Strength and perspective
Look to me when you’re lost—and I’ll give you direction
I’m three verses in when a path clears before me and I hit the trail at a full run. Cutting and curving through the valley of sand toward a bleary horizon I soon recognize as the first of many portals into the Middleworld’s many dimensions.
In the Lowerworld, transcending dimensions is all about descent. And, from what I saw, the Upperworld runs just the opposite. But here, the portals are laid out like dominoes. Some placed closely together, others occurring miles apart. Though it doesn’t take long to detect a surprising amount of order amidst all the chaos. Despite each passing veil leading to an entirely different landscape—some carpeted with sand, some with dirt, others with sharp-edged rocks—each successive portal leads to a land that’s progressively bleaker than the one that came before.
Still, it’s not until I’ve passed through several layers inhabited by strange, shadowy figures, when I come upon one overrun with a preponderance of small, run-down huts.
Instinctively, I reach for my athame, as my eyes continue to survey the land, and my feet keep a steady pace toward the next veil. My relief at having made it through unscathed, ending the second I see the dimension beyond is markedly worse.
Markedly worse and inhabited by demons.
Lots and lots of demons.
And unlike the demons in the previous dimensions, these ones are not shy.
These are Cade’s demons.
Despite having the advantage of seeing them first, it’s only a matter of seconds before they surround me like a carousel of massive, scaly, hulking bodies with oversized heads, flame-colored eyes, twisted snouts, and lipless, gaping holes standing in for their mouths.
I wave my athame before me, turning slow circles as I search for the leader, the one who poses the biggest threat. Determined to go after him first, if for no other reason than to send a warning to the rest that despite my appearance, I am not one to be trifled with.
The largest among them is the first to step forward. With a horrible snarl shrieking from his abyss of a mouth, he roars with such force the ground trembles beneath me.
The move meant to intimidate, but it falls appallingly short.
All it takes is a determined swing of my athame to cut him off at the knees. Then I kneel down beside him and slice off his head, just to ensure he truly is dead.
That’s the thing with demons. When it comes time to fight, the stupid ones always man the front line, while the smart ones hang back to evaluate. And more often than not, the leader looks nothing like you’d expect.
I kick the beast’s leg stumps out of the way, and have a go at the rest of them. My blade cleaving into thick scaly torsos, gouging out eyes, slicing through well-muscled necks until the ground all around me is littered with oversized, misshapen heads, and only the smallest demon is standing.
The leader’s eyes meet mine, and I give a little wave of my hand, urging him to join me.
But this one’s smarter than the rest, and after taking a moment to consider, he turns on his heel and disappears. Leaving me to move toward the next veil where I pause on its other side, struck to see that the path has ended and Dace is nowhere in sight.
Has the energy become so murky and stagnant that Earth can no longer guide me?
Or, is it now up to me to call on what I know in order to find him?
I go quiet and still, alert to the smallest shift in the atmosphere, any sort of sign that he’s here.
A shuffle of dirt.
Could be a strange animal, or yet another tribe of demons, but it’s worth checking out.
A softly murmured voice.
I can’t make out the words, but it sounds like English.
With no more to go on, I race toward it—my certainty growing with each passing step.
He’s here.
Living.
Breathing.