid practices was really helpful, but sometimes there were unintended results that could be dangerous.

Elior raced the ambulance through the wide, glittering streets of the capital city. Within minutes they had parked on the street outside the research lab and were clamoring to get out of the car. Three other teams of paramedics showed up right behind them, followed by other search and rescue support.

The research building was clearly collapsing, no matter what. There, on the second floor, was an enormous gaping hole caused by an explosion. A glowing purple goo dripped from the edges of the hole in the building. Even though he was still on the street, the moans and screams of pain rattled through Elior’s ears.

Chief Alice Jackson yelled over her megaphone, “Ok, everyone! Get moving! Don’t touch anything other than the people you’re rescuing! There’s no telling what is and isn’t affected by the blast. Let’s move! There are victims in need of medical intervention!” 

The twins crashed through the doors of the research building with their equipment. Adrenaline pumped through their veins. A cacophony of human wailing blared through the building. Other search and rescue operatives poured inside behind them as they ran up a flight of stairs to get to the lab that was the source of the explosion.

Elior and Eliam burst into the lab. Unconscious researchers lay strewn across the floor. Together, they moved a man splayed out on the tile floor onto a stretcher and carried him out of the lab and down the stairs and out of the building. They repeated the process with the other search and rescue operatives. After several excruciating minutes that stretched into forever, the entire building appeared to be empty. 

Suddenly, the sound of steel supports bending rumbled through the building and echoed off the surrounding skyscrapers. The operatives pulled the rescued victims further away from the building and loaded the injured people into the ambulances.

A chunk of brick and mortar crashed to the sidewalk from the hole in the building and the strangled cry of a woman escaped. 

“Help! Someone help me! I can’t get out!”

Wincing, Elior said, “We missed someone under the rubble in the lab.”

Eliam brushed some dust off his shoulder. “We can’t leave anyone in there.”

Another piece of rubble fell to the floor, and the woman shouted for help again. “Maybe not,” said Elior, “but it isn’t safe. Someone could get killed trying to rescue her!”

“Every life is worth the risk.” Eliam ran back into the building, heedless of the danger.

Elior screamed after his brother. “Eliam, no! It isn’t safe to go back in!”

The moment the doors swung shut behind Eliam, the growing purple puddle on the sidewalk caught fire and exploded, breaking several windows of adjacent skyscrapers.

The explosion blew Elior back and sent him careening into the building across the street. The masonry facade scraped his skin, sending shock waves of pain up and down his arm. Crumpling to the floor, he gripped his arm, grimacing and groaning with pain and effort. When he pulled his hand away to examine his arm, blood stained his palm.

He looked up. Where the rubble from the explosion should have been, his eyes, instead, fell on nothing—an empty lot. The research building had vanished, with Eliam inside it. 

Elior searched the now vacant lot. Not one blade of grass from the landscaping, not a single pipe or a solitary brick remained. His blood froze inside him. Eliam, the only brother and close family he had left, had disappeared. Shock rattled through him.

Murmurs of questions trembled through the crowd of rescue operatives and liberated victims. Not a single word of it made any sense to Elior. He replayed the image of Eliam running into the building back in his mind. He wished he could undo it.

Chief Jackson ran over to him and gripped his shoulders. Her mouth moved as if forming words. Obviously, she was trying to say something, but her voice couldn’t reach him. She shook him when his head drooped. Straining against gravity and will, he lifted his head. She was still moving her lips. Her words sounded as if they were coming through a mattress. Elior tried to focus on her, but his vision blurred and went black.

 ***

Elior woke up to a nurse checking his vitals, pumping the blood pressure cuff and writing numbers on a chart. An IV bag hung above Elior to the right. The sterile blues and whites of the hospital room contrasted with the red blood and blackening world that he had last seen.

“How long have I been here?” he asked. 

“About twelve hours, sir,” the nurse answered. “You have a minor concussion. You went into shock after the last explosion from that research lab.”

“Yeah, I figured that’s what happened. Do you have any idea what they were trying to do in that research lab?”

The nurse directed Elior to follow a light with his eyes. “I heard they were trying to figure out how to make bags that were bigger on the inside than on the outside.”

“Huh. Would have been great if it had worked!”

“That’s for sure. Say ‘ah.’”

Elior opened his mouth and let the nurse examine the back of his throat. He coughed a bit when the nurse removed the tongue depressor. “Will I be released soon?”

The nurse leafed through Elior’s chart. “We don’t have an emergency contact listed for you. If we are going to release you, we are going to want to make sure someone is going to help you follow the doctor’s orders as you recover.”

A pit formed and hardened in Elior’s stomach. For most of his life, his mother had been the emergency contact. Since last year, that had been different. Now, he usually listed his brother, but since his brother was out of commission, who could he put?

“Mr. BarVidania?”

Roused from his own thoughts, Elior stopped staring into space. “Sorry. Contact Yrahkaz Almasi. His number should be listed.”

About an hour later, and Yrahkaz was in his hospital room.

“I can’t imagine why you’d list me as your emergency contact, Elior.” Yrahkaz stood over him. His father, if you could call him that, had a similar square jawline and tall, athletic frame to his own, but that’s where the similarities ended. Yrahkaz’s hair was straight, feathery and bleached white, while Elior’s was light brown and curly. His father’s eyes were blue like the ice-covered mountains in the north. Elior had his mother’s violet eyes. No one would assume that this man was his father.

Elior paused, not wanting to verbalize why he had called his father. The monitor beside him beeped insistently, urging him to face the reality he didn’t want to acknowledge. “You’re all that’s left, Yrahkaz. Eliam was caught in the explosion.”

Yrahkaz’s shoulders slumped, and he put a hand on the guardrail. “I’m so sorry.” He rubbed his eyes with the thumb and forefingers of his other hand. “I just wish we would stop meeting in hospitals. I passed your mother’s old room on the way to yours.”

Elior bit down on his lip to suppress a wave of grief from crashing over him. “We don’t need to talk about that. I just need someone to help me listen to the doctor’s care instructions and take me home.”

“If that’s the case, why didn’t you contact someone on your uncle’s staff at the palace?”

Elior scoffed. “You know as well as I do that the royal family pays me precious little attention. I am ‘prince’ in name only.”

After a tense moment, Yrahkaz dropped his hands and cleared his throat. “Right. Well, I have a meeting I have to get to right after this. I can listen and help you get discharged, but I’ll have to have my assistant, Christopher, drive you home. I’ll have him stay with you for as long as you need.” Yrahkaz’s phone rang. He raised a finger, commanding Elior to wait, and stepped out of the room to take the call.

“Typical of you to pass me off, ‘Dad.’” Elior allowed himself a solitary tear before he bit his lip harder, barely stopping himself from devolving into an emotional heap.

Yrahkaz returned to the room a few minutes later with another man dressed in a suit and tie. “Son, this is Detective Jones. He wanted to speak with you about what happened today.”

The detective whipped out his badge and flashed a pearly smile at Elior. “Nice to meet you, Mr. BarVidania. After studying debris from the explosion that caused your injuries, we’ve concluded that the magitechnology may have simply transported the building and those inside somewhere else, so we were hoping to get a description of an Eliam BarVidania from you. I assume he’s your brother?”

“Yes, detective. I think you could probably just take a picture of me and you’ll get pretty close to what you need. We’re twins.”

Jones pulled out a notepad and scribbled a note. “Thank you. That’s actually pretty helpful. Is there anything that you would have considered unusual about the explosion?”

“Other than it leaving nothing behind? No. Though I saw some kind of weird goo dripping from the hole in the building before the explosion that knocked me out happened. Does that help?”

“At this point, anything might help. Thank you. I’ll be doing my best to find your brother.”

“I appreciate it, detective.”

Detective Jones left and was replaced by the doctor. He talked to Yrahkaz about care instructions for Elior. Elior couldn’t be bothered to listen and tuned the whole thing out. He was just anxious to get out of a hospital with such terrible memories associated with it.

***

Taariq stood on the bank of the High Plains River as the sun set over the horizon behind him. Flames licked across his suit, highlighting his auburn hair. Anyone looking would have wondered if the suit was black or just charred. Either way, it barely contrasted with the smoky undertone of his skin. His golden eyes pierced the depths of the river as he waited with his servant.

“How long have we been waiting, Cal?”

The smaller djinn with the wide-set almond eyes lifted his wrists and answered, “Approximately ten minutes, sir.”

“They should arrive shortly, then.” No sooner had he said this when a mermaid burst out of the flowing waters and onto the riverbank.

“Hello, Minerva,” Taariq said. “Seems you’re the first one here.”

The mermaid chuckled and rung the excess water out of her hair. “How are the other djinn these days?”

He snickered gleefully. “Those who remain loyal to me are just as eager as I am to get started.”

“I doubt anyone is as eager to begin as I am,” said a voice from behind Taariq.

Taariq turned enough to see who else had arrived. “Ah, Lord Steelwort. How are things in the dwarf king’s court treating you?”

“Oh, Taariq. That I have continued coming to these meetings should make my feelings obvious.”

From the woods in the distance, approached an Elf in long flowing robes and a fairy in a bright green suit.

“High Priest Loki. President Swiftwing. It’s good to see you both again.”

The elf smiled, his nose pointed ever so slightly into the air so that he would have the pleasure of looking down on everyone he met. “I always enjoy getting out of the temple for these meetings, as infrequent as they have been.”

“I wholeheartedly agree. The offices of the Faeland capital can be so boring,” said the fairy. His stocky body vibrated as his wings fluttered. “I have a feeling that things are about to change, though.”

The corner of Taariq’s mouth turned up slightly. “I guess the only one we’re missing is…”

“Is me, old friend,” said Yrahkaz. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to meet you as we had planned. My son had me called to the hospital.”

“Not another death you’re hoping to avenge, Yrahkaz?” asked Minerva, raking her hair between her fingers and tossing it over her shoulders.

“Fortunately, not. He sustained an injury on the job today. I had my assistant take him home.”

“Enough with the small talk,” Taariq said. “I know that most of you are busy, so I want to make this quick. I’ve been watching and waiting for a long time, and finally, the time for you all to put your training to use is here. We already hold Arborria and Faeland. Now is the time to begin our venture to gain power over the rest of the world.”

Yrahkaz slicked back his feathered hair with one hand and smirked. “I figured we would start soon. That’s why I announced my candidacy for the position of prime minister this last week.”

Taariq shook Yrahkaz’s hand. “Proactive and cunning as always, friend.”

Taariq focused on the horizon as the sun finally dipped below it. A burning line running across the edge of the world as seen from where he stood glimmered for a moment and then faded as stars blinked into existence in the sky.

“The sky demon will watch our every move. If we are to be successful in our plan to separate this world from his influence, then we must act quickly. The stars are aligned, and now is the time to act.”

He turned his attention back to those gathered around him. “I trained each of you in the craft of magic for this moment. I know you will not fail. Soon, we will be free of Aelon’s tyranny over this world.”

Loki’s tall, slender frame shook. “The injustice we have suffered under his rule will finally be over. I can’t wait to be rid of the mantle of the priesthood.”

Minerva pouted. “Why do you think I left it behind, Loki?”

Swiftwing’s wings grew still, and he landed on the grass by the bank. “Taariq, when you trained me, you promised freedom from religious law. I’m ready to follow you as the time approaches.”

A chorus of agreements bolstered Taariq as he waved his friends and pupils away. Gazing towards the sky and scowling up at the clouds, he growled, “It won’t be long now, Aelon.”

***

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. BarVidania?” asked Christopher as they pulled into the driveway of Elior’s cottage.

“I don’t think so. You can tell my dad that you did a good job. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? You sustained several injuries, as I understand it, and I’d hate to leave you alone when you need help.”

The car rumbled in the silence as Elior stared at Christopher incredulously. It was bad enough to be passed off on an assistant, but to have the minion pretend to care for him? That was too much.

“Look, Chris. Can I call you Chris?”

Christopher tried to object, but Elior interrupted him. “I haven’t had much help from my dad, anyway. I’ll be fine on my own. Besides, I know you’re being kept busy with campaigning. The election is coming up soon, and my dad really wants that responsibility, so go do your job. I’m just going to order myself some food, eat, and go to bed. I don’t need a babysitter.”

Chris sighed and put the car in park, unlocking the doors. “Very well. Just call if you are in need. Hopefully, his showing up today proves that he does care about you.”

“Sure, Chris. That’s exactly what it means.”

Elior got out of the car and slammed the door shut, giving Christopher permission to roll back down the gravel drive. As he unlocked the door to the cottage he had shared with his mother and brother, he entered as if for the first time. It wasn’t like the palace his mother had grown up in, but it had always been home until now. How could it possibly be home if he was alone? 

High vaulted ceilings soared above him. The staircase, once the central point of many childhood games, was imposing in the twilight like the tongue of a great monster. The royal family had used the same marble they had used for the palace foyer to pave the entrance to this house, out on the edge of their lands. Elior’s steps hit the floor and echoed off every hard surface.

Elior locked the door before heading into the living room. For the first time, he noticed the sound of the ticking grandfather clock, loud against the absence of conversation. There was the hum of electric appliances from the kitchen that permeated the air, too. There may not have been people to talk to, but there were voices all around from the different objects. The household objects all talked to each other, but left Elior out.

Elior stood there in the darkened doorway of the home he had grown up in. In his entire life, there had not been one night that he had gone to sleep by himself. Now there was no one left to share this cottage with. The palace was close by, but his uncle Eliezer had never so much as invited him over for lunch. No, his mother’s family would give no comfort now. 

Elior picked up his phone to call his brother. No answer. He expected that, but he stayed on the line as his brother’s outgoing message played, the familiar voice squeezing his entire being. A hot tear seared a path down his cheek. 

“Hey, Eliam,” he said. “I know you probably won’t ever hear this, but I just want you to know that I’m going to find you. I promise you I will do anything I can to make sure you come home. Anything.”

He hung up and called again.