The number of affected fae was inching past four million. With no fae left in The Shade until the ritual was stopped, we were all on edge. My son, granddaughter, and great-granddaughters were among the fae that had fallen under the Hermessi’s influence, exiled to a sanctuary on Calliope. Sofia and I were broken up about it, but the prospect of saving them by making it harder for Brendel to succeed had managed to help the both of us in retaining our drive and sanity.
With renewed energy and after consulting with Tebir, the Earth Hermessi of our planet, Sofia and I had managed to put together a team of one hundred GASP officers to take on the Yahwen mission. We were included in the crew, along with some of our closest friends and allies, part of the original founders’ crew.
The first fae in the Calliope sanctuary had died, and his body had been removed from the building. We now had a Reaper who had revealed herself and was helping contain the Hermessi’s growing effect. It wasn’t enough, but it was better than nothing. Death and the Reapers had clear rules about interference, and we’d already understood that the universe functioned on them. Breaking one too many of these rules would probably result in a catastrophe greater than the ritual itself—or so Mona and Corrine had surmised. I was inclined to believe them.
Otherwise, Death and her Reapers would’ve had a more significant involvement in this entire mess. We were mere pawns on the chess board for the cosmic entities to play with, I’d thought at times. With a deep sigh, I walked into the grand hall, holding Sofia’s hand.
“The end feels closer than ever,” I said quietly, thankful that no one was here yet. I’d called a meeting of the one-hundred crew, to get ready to deploy to Yahwen. The mission was clear and simple: sneak onto Yahwen, steal the Hermessi children, and bring them back to The Shade. Our dimension was still somewhat protected, especially with all the fae out of it.
“You mean the ritual?” Sofia asked, giving me a concerned look. I knew she didn’t like it when I talked like that, but I couldn’t always help myself. Everything weighed so heavily on my shoulders.
“Not necessarily,” I replied, offering a soft, faint smile. “It could finish with a victory from our side, after all.”
She raised an eyebrow at me, as if she’d caught me in a naughty lie. “You don’t sound so convinced.”
“Nevertheless, we have no choice but to persist.” I chuckled bitterly.
Sofia leaned into me and pressed her lips against mine. Her kisses were pure therapy in these dark times, and I never refused myself the opportunity of feeling her like this. My wife. My soulmate. My best friend, forever.
I held her tight for a while, enjoying the shape of her perfectly fitting mine. “Derek… We’re warriors. We’ve fought long and hard to get to this point,” she said, her head resting on my chest. “There isn’t much we can do for Taeral. This time around, it’s clearly up to him to save us all. But you know that we can still piss Brendel off enough to spoil her day.”
“You’re right,” I murmured, kissing the top of her head.
“So, then, let’s go out there and do everything we can to mess with her,” Sofia replied.
The sound of footsteps made us separate, and we turned around to face an incoming flux of seasoned GASP officers. My heart swelled at the sight of them smiling as they walked in and gathered around us. Mona and Kiev joined us, along with Corrine and Ibrahim, and Claudia and Yuri. The other council members were staying behind to manage GASP’s base operations. In times like these, Vivienne and Xavier were particularly helpful, as they supported Rose and Caleb in The Shade’s administration.
Arwen, Shayla, and the other witches took turns caring for the fae in the sanctuaries, but Kailani had been kind enough to give us Kafei, Acantha’s sister and another of Lumi’s apprentices. We’d made our crew relatively small at one hundred, but powerful and effective.
Kafei came in, accompanied by the others. We’d opted for a majority of witches, warlocks, and jinn, since the main ability required on this mission was teleportation. We would be dealing with a throng of deadly Hermessi in our efforts to extract the children from Yahwen. All-out force was not an option. Stealth and on-the-dot timing were key.
“How are we looking?” Kiev asked, looking at Sofia and me. “Are we ready to go?”
“Almost,” I said. “We just need to gear up and head over to Calliope.”
Behind us, stacked against the western wall, were backpacks and pulverizer weapons. Most of us carried a blade or two at all times, but, given where we were going and what we were about to do, we’d all agreed that more significant firepower might come in handy. Amal and Amane had been quick to send us a hefty shipment of pulverizer pellets through the recently built portal from Strava, and they’d all been evenly distributed along with the weapons.
“Listen up, everybody.” I raised my voice, demanding everyone’s attention. “Thank you all for doing this, first and foremost. I know it’s not easy, and I’m aware that some of you have close friends and loved ones among the affected fae. But we need to do this.”
Ibrahim nodded. “We’re all on board, Derek, you know that.”
“Thank you, Ibrahim, for helping us with the selection process, as well,” I replied, smiling. “The fewer people who know about what we’re doing, the better. We cleared visitors out of the Calliope sanctuary, and only a handful of agents know we’re going there. While The Shade is safe, for now, the same cannot be said about Calliope.”
“Mind if I ask why we are going to the sanctuary?” Kafei asked. She reminded me of Acantha, sharing some of her Bajang features—the fierce look in her amber eyes, which had yet to gain their white form, the rich golden mane, and her tall, athletic figure. She’d aced all her GASP training before joining Lumi as an apprentice, and I knew we could rely on her strength in combat, not just her developing swamp witch skills. I’d never seen her in feline form, but if she was anywhere near as fierce as her sister, I knew she’d be a fearsome sight to behold.
“There’s a slight chance we won’t make it back,” Claudia replied bluntly. She didn’t sound too happy, but she was still ready to do this. “We have to take that into account. So, if we’re to go out there, some of us will want to bid our loved ones farewell. All the prep work for this mission has left us all with little to no personal time. If we don’t do it now, we may not get another chance. You know, worst-case scenario and whatnot.”
“In Sofia’s and my case, some of our dearest are kept in crystal casings in the Calliope sanctuary,” I said. “We’d like to see our son, granddaughter, and great-granddaughters one last time.”
“Just in case!” Mona reminded me. “Just in case, Derek. Do not make it a soppy farewell, I beg of you.”
“I concur. The one thing I can’t stand is you in tears,” Claudia grumbled, crossing her arms. “It’s bad enough I saw Lucas cry once. I can never unsee that…”
I stifled a chuckle. “Don’t worry, none of us are going in with the prospect of failure. On the contrary. We are all determined to give it our best.”
“But, like Mona said. Just in case,” Sofia added, and pointed at the backpacks and weapons. “Everyone, grab your supplies and armaments, please. Our take-off point is on Luceria’s platform, after our brief stop in the sanctuary.”
We were all equipped with what we’d dubbed “the classic field outfits,” one-piece leather suits with thermal padding and carbon fiber protections, a plethora of useful zippers and belt pouches, sword and knife straps, head and face covers, goggles, and gloves. We carried the GASP logo on our chests, beautifully engraved in a combination of gold and stainless steel, and our hearts were filled with equal amounts of hope and dread.
What we were about to do would not be easy, but it was necessary. Depriving Brendel of anything she could use against us and the rebel Hermessi had become essential to our core mission, part of the key to surviving the ritual process. There wasn’t much that could be done for the affected fae, but we could still fight the Hermessi, tooth and nail. It would end in victory or in failure. There was no middle path. No room for compromise.
“Derek, what do we know in terms of entry points on Yahwen?” Yuri asked, pulling the straps on his supply backpack.
I put mine on and checked my pulverizer weapon. It was loaded, and I had about forty capsules in the bag, to reload. The safety was on. I only hoped I wouldn’t have to use it—the chances, unfortunately, were minimal. The Hermessi had been playing with the pink waters, bringing forth creatures such as the Shills to come after us. Even with Devil’s Weed on us, which Tebir had been kind enough to procure, there was still a chance the monsters would catch our scent on Yahwen.
“We’ll need Kafei to guide the interplanetary spell,” I said. “Tebir showed me the vulnerable parts of Yahwen. He’s had our Earth Hermessi slip through to the In-Between to spy on Brendel’s precious twenty-planet system. They were able to determine several advantageous angles for us.”
Kafei nodded. “I will need a lot of power to do this. Without a destination sample, I’ll have issues with the interplanetary spell.”
“We know,” Sofia replied. “But we do have a sample from the closest planet to that system. It’s a planet that GASP has already visited. Granted, it’s still pretty far from Yahwen, but it’s better than nothing.”
She handed Kafei a piece of black stone, which the young apprentice slipped into a leather pouch. “Then, I’ll use the serium batteries from that planet onward,” Kafei said. “I may need the support of a witch or two, as well. I know Nethissis and… my sister struggled with their spell bubble to Cerix.”
Her voice broke when she mentioned Acantha, reminding me of the toll that our fight against the ritual was already taking. As selfish as I was to think this, I held on to the hope that Acantha would be the last to die in our quest to stop the Hermessi. I couldn’t even consider the idea that we might lose our son, or Grace… or Vita or Caia… or, hell, anyone else, for that matter!
Corrine grinned. “Oh, honey, there’s plenty of witchy and jinn mojo to go around here for whatever you might need.”
“We should go,” Sofia said. “Draven and Serena will be expecting us soon.”
