The Keys to Ascension Read online

  The heavy chains jangled and dinked as their sister jerked her limbs around. “Mother, you traitor! How could you betray our purpose!? How could you betray the ascendency!? That is all that matters!”

  Parto glanced at his sister. She snarled with her eyes angling in different directions and ridges rippling up the nose. I never knew her…how could I love such a witch?

  “Wow,” Theto said, “we’re still all apparently getting our souls ripped from us. You won. So calm down. It should be us struggling like mad.”

  But they didn’t. The triplets each already examined the chains, the maleefa, and the room. They saw no way to escape. And clearly their magic was blocked by whatever spell was on the ground below them.

  The chanting picked up where it left off, and all four siblings could not hold in the moans and grunts as the unusual pain ripped at the connection between their bodies and souls.

  The mother stared down at them, then twisted her hands around her face like casting some sort of spell.

  Parto could hardly see her through the green glow all around him. He screamed along with his fellow sacrifices. He almost wanted to die just to end the torture.

  Three guards with raised cudgels charged their mom. She closed her eyes while artistically waving her arms. A blast of energy blew behind her, knocking them away from her.

  Whatever their mother was doing, it didn’t stop the chanting that ran through its words at almost comically fast speeds. And it didn’t stop the ludicrous pain filling almost all of Parto’s consciousness. He focused everything he had on his mother, hoping she would save him. Sweet, beautiful mother. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

  She snapped her hands toward them right as their souls ripped from their bodies. A bright whiteness covered all his view.

  Parto died, but he still heard the world around him.

  “What did you do?”

  Sounds of magic and a woman’s scream sounded above him.

  The room came back into vision. Parto knew he had died. He no longer felt his body. He glanced below him. He floated over his corpse. His mother fell lifelessly off of the ledge with a hole burned through her heart. She slammed against the ground right next to the siblings, ruining her corpse.

  Three other white balls floated above his siblings’ bodies. Is this part of the ritual, or did our mother do this?

  Emanating from his sister’s spirit came a great scream. A scream of fury and terror. The other two white lights and Parto floated away from her a bit.

  She shrieked, “Mother, oh mother! Mommy, no, mommy!”

  If a spirit could cry, Parto’s would. Emotion washed over him and seemed to pour out of his soul.

  “Mother,” the sister shrieked, “they killed you, killed you!”

  Fighting throught the loss, Parto tried to give ‘what the…’ glances to his brothers. He thought they may have tried to do so too, but he couldn’t tell because they had no faces.

  “I’ll kill them, kill them all! They will pay for doing this to my mother! Paaaaaaaaaay!”

  Parto floated a little closer to his sister.

  Yelling came from above now.

  “No, it didn’t work!”

  Someone shouted and sobbed at the same time.

  “How did she ruin it? How? We should have never let the mother be a part of the ritual! The corrupting influence of a mother’s love! The Divinity…”

  A froggy voice: “Well, she did plan the whole thing…and has been working toward its end for about two decades.”

  “Now we have to use estra. Estra!”

  The old man’s voice came next. “This is a setback; a major one. But just a setback. We have all the estra of Hyzantria, plenty to rule and conquer more lands. We’ll just have to create new keys. There must be a clue in the Hyzantrian forbidden libraries.”

  Another voice: “But she’s the only one to get it to work, and finding a pregnant wizard willing to go through with it…”

  “We found one,” the old man said, “we’ll find another.”

  Her voice somehow shaking and wet even though she had no body, their sister growled, “We have to come back to life so we can avenge our precious mother.”

  Parto knew all three brothers wanted to ask their sister how she had rejected the cause she so passionately worked towards just moments before, but they needed her help, so were just gonna let her emotions run as long as they worked for them.

  Finio said, “How can we come back to life?”

  Their sister’s spirit seemed to float more calmly. “We are four souls, but still on the planet. I’m not sure how mother made this happen, but mother dear was always a genius. It should be possible for a wizard to put us in another body, but all the wizards I know are now my enemies. Could anyone be talented enough to bring us back?”

  They floated in silence for a moment. The wizards above shuffled out of the room murmuring about waffles and orange juice.

  Theto spoke up. “Well, Uncle Hibb could probably attach us to an animal or something, but he’s just as likely to turn us into poop.”

  The sister spoke. “Uncle. Mother spoke of him fondly. She said he was powerful. We must find him.”

  Finio whispered, “Where are we?”

  Theto spoke. “I can find Hibberro. He tried to secretly put tracking magic on my soul, but I easily saw him do it. He looked like a buffoon. I left it on because it goes both ways. If we move off this stupid ritual site, maybe I can use it.”

  No one moved for a moment. Then they all floated closer to their mother’s body. They hovered over her in silence.

  We finally found our mom, and it turns out she shouldn’t have been exiled, but executed…a maleefa of the worst degree. But she saved us.

  The four of them said at once, “Goodbye lovely mother.”

  They then floated just off the ritual site, near a cave tunnel, when Theto halted. “Wait, I got him.”

  They all floated in silence. Parto waited for Theto to tell his siblings the information.

  Theto bounced in a few different directions. “The Divinity, it must not work after what happened to us. It says he’s right here.”

  The chubby bald man that was their uncle appeared standing right next to them. “lucky for you guys I discovered a special illusion-like spell that allows me to see and hear spirits.”

  Theto bounced up and down and glowed more brightly. “You were here the whole time!?”

  Hibb nodded. “Yup.”

  “Why didn’t you do anything!?”

  “There were too many of them. I was gonna create an illusion of the ritual ending successfully while I whisked you all away to safety, but I got distracted by these ants. Good thing Orcula was here.”

  All four spirits lowered slightly. Parto imagined he was slapping his forehead with a hand and shaking his head.

  Theto muttered, “You got both our parents killed.”

  Parto perked up. “What?”

  Hibb shook his fat head and put a hand up in front of him. “No time to explain, they’ll send someone to clean up these bodies soon. But in my defense…” he turned and took a step toward a cave wall, then squatted, “look at these ants. They made a little line. I wonder what they’re going to? Maybe on an attack? Or could just be a cool dead rat or something.”

  Hibb’s spirit nephews and niece stared at him in silence.

  Watching the ants, he went on. “You know, I’ve always liked ants. I want to capture a queen and create my own colony someday. It really shouldn’t be hard because I can control animals, including insects. I’ve just never taken the time to do it.”

  The sister rose her voice. “Uncle that I never knew, shut up. Can you bring us back to life?”

  He took off a backpack that Parto just noticed he wore. “I brought all four of your clothes and equipment, it’s amazing what you can find out and steal when you can go invisible.”

  The spirits floated in silence. Hibb slowly looked at all four of them.

  Theto muttered, “We can’t wear clot
hes, Uncle…”

  Hibb scratched his head right along where the baldness on the top met hair on the side. The four spirits stared at him.

  His eyes opening wide, Hibb said, “There is no time for delay. We’ll be discovered soon. Leo, I know we can transform these ants into humans, but what about souls? We’ve never done souls before.”

  Coming from Hibb’s shirt pocket, the high being said, “Souls are adjacent to my fundamental power. I can move and attach them, but not easily.”

  Hibb looked toward the ground, then lifted his face with an intense expression. “Let’s do this shit!”

  Hibb stuck out his right middle finger, then touched it to his right nipple. He made repeated deep noises, like some sort of large ape was laughing.

  Parto turned around, looking for maleefa to come running in to check out the noise. He saw none. How big is this complex?

  Hibb rocked back and forth with his finger still on his nipple and while still releasing the noise. Sweat built on his head. Parto glanced at where the ants were, none grew.

  Theto whisper-yelled, “Uncle, what are you doing?”

  Somehow, Hibb’s laugh became even deeper and a crazy expression shone on his sweaty face.

  The spirits floated backwards a few feet.

  Has he been possessed?

  Parto tried to reach for his daggers, but he had no arms.

  Then, running steps from above became louder until entering the higher part of the chamber.

  No!

  Above, hundreds of troglodytes yelled and spit, lunging their spears at the five robed maleefa who just ran into the room. The maleefa threw up energy shields and shot lightning, purple astral magic, and fire. The magic slammed into and through trogs, dropping many of them.

  Trogs can’t be up there. I would have heard them. Parto looked back at his uncle who laughed, squatting, with every muscle in his body flexed.

  Illusions!?

  Then, whiteness covered his vision and searing pain shot through him as it seemed that his spirit body flew through some sort of netherworld. He collided with a wall and his senses returned.

  But they were not his senses. So many smells hit him that he never experienced before. He almost saw the smells. His actual field of vision was huge, with him seeing things far to the sides, and things right in front of him appearing extra-large, but nothing had any detail. He adjusted his antennae and stepped forward with his sex legs while slightly closing his mandibles.

  I’m an ant!?

  Then, he grew. His body popped and morphed in different ways. His sense of smell weakened while his normal vison came back. He became taller until he eventually reached a normal height. The sounds of magic and trogs dying raged above.

  Parto stared ahead at the naked body of an angel. Or was it a devil? He wanted to rub his fingers along her body, then he realized he stared at his sister and jerked his head away. He noticed Theto doing the same.

  Hibb lay against a wall, breathing heavily. He pointed toward a back pack. All four of them took out clothes and weapons, then put them on.

  His head leaning against the wall too, Hibb said, “The most powerful and most important leaders of this cult are in these caverns. Cut the head off of this Divinity forsaken snake.”

  The triplets nodded. Their sister growled. “They’ll regret killing my mother. No one messes with my family!”

  The triplets’ faces of determination softened for a few seconds. Wasn’t she messing with us and willing to sacrifice our souls for the same ends that they killed our mother?

  Hibb’s head leaned over to the side and his eyes closed. He snored loudly.

  From above, a maleefa said, “Illusions…what’s that noise?”

  Parto rolled toward the wall that the enemy stood on, then held himself against it. He looked at his three siblings. He couldn’t help but feel love and pride for them. They all stood ready for battle, and looked like they knew what they were doing. This loved overpowered the part of him screaming, ‘Maleefaaaaaa!’.

  An upward blast shot Theto up and over the ledge. Sounds of magic came from above, then the tearing of flesh and moaning. Parto leapt, ran up the wall, then grabbed the edge with his hands and pulled himself up, but the few maleefa that fought the fake troglodytes already lay dead.

  *

  Finio forced himself not to yell as Theto’s blast shot Finio upward until he landed on the upper level of the chamber.

  He focused, enhancing the speed, accuracy, and endurance of his allies, but something in him told him he could do more. He seemed to sense the magic connections of his siblings more than normally. Even Parto, who’s sensitivity must have given him advantages against wizards. Maybe he can sense their moves. He may not even realize it…can I strengthen people’s connection to the high beings’ dimension?

  From two tunnels leading to the ledge, ran more maleefa. One released a magical alarm that seemed to burst Finio’s ear drums.

  Theto ducked under a fireball. “The Divinity. This is getting dirty.”

  Their sister pulled two handfuls of metal shards out of her pockets. “Eeeeaaaah!” From each hand, a batch of shards flew down each tunnel. Wizards groaned. Theto blasted into one, then finished off the enemy there.

  Finio glanced around, Parto was nowhere to be seen.

  The sister dashed down the other tunnel. Finio listened to the sounds of metal tearing through flesh, then she yelled, “This way. Most of them went to congregate and eat. And this is the only way into that room.”

  Theto ran to her, then they both jogged down a dark tunnel. Finio followed about ten yards behind them.

  Keeping her eyes ahead of her, she said, “They know we’re here and probably have already transformed. The congregation room is the only room large enough for them to ascend.”

  Finio yelled toward them. “Then why are we attacking them on their ground?”

  She screamed. “They killed our mother!”

  Crap.

  She ran ahead of Theto, who let her, probably not wanting to waste his energy.

  The flickering light of torches shined ahead. Finio slowed and stopped. He’d be no use near the danger. He focused on enhancing his family while searching for how to open their connections further. He had to find a way.

  *

  Right behind his sister, Theto created thirty illusions of himself. He also created about a dozen of her and Finio. All the magic rushing from Yepiera made him feel like a pipe blasting water to its fullest capacity. It would have to be enough. The illusions wouldn’t last long, so he had to get down to killing.

  The tunnel opening led to stairs that went both left and right, hugging the cavern wall as they went down to the ground. Other stairs went up to enclaves that overlooked the huge room.

  A variety of magic projectiles, releasing sounds and light, shot toward him from different directions and levels. Coming in behind the magic, were swarms of tentacles connected to a few transformed monsters. Theto ran down the stairs, dodging left and right, ducking, and leaping over projectiles. Finio’s enhancements made him run like a god. Theto imagined that he could take on armies.

  After arriving on the ground floor, his illusions overwhelmed the first few wizards who gritted their teeth throwing offensive magic every which way. With his two swords, Theto ran in and chopped through necks and limbs. He had to keep moving so the enemy wouldn’t pin point the real him.

  His sister seemed to have the same plan, except she held no sword. She repeatedly pointed an open hand toward her foes, then closed it and they screamed while melting in intense heat. She seemed to have to be within ten yards to do this. She also magically flung metal at the wizards and monsters.

  Theto ignored the monsters for now, dashing from wizard to wizard on the ground. His sister sprinted up one of the stairs toward an enclave. The elevated wizards rained deadly magic upon illusions. Soon they’d figure out which one he was, but all the enclaves were separated, so they had to run upstairs, kill, come back down, then charge up other
stairs.

  Theto sprinted up a flight, headed toward a group of lightning mages. He wanted to kill them first because lightning came faster than the other magics, making it harder to dodge. Right before he reached the top, an electric wall appeared in front of him. He jerked his body back to avoid hitting it, which danced with light-blue electricity shooting every which way.

  The wizards smiled as Theto threw his body to the stairs, under about five tentacles that reached for him. Then, behind the electric wizards, a cloaked shadow appeared.

  Parto! How did he get back there?

  Parto dispatched the electric wizards with amazing efficiency, and the electric wall dropped.

  Theto ran back down the stairs, his sister dashed down a different flight, coming back from slaughtering an enclave. The magic and tentacles came for them now, the enemy figured out who was real. They siblings rolled and dodged, trying to sprint to the next stairs, but there were too many projectiles. His sister seemed to have run out of metal to control because she threw no more.

  Thankfully, Theto didn’t feel the least bit tired. If not for Finio, he’d be exhausted.

  *

  Finio concentrated. His sister, Parto, and Theto all had sensitivity to high beings, and he knew he could open that connection even more, but how? He wished he could talk to Kwitty, but he didn’t know where that chinchilla was. The enemy probably destroyed it. How will I get another one? They don’t sell those in Hyzantria.

  He kept his enhancement flowing to his siblings, but could tell by the complete stoppage in the slowdown of magic attacks that his siblings were pinned. They needed enhanced magic.

  A noise sounded just to Finio’s left. He jumped away and put up his arm defensively. He saw nothing but the dark cave wall. Then, he looked down.

  The chinchilla sat there looking up at him. Finio held out his arms. It jumped in.

  “Goooooooooooood chinchilla, goooooooooooooooooooooooood!” He pet it furiously.

  “I figured it out.” Kwitty said, “You’ve gotta flex the back of your thighs and imagine summersaulting your elbows while spinning your mind and releasing untold magic fury.”