Silver Cathedral Saga: Observer Chronicles, Book 1

Dark Steps

The eight of them. Four Spell-casters, two Edeolon Warriors of Faith and Eleanor and Christian, were now back at where they were before moving towards the Original Astorian.

The silence was never broken, and it seemed as if their own mothers had just been taken, not a ruthless being that housed no emotions.

It was something Eleanor knew well, but was also something everybody felt. Regardless, they continued.

The group all faced what looked like a shadow of all of themselves, only it was contained in an area that was open and easy to recognise, as if these shadows were meant to be seen. Because there was no excuse for them at the direction they landed with their blue light.

"How incredibly odd," said Oddius.

"How, indeed," agreed Eleanor. The others seemed to halt, as if they waited for the children to go through first.

"We merely need to step through our own shadows shapes to get to the other side," said Ematay. He showed them how it all worked. Even when Ematay went nearer, the Shadows position never changed, as if the shadows were a reflection of where they were meant to go, sizing up the portal for each individual.

Eleanor and Christian looked at each other as Ematay went through, sounding as if he was sucked by something otherworldly; it sounded unpleasant, but Eleanor and Christian went next. They both walked towards their own shadow, and as they did, it didn't move, fixing into position, as they both only poked a limb through to begin with. Christian was then suddenly pulled in by somebody else, but Eleanor chose to go through willingly.

The two children saw Ematay, but not as they hoped. Several figures stood tall beside him, another right next to the children. They were immensely shocked, as if they had just tried to be drowned, then another came along to dunk them in a pool of greater chaos, a one they knew they couldn't escape.

"Looks like things have fallen into place nicely," said the woman, also known as the Dark Queen. There were several women there Eleanor and Christian had never seen before.

"What have you done with the Spirit Stone," said Ematay. "He expected the others to come through any time now, but they didn't, at least not as quick as he would have thought. He wondered if something was going on on the other side.

"The spirit stone has fallen," said the Dark Queen.

Ematay's face turned sour and uncomfortable to look at.

"You were meant to do this all along, weren't you?" said Ematay to this other woman near the children.

"Yes, it was a part of some scheme in the larger tank of the sea. Our sea."

"What has happened," said Eleanor, confused, not understanding what this Spirit Stone done.

"It has the magick to restore balance to the prisoners of the sea," he replied worryingly to them both.

He was soon restrained with some dark ropes that had no end, it seemed to wrap around him like a serpent of blackness. The only part the rope didn't cover, was his head. It was wrapped like a coiled living thing.

"What does that mean?" said Christian.

"It means that the Anchor Men are free once more, and are about to reap their revenge upon the Silver Cathedral as I speak."

Eleanor, Christian and Ematay cringed as they heard the news come from this woman's mouth.

"The magick that keeps the prisoners under the eternal spell of an ancient magick, which comes from the Spirit Stone, once it is removed from its rightful position, all lawful magick will be broken," said the Dark Queen next to the children.