As soon as they completed the chant, the symbols on the floor lit up white. Seconds later, out of thin air, hundreds of figures emerged. Shapeless and colorless, at first. Gradually, however, skeletal structures were formed. Muscles were snapped on. Blood vessels and nervous systems shot through them. Organs and tendons. Cartilage and brain matter. Then skin, hair, and nails.
Before I could breathe out, I was staring a perfect copy of me right in the face. The same green eyes, reflecting forests and eagerness to kick Ta’Zan straight in his pompous hind. The same long, curly blonde hair. The slightly sun-kissed skin. The smile of a devilish kid who survived into adulthood. Yep, it looked exactly like me.
“Wow…” Nevis murmured by my side. “Was I always this… stoic?”
I briefly glanced at his copy and stifled a chuckle, though my heart did skip a beat. His golem was as handsome and splendid as he was. His long, white hair was braided down his back. His slightly pointed ears carried a pinkish hue, always sensitive to the slightest temperature changes. His eyes were ice water. And his lips… I would’ve kissed those lips.
“If you ask me, two of you might be better than one,” I replied.
“I’m a handsome devil, aren’t I?” Varga croaked on my left, making me laugh hard.
“Now! Collars off!” Kailani commanded us, her husky voice rippling through me like thunder.
We didn’t wait to be told twice. I slipped my hands behind Nevis’s neck and pressed the right buttons on his collar keypad. It snapped open. With fluid movements, I slipped it off, then quickly put it around his copy’s neck. Nevis did the same to me, placing my collar on my copy—who, by the way, was staring at me in the eeriest way. Checking around me, everyone did the same with one another. Put the code in. Took the collars off. Locked them around the copies—all of them staring at their originals.
I exhaled sharply, looking at myself.
“It’s done,” Kailani said. “I can feel them all… They’ll stay here, unbothered, unresponsive.”
“Our turn,” Vesta replied.
The fae put their forces together. Nevis and I were the first to dart toward them, making our way through the crowd—now doubled and more difficult to navigate. According to our plan, Nevis and I were to lead the people into the tunnel and out on the other side.
Vesta, Ben, Taeral, and a dozen more fae dropped to their knees and pressed their palms against the diamond floor. It lit up red underneath, as if a thousand lasers were burning through it. The ground started shaking.
Instinctively, I gripped Nevis’s arm.
“I’ll bet your copy is just as toned,” I muttered, giving him a sly sideways grin.
His gaze softened on me, the corner of his mouth curling into a discreet smile. “Wait till you feel the rest of me,” he whispered.
“Your Grace! That’s no way for a prince of Dhaxanians to talk.” I giggled.
“Can we all just get out of here first, and then we can see about getting you two lovebirds a room?” Varga cut in.
My cheeks caught fire. I’d momentarily forgotten about my brother. Varga didn’t let me go anywhere alone, especially not in the heart of such a hostile land. We braced ourselves as the fae used their connection to the natural elements to crack open the diamond floor.
It gave out, eventually, collapsing into the dirt beneath. The hard crystal layer was the toughest for them to deal with. Ben and Taeral pulled the diamond slabs aside, while Vesta jumped in, sinking her hands into the dark ground.
We all heard the ground moan beneath, then crackle and pop as the tunnel was drilled by the sheer force of nature bursting out of Vesta, our little and most valuable Nerakian fae. Of course, technically, she wasn’t Nerakian, but most of who she was belonged there, and Vesta liked referring to herself as such.
I couldn’t help but feel incredibly proud of every single creature inside the dome. Every fae, every witch, every vampire and werewolf, every Mara and Bajang, every Druid and dragon, every Dhaxanian and incubus, every succubus and interdimensional hybrid that had joined us on this quest—all woes included. They were all warriors.
And they all had the potential to change the entire world, from this point onward.
I checked on Derek and Sofia first, who were with my grandparents and the rest of the founders’ crew. Ibrahim and Corrine maintained their bilocation spell positions, along with Lumi and Kailani.
“Why aren’t they moving?” Varga asked, following my gaze.
“The longer they stay there, the longer our copies will be charged and able to function without us present,” I said. “They’re trying to buy us as much time as possible before the Perfects catch on about the trick.”
“Hunter!” Dmitri shouted after him. “Come on! We need you back here!”
Indeed, we’d agreed that Hunter, Ridan, Dmitri, Jovi and Jax, and the rest of our younger crew would help guide the prisoners into and through the tunnel. Leaving their copies behind, the prisoners gradually moved toward the tunnel.
“Come on!” Vesta shouted from below. “From here on it’s easy breezy for me. Let’s get them out!”
“Grandma! Grandpa!” I shouted. “We’ll go ahead!”
Grandma Corrine nodded. “We’ll close the line. Be careful, darlings!”
Nevis and I held hands as we turned around and slipped under the bedsheet cover. Looking down, I saw that the hole was wide and deep. I always found myself in awe of what a fae could do. After all, how many of us could honestly say that we were able to manipulate the natural elements, that we had the power to reshape the entire landscape?
“Ready?” Nevis asked me. The question was mostly rhetorical, but I knew that there was a part of him that meant it.
“As I’ll ever be,” I replied.
We jumped in, swallowed by the temporary darkness.
I landed on my feet, my eyes instantly adjusting to the absence of light. Ben and Taeral were already down there, pressing their hands against the dirt walls and making sure the tunnel stayed firm while Vesta kept digging ahead.
More fae would join them in minutes, as there were several nodes through the tunnel where additional power was needed to maintain its integrity. It was going to stretch for at least three miles, before ascending back to the surface and emerging smack in the heart of the jungle.
Varga, Nevis, and I started running, taking the lead through the constantly extending tunnel. Behind us, more people dropped. All of them were prisoners with a second chance at freedom. A second chance at life. Vesta used her fire abilities with the help of a lighter she’d snuck in via an inside pocket, and planted two flames on her shoulders. It didn’t burn her, but it offered enough light for those who couldn’t see as well as I could to follow.
From here on out, the trajectory of our actions seemed pretty simple and straightforward. We had to make sure that everyone got out of the diamond dome alive. I used my True Sight to check on the surface events. Most of the Perfects assigned to guard the prisoners from the outside had their attention diverted to the southwest entrance, where Herakles, the rogue Faulties, and the Draenir were making a lot of noise and causing a lot of damage.
By now, Ta’Zan surely must’ve heard about it. More dangerous Perfects with deadlier weapons were bound to head over there. We had to do our part and leave this place as quickly as possible, so Herakles could pull his people back before they all got themselves killed out there.
