fantasy

Blank Space Adventure (Serial Story) — Chapter 3

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Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 3: Learning Secrets on a Mountain 

The car-sized luminescent bats didn’t seem interested in us at all; instead they swooped by us and started grabbing wargs that were hiding in the forest. 

We continued to climb up the mountain, doing our best to not attract attention. By the time we reached the top, the bats had left and the sun was rising again. The top was unnaturally flat, about the size of a hockey rink, and dotted with trees that hummed with electricity.

“That’s not good. No no no, not good at all.” The voice surprised me and it took a moment for me to see the woman who was speaking. She was moving quickly and seemed to be building something out of sticks, vines, and rocks.

“What’s not good?” I asked.

She didn’t even look at me as she answered, “Our rotation is speeding up and the sun is getting closer.” She was short and rotund, with skin that was the colour of cream limestone with dark brown marbling, like she was made of the stone itself. Her hair was granite grey and her eyes were pure gold. She wore the same uniform as we did with an S on it.

“How is that possible? Shouldn’t we be feeling a change in temperature?” W asked, pushing her curly brown hair behind her ears.

“You’re right. Something is wrong. None of this makes sense. Who are all of you?” S asked.

“We have no idea. Do you have any memories of before waking up in this place?” T asked, his voice tense.

Still putting together her device, S replied with, “Nope.”

I was the first to realize what she was building. “Why are you making a trebuchet?”

“I think the sky is fake.”

T scoffed and said, “You’re planning on shooting the sky?”

“Yup!” She put the final touches on the small siege engine.

“At that size, you could get the same distance with a bow,” T replied. 

She shrugged and replied, “I don’t know how to make a bow or shoot it. It was this or a cannon and I can’t find any saltpeter. Stand back.”

She picked up a large rock, the size of a basketball, and put in the sling of the weapon. Why did I know what basketball was and not where I was from? She shouldn’t have been able to pick it up; I would have assumed T would have trouble with it.

Pulling on the release, the counterweight fell and the whole thing swung. The rock flew into the air and just as it hit the apex of its arc, it hit something invisible and fell straight down.

“It’s a dome,” W said, her mouth open in awe. “Where the hell are we, Everdome?”

“No. That was too close to be one of those domes and it made a noise like metal.” I knew the distance from the ground to the top of a dome in Everdome and knew what Everdome was but not my name or home? That’s when I realized that our memories were selectively wiped to remove anything personal. I knew about Everdome because it wasn’t my place of origin, I knew about basketball and the sound of metal because it wasn’t a hint to who I was. Maybe I could use the lack of knowledge to help paint a picture of myself.

I hadn’t noticed A had left, but he ran toward us through the trees and shouted, “We’re on a space station!”

We followed him through the thick pine-like trees and when we reached a clearing on the other side we were struck by a horrifying site. We were definitely on some sort of space craft. There were four other domes like ours attached with grey metal spokes to a central city of spires that looked like different sized knitting needles tied together by metal wire. The part that sent a cold shiver down my spine was that the closest dome was cracked and parts of the habitat were being sucked out into space. I couldn’t see the other domes well enough to know if they’d met the same fate.

“There aren’t any lights,” A said. “There should be lights in the central spire and at the docking bays.”

T grunted in a concerned way, it almost reminded me of someone, before saying, “The ship must be working on emergency power.”

“Well that explains it, time to panic!” S sat down and I swear she sank a few inches into the stone.

“No panicking yet S. A mentioned docking bays. We need to get to a ship,” W said with the confidence of someone who’s been through a lot of dire situations. 

“That’s all the way across the dome,” A whined, running his hands through his silver hair.

“Then I guess we should get started,” I replied as chipperly as possible.

The trek down the mountain was worse than the trek up. This side was steeper and the sun was setting every hour making it impossible to get used to the light or dark. It also felt like every step weighed different amounts and like I was constantly dizzy.

When we reached the bottom we saw the giant bats swirling around the mountain and hitting into each other. “The artificial gravity is having a hard time dealing with the stations spinning. It’s messing with our balance,“ I said, feeling confident about my deduction.

“Won’t matter in about twenty hours,’ said S. When we all stared at her she sighed and said, “We’re heading toward the sun. Didn’t I mention that earlier?” 

Without speaking, we all moved toward the end of the dome, where the spoke should have an entrance. We reached it quicker than I’d expected considering how far it looked from the mountain and how every few steps we stumbled. 

“Why aren’t I tired?” asked W. “I should be huffing and puffing? Are we in a simulation?”

A replied, “I think it’s the clothes. They are often used by slavers to keep the slaves fed and strong but it takes a toll and can lead to heart attacks or strokes.” He paused with wide eyes and said, “I didn’t know I knew that until you asked.”

That made sense. Something about the whole situation felt familiar and wrong at the same time. It was like having something right on the tip of my tongue.

“We’re on a slaver ship, or station, that’s drifting toward the sun, and no one remembers anything?” T asked, sounding more like he was asking for pushups. 

S nodded and asked, “Is it now time for panic?”

Read Chapter 4 (April 2026)

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

Faymous is now available

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Hello Readers!

Faymous started as a wild dream that Jen had and then took ten years for us to turn into an actual novel.

If you like an adventure with music, love, and giant woman-eating shoes; Faymous is for you!

Have a movie poster inspired by our book!
“Faymous” is out now!! YA portal fantasy roadtrip romance.
Cover Art by @pinkpiggy93
Published by River City Siren Press
Co-written with Éric Desmarais
https://www.jeneric-designs.ca/UBL-Faymous
Faymous by Jen and Éric Desmarais
Cover art by Pinkpiggy93
eBook
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Blank Space Adventure (Serial Story) — Chapter 2

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Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 2: Experiencing Night and Day

“These things shouldn’t exist,” I said to the Wargs.

“The leaves are pink and the moss is orange,” T said with a hint of a smile. He had his makeshift spear pointed at one of the dog-like creatures.

I slowly reached down for a stick, rock, or twig to defend myself with when T made a loud bellowing noise and moved a little toward one of the Wargs. I swear it laughed at him.

The light changed suddenly. It went from daylight to night in a blink and suddenly the forest was alive with clicking and chirps. 

The wargs howled and ran away.

I turned to T and said, “Anything that scares those things is bad news for us.”

“It… It laughed at me,” T said before adding, “How rude.” He put his spear on his shoulder like a baseball player. “You’re right. Let’s find some shelter.”

There was a large hill or small mountain in the distance and we both decided to head that way, hoping that we wouldn’t encounter anything else.

It was surprisingly easy to see despite the sun having set. When I looked up at the moon, I was so shocked by the quantity of stars I stopped walking.

“Why did you stop?” T said and then followed my gaze. He swore in his language and I didn’t blame him. 

The stars should have been like pinpricks in a canopy; instead I was treated to glorious lights that almost merged together. I wished I could remember why this was making me feel so awestruck. Was this stranger than the night sky where I was from? 

“We should keep moving,” I said, feeling very small and very lost.

The hill turned out to be bigger, and farther than we expected. I glanced up every once in a while and noticed the stars were moving. 

“How long have we been walking?” asked T.

I shrugged and said, “I have no idea. Maybe an hour. Why? Do you need a break?”

He laughed and replied, “No, but either the sky’s broken or it’s already dawn.”

“How can the sky be broken?” I asked and shuddered. Something about that sentence scared me and I hated not knowing why.

The sun rose and we heard a scream. Both of us, without hesitation, ran towards the scream. That told me we were both the type of people who wanted to help, or needed to sate our curiosity. 

I was expecting to find someone being attacked but instead we found two people, in the same mustard yellow prison outfits, writhing on the ground. It was the same thing that had happened to us when we’d tried to access some sort of powers, which meant the two were going to be okay.

The first was a beautiful brunette with pale skin and a W on her shirt. She radiated power and my instincts told me that she was dangerous. I didn’t want to startle her even if she couldn’t access her power yet.

The second was a white man with silver hair and an A on his shirt. He felt powerful, but in a completely different way. As he lay on the ground, I saw tiny sparks of electricity shooting from his body.

When the two stopped flopping around, T demanded, “Who are you?”

“I have no clue and I really hate that,” said the woman. 

“I woke up with no memory,” said the man. “I started walking through the forest. I figured I could see better from the top of the mountain. Then I walked into her and we both fell to the ground.”

I offered the woman my hand and she gave me an annoyed glance before saying, “If me touching him caused us to fall to the ground, why would it be different for you?”

Shrugging, I said, “Can’t know if we don’t try.”

She took my hand and the same pain as when T and I had tried to use our powers wracked my body. This time I stayed standing. The pain wasn’t as overwhelming as the first time.

When I opened my eyes the woman was staring at me like I was a puzzle she could put together. “Did you know that it would be easier the second time?”

“No, but knowledge requires repetition.”

She stood up and the four of us sized each other up, trying to find some sort of answers. The woman was the first to speak. “I think A’s idea of going up the mountain for a better view is a good idea.”

“What, just because we all have memory loss and matching outfits, you think we should travel together?” T said.

The woman stood tall and said, “Yes. We’ll live longer together than apart.”

“Dude, she’s got a point,” added A as he dusted the dirt off his pants.

T waited for me and when I nodded, sighed and said, “Sure, why not.”

“Dude! You’re a suspicious little man,” A laughed and followed W, who’d already started walking up the mountain.

“Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean someone isn’t out to get you,” mumbled T as he joined the group. 

I followed behind and was hit with a sense of dread. Something, beyond the weird world and lack of memory, wasn’t right.

The feeling didn’t go away but also didn’t get any stronger. I wondered if I was an anxious person or if I had some sort of magical danger radar.

As we climbed, the light changed again, and W asked, “I feel like we’ve been climbing for hours. Why aren’t I hungry or thirsty?” 

It was a good question, but we didn’t get a chance to think about it before we heard the sound of wings. From above came a cloud of luminescent bats. They quickly got bigger and bigger until it was obvious that they were larger than we were and there were hundreds of them.

Read Chapter 3

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

New Serial Story

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Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;

Friday, we debuted my new serial story, Blank Space Adventure. It’s a type of story that I’ve been wanting to tell for a long time but hadn’t found a place for it yet. It’s partially inspired by the beginning of Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny, Dark Matter, and The Hollow.

Waking up in a strange forest with no memories, M needs to find others who are like her. Nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted in this science-fiction/fantasy adventure. Firmly set in the Aetherverse built by Jen and Éric Desmarais, this story will keep you guessing while introducing a new threat.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Hope you like it!

Éric

Blank Space Adventure (Serial Story) — Chapter 1

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Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 1: Lost in the Jungle

The sun shone through pink leaves. I wondered where I was. Looking at my dark brown hands and hideous mustard yellow shirt and pants, I wondered who I was.

I was wearing no jewelry and had no tattoos that I could see.

There was something strange about the sun. Its light felt filtered. I could feel its warmth on my bare head but it felt muted. Despite that, the temperature was comfortable and the orange moss felt soft under my naked feet.

I felt like I was heading somewhere and I had to do something important, but I couldn’t remember.

A bird made a horrific shriek at a distance and I almost jumped out of my skin.

I felt my face and body, deciding I was definitely human or close enough to pass. That was an interesting thought, and it meant being not human was an option. I was definitely shaped like a woman, from the feel of my face and lack of pain in my joints, I assumed I was somewhere in my late twenties.

“Okay, look around. Figure out where you are, and find a village or town,” I whispered. Somehow saying it aloud made me feel more real. My voice was deep and feminine. 

I was in a forest and seemed to have been walking on a path made of cushiony moss. The forest was painted in hues of pastel pink, blue, and violet. It could have been normal, but something deep inside me said that trees were not meant to be that colour.

If I’d been heading in the direction I was facing, I was going toward something or away from something; either way it made sense to keep moving. 

The sky was white; that was unnerving. “If white is wrong, what colour is right?” I wondered out loud.

A large winged insect flew by me and my skin crawled. It was the size of my fist with a nasty-looking barb on its posterior.

The moss changed to something firmer, maybe some sort of wood. It was definitely something organic but artificially shaped. The bird shrieked again,  sounding closer.

The forest was cleared in a perfect circle around one tree. This tree had a hard bark of royal blue and it was at least twice as tall as the rest of the forest.

As I got closer to the tree, I heard the telltale hum of electricity. I reached out toward the tree, and my hand was batted down forcefully by a large stick.

“Who are you?” demanded a lithe man with golden brown skin and a close-cropped haircut. My mind told me he must be military.

“Good question. I don’t know,” I replied, noticing he’d sharpened the end into a spear. He’d even carved it a little off centre so that the pointy part wasn’t made of the softer core of the branch. 

I wonder what it says about me that I didn’t think to arm myself but could recognize the technique he’d used? 

“Why don’t you know?” the man asked. It was a question but he sounded unsure.

“Probably the same reason you don’t,” I answered and pointed at the tree. “That’s not a regular tree.”

“You’re right, there’s some sort of computer inside it. It seems biological. I didn’t know that was possible. He lowered the spear and gently caressed the tree. “Why do you have a large M on your shirt?”

I looked down and saw he was right: in the center of the shirt was a large M. His shirt had a large T. “I don’t know. How do you know about the computer in the tree?”

The man put both hands on the tree and my vision swam. When it cleared, I could see a swirl of pink energy around him. He reached out and pushed the energy toward the tree.

Pain flared into my head. Electric shocks made my body convulse and I fell to the hard ground.

When it stopped, I saw that the man, who I was thinking of as T, was on the ground as well.

He sat up and grunted. I let my head stop swimming before doing the same.

“What the hell was that?” he asked, but it was a general ask, not a demand to me.

“I think we tried to use some sort of ability and were shocked into submission.”

He looked at me and then at our matching outfits before swearing in what I recognized as Sámi but wasn’t sure of which language exactly it was. I was surprised to realize that I understood him. “We’re prisoners,” he said finally. 

It made complete sense. We had matching outfits that were obviously made for ease of wash not fashion, we had some sort of trigger device that shocked us… But why take our memory? “Where are our jailers?”

He looked angry for a moment, like he thought I was challenging him, but then he looked around nervously. “If they aren’t visible and they let me make a weapon, they must be watching from hidden cameras.”

“Or they are gone for the same reason we can’t remember who we are?”

That idea was frightening. Being stuck in a jail without jailers meant that unless we could escape, we’d eventually run out of food.

Thinking of food, my stomach growled. Nothing around me looked edible and there was nothing in my pocket.

“Where do we get food?” I asked him.

Again I heard the strange bird, much closer this time, and he must have also, because he said, “Where there are animals, there’s game.”

The bird made another horrifying screech, which was echoed by two others behind us. 

Suddenly, we were surrounded by three massive dog-like creatures. My mind supplied ‘Warg’ but that wasn’t possible, because they were fictional. At least that’s what my mind was telling me.

Fictional or not, they were approaching us, and they looked hungrier than I felt.

Read Chapter 2

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

The Scarlet Thread Irregulars (Serial Story) — Chapter 12

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Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 12: My team and I get sneaky and hope prevails

Thursday the 12th of October, 2006 – Shields Crossing, Ontario

“I know this is bad timing with us heroically headed to fight the council but um… am I free?” Grant asked. He looked younger than his nineteen years and I felt bad for him.

“As far as I know, Luc is no longer a threat. Your soul is your own. But you’re not free, you’re still a Gatekeeper and you’re still stuck with me,” I said with a smile.

The group laughed awkwardly and Grant said, “I’m okay with that. Um… how do we find Lance?”

That was a good question. I knew that he had a house in Toronto and an apartment in New York. Sylvie said my thoughts aloud before I had the chance, “He’s got to be close. No way he’s sending waves of public domain assassins at us from across the province. Maybe I should call my fiancée and see if she can track his cell?”

She hadn’t finished the whole statement when my phone rang. Since I was driving, she reached into my pocket and said, “It’s him.” She put it on speaker.

I took a deep breath and said, “Hey Lance. We found Galaus, he’s no longer a threat.”

“Excellent. You’re well on your way to redemption. Did you find his base of operations?” Lance sounded excited. I could faintly hear bells in the background.

“No, sorry. We had some issues with a superpowered devil Aetherborn.” You bastard, I added in my thoughts.

There was a silence and then Lance said, “I guess that’s okay. I’ll get a team out there to clean up your mess. There’s a report of gremlin-like creatures in Winnipeg. I want you and your team to take care of it. Your new recruit should head back to Westmeath and start getting ready for her apprenticeship. Bruce down in Lima will be training her.”

Sylvie made a face and looked angry.

“Sure boss,” I said.

“Good job not screwing this one completely up.” Lance hung up and everyone started asking questions at the same time. 

I had to stop at a train crossing. The lights and bells were ringing to tell me a train was coming. “Bells!” I exclaimed over everyone’s shouting..

“What?” Sylvie asked.

“The bells. I heard faint bells on the call with Lance. This train is coming from the west, where Shield’s Crossing is, which means he’s there.

“Shit,” said Galaus. “He’s planning an ambush.”

“Or he believes us and thinks we’ll run along on the new errand without hesitation,” I suggested. “Let’s give him exactly that. We’ll go to the motel to pack up and pretend to head out. Then we’ll double back and catch him at whatever he’s doing here.”

Everyone agreed and I was thankful the rental van had tinted windows to hide Galaus. It didn’t take us long to pack up. Lance would be expecting us to head to Westmeath to get a new van and drop this one off. It was almost dinner and we could make it if we hurried. Traffic into town would be bad but since we weren’t going, I didn’t care.

Maybe it was my imagination, but I could swear someone was watching me the entire time we packed up. I tried really hard not to look for them.

“Sylvie, where’s your car?” I asked, not remembering her ever using it.

Looking mischievous, she replied, “I don’t have one.”

“How did you get here then?”

“That’s classified,” was the only thing she’d say. 

I knew that Yggdrasil Command was working on strange stuff but I had no idea how she’d gotten here. 

“How do you plan on hiding a big white rental van?” asked Robin as she climbed in.

Before I could reply, Sylvie said, “Leave that to me.” 

When everyone had piled into the van, we drove toward Westmeath.

When we were fifteen minutes out, we turned into a rural road and parked out of sight of the highway. “Did anyone follow us?” I asked.

Everyone said, “No” and I turned to Sylvie. 

“My fiancée makes me little gadgets,” She placed a small metal cube on the dash and flicked the little switch. I felt the magic rush over the van but couldn’t see any difference. “It makes the vehicle invisible. It only works for a few hours before it needs to be charged again.”

“I’ll be careful driving,” I said and turned back onto the main road. It was dark now and I was fairly certain Lance would be at the fancier hotel that was near the train tracks.

There were a dozen cars in the little parking lot and most of them were rentals from Ottawa or Westmeath. That wasn’t unusual in itself but I suddenly got a bad feeling. 

“Either the Halloween festival is attracting guests early or there’s a conference in town,” Ursula said. Her deep voice sounded annoyed. “Should I take out my sword to see if there are any illusions?”

“No. We’re hidden by one now,” I reminded her.

“Oh, right.”

“If that’s the council of Gatekeepers, we’re in trouble,” Galaus remarked. “No offence but you’re all young and in need of more training. 

That’s when the council members, including Lance, came out of the hotel. I had met them all before but never in the same place. What were they doing? The twenty members from all around the world drove off in the same direction and I followed them.

“Whatever they’re up to it can’t be good,” Galaus said somberly. “The last time they were all together, they blamed me for killing the previous council.”

The cars drove to the same field that we’d just left, and with a wave of Lance’s hand it turned into an old stone agora.

Whispering, with a quiver of fear in his voice, Grant asked, “What can we do against twenty Gatekeepers that throw magic around like mages?”

No one had an answer and we watched as they started some sort of ritual. Magic was pouring into it and the members were all so focussed on what they were doing that they didn’t see the two dozen musketeers take aim and shoot at them. I didn’t see until it was too late either.

I swore as all the members of the council except for Lance fell to the ground. Not thinking, I jumped out of the van and ran to the nearest member. They were dead and I could feel their magic being drained by Lance.

“You killed them all? Why?” I shouted and summoned my sword.

Lance smiled a toothy grin, “Power. The Gatekeepers are mine and it’s time we showed the world our true strength. Join me, and together we will rule this realm as gods.”

“Wow. He’s gone full Bond villain,” quipped Sylvie. She had her gun out and shot at him. The bullet turned into a rain of rose petals that fell at Lance’s feet.

Lance tossed a bolt of pure power at me. My sword already in hand, I tried to parry it and was shocked when it worked. It made a sort of sense, our blades were made of Aether barrier energy and that held the magic at bay. What other knowledge had we lost because of the council’s lust for power and control?

“I can’t let you get away with this. You’re making a mockery of everything it means to be a Gatekeeper. We’re meant to protect people, not control them!” I shouted as I rushed him.

He met my blade with his but he was slower than me and not as careful as Galaus. We traded blows but I was confident I could beat him.

“You don’t understand, we are just power. There’s no higher calling, no noble knight, if the Ladies of the Lake wanted us to be honourable they’d have stopped me by now.”

There was a certain logic to his words but they still made me angry. I was promised honour, mercy, and a mission to make the world a better place. My anger grew at the betrayal of everything we were, and my black blade started to glow a silver light. 

“Lance, you are a disgrace to Gatekeepers and I won’t let you get away with it.” I put all my feelings of betrayal and anger into a downward cut, and Lance raised his sword for an easy block.

My sword sliced through his, releasing all the magic stored in him into a wave of brilliant light. His sword sizzled and disintegrated.

“NO!” he screamed and made the motions to cast a spell and nothing happened. Sometime during our fight, the musketeers had disappeared. 

“Lance, I strip you of your power and position as a Gatekeeper,” I said and felt a reverberation in my sword. I knew I was broadcasting the message to all other Gatekeepers. Another thing I didn’t know we could do. “The council was killed by you in a gross misuse of power. I think it’s time to make this a democratic institute.”

There was a lot of politics and setting up before the Gatekeepers could work as a cohesive unit again, but I was confident we could do it.

Maybe it was time to pick an assignment. I heard Baker was missing Gatekeepers. It was time to go home.

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

The Scarlet Thread Irregulars (Serial Story) — Chapter 11

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Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 11: My team gives the Devil his due

Thursday the 12th of October, 2006 – Shields Crossing, Ontario

With a plethora of fictional fighters coming toward us, Galaus, my team, and I prepared to fight. 

I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried to do anything after an intensive training session but it’s not easy. You’re tired all the way to your bones and no matter how good you are, your body moves slowly.

We started by trying to dispel the fighters but they had been formed too long ago. We can’t return things to the Aether unless they’re freshly summoned.

Galaus and I were able to boost the others’ energy but not enough to fight half a dozen experienced fighters. We were soon spending more time retreating than fighting and we needed to do something.

“Sylvie, remember what Great Uncle Ray always says?” I asked her. I didn’t want to be any more specific and it was hard to think, parry, and talk at the same time. 

“When are you and that wizard getting married?” she replied questioningly as she moved forward on the Scarlet Pimpernel.

“He asks you that too? Nevermind. The other thing!” Our uncle seemed more than a little preoccupied about the love life of our expansive family. He says it’s because he wants us all to have the same happiness he’s found with his husband.  

“It’s annoying but I know he cares. You mean combat isn’t chess. If you’re losing, cheat,” she said, and I could hear the annoyance in her voice. “How is that useful? Are you saying my gun would be useful here?”

“I wish,” I said wistfully before adding, “No. I need you to make a distraction.”

“Okay then,” she replied and parried the Pimpernel with her sword in her left hand. In a smooth motion, she pulled out her gun and shot him in the head. It did absolutely nothing but the noise and surprise made everyone stop.

I’m not a wizard but I have been trying to learn about runes. As a ritual, they take time to set up, but if you do it right, they can have a big effect. My plan was to pat down the grass around the fight in the right runes to dispel the fictionals. It was something I’d been learning from a friend who was a wizard, not from the other Gatekeepers, and I hoped that was going to surprise them.

In my fatigue, I must have done something wrong because nothing happened. Everyone on my side was bleeding or hurt, and it was just a matter of time before someone made a fatal mistake.

I had to get help. I took out my phone and dialled a number I knew very well before putting the phone in my front pocket.

Thinking of Luc, the literal devil, I said, “I need your help.” Louder, I added, “Please!”

“No!” a petulant demonic voice said, echoing through the fields.

The combatants all stopped. Galaus was the first to move again and took down one of the musketeers. The fight continued and my heart sank. 

“Please, I’m begging you!” I said loudly. “Help me!”

The field disappeared and we were all sitting around a poker table with Luc as the dealer. The enemy fighters were gone and I was holding a losing hand of cards.

“Aces high, jockers wild, and play like your soul is on the line,” Luc smirked.

“What the hell?” Galaus asked. “Didn’t I kill you?”

“Can’t kill the devil, young man. I’m eternal.” 

Hoping to get some information, I said, “As real as those fighters.”

“Are you going to call or raise?” Luc asked before adding, “I’m a person. They’re just golems, homunculi, Aether robots; no souls.”

“With enough time, they could become sapient just like us,” Galaus said, in a tone that was both disapproving and grumpy.

I smiled at the old man, “When it comes to sapience, a little time and some magic does wonders, but when it comes to true power, it’s not that easy, right?”

Looking at me quizzically, Galaus replied, “That’s true, Aether-creatures and even certain Aetherborn will grow in strength as they get older. What are you up to?”

“Enough. Let’s get down to deals.” Luc rubbed his hands and a contract appeared in front of each of us except Grant, who’d already signed one to save us from the Adlats.

“No thank you,” I said, doing my best to look smug.

Red-faced with anger, Luc screeched, “You begged me for help!”

“No I didn’t,” I said and pointed at the entrance of the room. I was starting to think she wasn’t going to come, but thankfully she opened the door. “I was asking her.”

She was a sight to see in her tall boots, jeans, and long leather coat. Her light brown hair was tied into a long braid. Annabel was unarmed but radiated power to anyone who knew what to look for. 

“Fascinating construct. Made by the same power as those fighters outside,” she commented, looking around at the casino and everything in it.

“Who are you?” demanded Luc.

Ignoring him and turning her hazel eyes toward me, she said, “Seriously, you go silent for three months and suddenly pocket dial me for help?”

“I’m a jerk,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

With a dramatic sigh, Sylvie added, “He totally is, but he’s had this whole guilt complex because of the colour of his sword. Probably didn’t think he was worthy of you or some such male bullshit. Thanks for coming though.”

“If I knew you’d be here, I’d have called your fiancée.”

The lights darkened and red fire seemed to erupt from behind Luc. In a menacing baritone, he shouted, “I do not like being ignored. Get out of my house.” With that, he gestured at Annabel. 

I felt the jolt of power he threw. It should have thrown her out of the building, if not the province. She moved her hand around and suddenly there was a cool breeze in the room. 

Annabel was a wizard who specialized in alteration magic. She takes things and turns them into other things.

With her coat blowing dramatically, she walked slowly toward Luc. She stopped in front of him and just eyed him. It reminded me of the way a knitter looks at a nice sweater, like they’re trying to figure out how it was made.

Finally she spoke, “You are a beautiful piece of work but you’re so young. Given a few more decades, you might become powerful enough to be a threat. I’m sorry, this is going to hurt.” She reached out and plucked a hair from his head. 

A tremor rocked the building and it was as if the world was unravelling. Things started to disappear until there was nothing left but Annabel, Luc, Galaus, my team, and I standing in a field with the sun setting.

“What have you done?” Luc demanded. “Where’s my power?” He fell to the ground and started weeping.

Kneeling next to him comfortingly, Annabel said, “I disconnected your being from the Aether. You are now just a regular Aetherborn.” Looking up at me, she asked, “Do you know who created these things?”

“Yes, and we’re going to deal with it,” I replied.

“Is it a Gatekeeper matter?”

“Yes.”

Nodding, she said, “I’ll take care of him. You go finish this. Then call me.”

Read Chapter 12

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

The Scarlet Thread Irregulars (Serial Story) — Chapter 10

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Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 10: My team trains with a master

Thursday the 12th of October, 2006 – Shields Crossing, Ontario

Everyone’s blades were drawn. We were all on edge after dealing with the devil himself and then seeing him killed by the man opposite us: Galaus the rogue knight, accused traitor, and probably our only hope.

He dispelled his massive sword and played with his orange moustache. When we didn’t move, he asked, “Are we all going to stand around or are you going to do some real training?”

“Why should we trust you? You just killed a man,” Grant said, sounding more relieved than fearful.

“Oh, he’s not dead. Just dispersed for a bit. He’ll be back and probably angry. Part of the reason you need to train.” Galaus looked smug but behind the bravado, he looked lonely. Or maybe that was my imagination.

I took a deep breath and dispelled my sword before saying, “Pie filled you in?”

“Yeah. Dealing with one of my mistakes. Sorry about that, sonny.” He fiddled with the hem of his coat before adding, “He and the other golden blades think they should lead because they can do magic, but the blackblade are better suited to leadership. When I suggested that, they banished me.”

Sylvie looked smug as she asked, “So blackblades aren’t evil?”

“Naw. They can influence the mood around them and inspire people to do better but we’re not evil. We’re protective of our teams and can get grumpy but not evil.”

He looked at me with piercing grey eyes and asked, “You’re the senior knight?”

“Yes,” I replied, barely swallowing the ‘Sir’ that wanted to come out. Some things are hard coded in a military family.

“Show me what you have,” his sword reappeared. “Just you to start.”

The great thing about magic swords is that you can set them to not hurt your opponent. When we duelled, we normally made sure to avoid killing each other.

We stayed in the field of grass, the others moved back, and I summoned my sword. When I was young I assumed most older men were frail or at the very least slow. I was wrong and it almost cost me my life when I fought against a wizard. I attacked Galaus; his swordsmanship was impeccable. 

As we fought, he spoke to the group, “You will almost always fight something that is more powerful than you. The trick is to find out their weaknesses, and to exploit them.”

He performed an impressive set of moves and beat me back. I couldn’t find his weakness when it came to swordfighting. “Not just exploit their weakness,” I added, “but use our strengths.”

He smiled and asked, “What is a Gatekeeper’s greatest strength?”

“Our sword!” Grant shouted. 

“No!” both Galaus and I shouted back.

“Our minds?” Clifford suggested.

Galaus laughed and replied, “No. Too many Gatekeepers forget to use that.”

“What’s left?” asked Robin in her squeaky voice. She sounded defeated.

Sounding a little annoyed, Sylvie replied, “Each other and the community we protect. You sound like my grandfather.”

His eyes flicked to Sylvie for a moment and it gave me the opening I needed, I beat at his sword and lunged, nicking his shoulder. If we’d been dueling for real, I would have cut deep enough to sever muscle.

“Excellent,” he told me but kept looking at Sylvie. “I trained your great-grandfather. He was one of the knights that didn’t try to kill me. Instead, he helped me get into the wizard’s library and study the old texts.”

“I didn’t know,” both Sylvie and I said in unison. 

“Can people stop doing that? Please. It’s creepy,” Robin said.

Galaus smiled widely and said, “I’ll teach you the things I learned and help you when the time comes. But I won’t train him.” He pointed his sword at Grant. 

“What? Why not?” Grant looked guilty and surprised at the same time. His indignation was obviously fake.

Giving the young man a stern glare that would have made a seasoned soldier uncomfortable, Galaus replied, “You broke your vow and don’t deserve that sword. If it was my choice, I would strip you of it and deliver you unto your master.”

I put two and two together and it added up to three dead adlats. I sighed deeply and said, “He saved the team’s life. I might not like how he did it but he’s young.” Grant must have made a deal with Luc to save us. That meant either his soul or something worse.

Galaus took a step toward Grant who looked ready to cry or run and the older man said, “Is that true?”

“Yes sir. I traded my soul to save everyone’s lives. I made sure it only cost mine,” Grant said and looked down.

I thought Galaus was going to hit Grant but instead, he chuckled and said, “You’re a fool but a fool with his heart in the right place. Let’s get to training. It’ll only be a matter of time before Lance sends something to attack us.”

There was a moment where we all looked around, half expecting something nefarious to appear, but nothing happened and we started training. A lot of it was new ways of using our swords and group tactics that he said were standard a thousand years ago but had been shunned for the Romantic ideal of the solitary knight errant. 

As the sun started to set, we retrieved food from the van and had a picnic. As we rested, Galaus said, “You work well together. I see why Lance might be scared of you. Especially you two. Gatekeeper legacies are rare enough, but to have two in the same family is unheard of.”

“It’s a really big family,” Sylvie said, only partly kidding. We had more cousins than I could easily name.

“It looks like we’re about to find out how well you can do against a real opponent.” Galaus pointed back toward the road and I had trouble believing what I saw. Walking toward us were four musketeers, a masked man in scarlet, a semi-naked man with a laser sword, and a masked man all in black.

Read Chapter 11

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

The Scarlet Thread Irregulars (Serial Story) — Chapter 9

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Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 9: My team comes face to face with a villain

Thursday the 12th of October, 2006 – Shields Crossing, Ontario

They called him Galaus the Slayer. Might sound a little melodramatic but it was pretty fair for having killed half the council in the late nineteenth century.

There was a large sign at the edge of his property that read, “Stay the F out.” It was underlined by a black arming sword that looked a lot like mine.

Sylvie chuckled and said, “Really? The big bad slayer couldn’t write the whole word?”

The trees were tightly packed, but once we passed the sign,, there was a perfectly round clearing with a little white house in the centre. The clearing was at least half a kilometre in diameter. “Stay on the road,” I told the others as we walked up to the house, “I’d be ready to bet there are traps in the grass areas.”

“That’s pretty harsh,” Grant said, moving more into the centre of the road.

“Do you blame the man? He’s been hunted by Gatekeepers for over a hundred years,” Ursula added.

“That means he’s seen us coming already and he’s overly cautious. We should be ready to protect ourselves,” Sylvie said while zipping up her jacket and tapping the zipper three times. I assumed her fiancée had put some sort of protective magic on it.

“Keep your swords sheathed,” I ordered as we got half way to the little house. “We don’t w—” A streak of dark light flew toward me and suddenly an onyx black sword was being held to my neck. 

A man that looked like he was in his nineties but moved like he was in his twenties stood in front of me, holding the sword in one hand and a sawed-off shotgun in the other. “I thought the council had finally given up trying to kill me.” Despite living in the woods, he wore a three piece charcoal suit.

“We’re not here to kill you. We’re here to ask you for help.”

He laughed and replied, “You’re either desperate or stupid.”

“Oh he’s definitely both sir,” Sylvie quipped. Her posture was relaxed but it was a little forced. I knew her well enough that she was calculating the risks he posed and what she needed to do to neutralize him as a threat. 

“Ha!” he said and added, “Family huh? Interesting. Show me your swords.” His sword and gun didn’t waver. The group all summoned their swords and he relaxed a little. “What about you?” He punctuated the question with his sword.

I summoned my sword in reverse grip, planting its tip in the gravel road and leaning on it.

The man nodded and asked, “Who was your master?”

The rest of the group pointed at me and I sighed. If Lance was a traitor, he’d either framed or tried to kill him and I really didn’t want to say his name. “Please don’t puncture me but my master was Lance.”

“He taught a blackblade? I’m surprised. You must have been very trusting.” He brought his sword and gun down. “What do you want from an old, tired man?” He turned around and started walking to the house.

I took that as an invitation to follow and answered his question, “The Gatekeepers have made a name for themselves as being honourable. I had no reason to doubt him.”

“Sounds like you needed to believe you were chosen to do good.” He paused and took a deep, shaky breath before continuing, “I was the same way at your age. The Gatekeepers were the incorruptible knights. They represented all that was good and trustworthy. But not all of us liked following a strict moral code.

“War was brewing and we knew it was going to be massive. After the Magical community got together and voted to stay neutral, there was a lot of trouble. The wizards asked us to act as peace keepers. The Gatekeeper council decided to not interfere in the war but still keep helping individuals who needed it.

“The goldblades didn’t agree; they thought that we could do more good fighting the war than staying out of it. Lance and the others attacked the council and despite my best attempts I wasn’t able to save them.”

“That’s quite a story,” Sylvie said, looking not the least impressed. She glared at him, obviously waiting for more information.

Turning around to face me, the man said, “You have a lippy one. You’ll have to train some respect into her.”

“Never talk about one of my knights like that again,” I said growling a little. I was going to follow it up with something devastatingly clever but got distracted.

We were close to the house now and something smelled off. I should be smelling grass, forest, and some woodsmoke from the house, but instead I was smelling sulfur and rotten eggs.

I stopped moving and held my hand up in a fist to tell the others to do the same.

“Sylvie, Grant, and Ursula, could you please take out your swords?”

The moment the rainbow swords appeared, the environment around us changed. The perfectly manicured lawn became marshy wetlands, the small house turned into a familiar mansion, and the old man became Luc. 

“Oh darn, I almost had you.” He didn’t seem all that surprised. “It’s a matter of time. You’ll come begging me to help you in chapter eleven.”

“What did you do with Galaus?” I asked, ignoring his words.

The devil smiled widely and replied, “That’s the great part. I didn’t do anything. I just tricked your GPS.” To Sylvie, he asked, “When did you know?”

She replied, “Your tongue touches your front teeth after you lie. Your suit is too modern. A hundred year old knight would wear something more vintage.”

“I knew I should have gone with tails.” Luc snapped his fingers in mock disappointment.

Sylvie shook her head and said, “To be more authentic, I’d go with a long black double-breasted coat, a black vest, and a white dress shirt with a bow tie. Don’t forget the bowler hat.”

“That’s awfully specific, wh—” Luc was cut off by a dark blade piercing his throat. Behind him, having appeared without warning, was a large, sixty year old man sporting a bright orange handlebar moustache and dressed exactly as Sylvie had described.

Luc’s body turned to black smoke and floated into the mansion as both disappeared, leaving us facing the newcomer whose blade was now pointed toward me.

With a heavy Scottish accent, the man said, “Pie said you might need some help.”

Read Chapter 10

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