Prints_Birth of The Demon Read online

  Dominaze nodded.

  “After organizing the worlds, Rizor became power-hungry. He recognized his power and exercised it in order to get what he wanted and to rule over others. Anyone who stood against him was destroyed. If you were reported as a threat to him, he eliminated you before you had a chance to defend yourself. But he did it in horrific ways that left Prints fearing their own elements. He drowned Sea Prints; burned Fire Prints, crushed Stone Prints, and so on. He did it that way to remind everyone that he was stronger than they were. He was unstoppable.” Hemrick paused.

  “So what happened to him?”

  “The Surreptitious Mass. Rizor was so awful, that he united the segregated Prints without realizing it. Their hatred for him was a common ground that brought them together. Deep in the earth, organizations began to grow and the Surreptitious Mass was created. It was an army of Prints secretly gathered together, planning Rizor’s destruction. Every type of Print was involved in the Mass. Four of the strongest Prints organized and led them—a Fire, a Water, an Earth, and a Wind Print. They were called the Elect. When they were ready, they marched against Rizor on his own ground, a thin gorge carved into the land. He was building powerful armies of his own and kept them close in order to monitor them daily. Perhaps that was his biggest mistake. With them all in one place the Surreptitious Mass easily surrounded the area. The battle that erupted is the most famous battle in all of Print history, because it destroyed so much. Yet, had you blinked you might have missed it. With one deadly explosion, it began and ended.”

  “One explosion?” Dominaze couldn’t believe it.

  “The surrounding Mass waited for a sign, a signal that they were all in place. Once the sign was given, every Print focused all their energy into their element and directed it at the center, at Rizor. Can you imagine what that would have looked like; everything coming together with such destructive force? Plants, animals, insects, winds, waters, rocks, and everything great and small all focused on one area. Everything in the area was instantly wiped out, not just Rizor and his armies, but the Prints, and the land as well. So great was the impact that it left the land scarred. Not just in Domicile, but in all three worlds.” Hemrick stood and walked to a large rock. He looked out past it.

  “The land was scarred?” Dominaze touched the ground and pursed her lips. “How do you scar the land?”

  Hemrick motioned for her to look. Her muscles objected, but she forced her legs under herself and stood. Wobbling to the rock, she leaned on it and looked out. What lay before her was incredible. It was nothing. A massive gorge so deep it seemed to go forever. She looked to her right and left and saw the emptiness extend limitlessly. Miles across, it went as far as she could see. She could barely make out a river at the bottom. The red cliffs on the other side glowed in the distance as the sun set.

  Hemrick chucked a rock into the gorge and they watched as it fell. “An explosion so powerful, it cracked and scarred the face of the earth permanently. No amount of healing authority can bring it back. This is the price the Prints were willing to pay to be freed from the Demon Print authority. The loss was so great that the Elect enforced the Purging System to prevent another Demon Print from ever coming into power again.” Hemrick turned to Dominaze. “This is what the Prints think you are. This is why they are so quick to give you the death sentence. They see you as a threat to their lives and convincing them otherwise may be impossible.”

  Standing on the edge of the cliff, Dominaze looked out at the massive hole. It looked strangely familiar, like she had seen it before.

  “You said it scarred the land in all three worlds?” She leaned over the rock to see it better.

  “Yes. The punctured land is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and has a depth of over a mile. Luckily for the Humans, this area was barely populated…”

  “It’s the Grand Canyon!” Dominaze interrupted.

  “Yes. It has three names. Here it is called Surreptitious, to remind us of the mass coming together for our freedom. It has a less pleasant name in the third world, and in The Keep it’s…”

  “The Grand Canyon,” she finished it for him. “That’s what the Humans call it in The Keep. I’ve seen pictures of it in geography class.”

  “It doesn’t matter what you call it, Dominaze. It is the result of a power-hungry Demon Print. Hundreds of thousands died in this explosion. It’s a grave site, not a tourist attraction. Not only is Rizor’s reign a tortured memory in our history, but his destruction came at a terrible price. This is the reason Demon Prints were declared dangerous and better off dead. This is what you are up against. Every Print at the center of this explosion was blown to bits, leaving nothing of them to be found. Rizor’s body was demolished completely. All Prints have of him today is the fear he embedded into them. They will come after you, just as they did him. ” Hemrick glared at Dominaze with all seriousness.

  “I understand.” It was true. She finally understood.

  Seeing the gaping cavity in the land, and knowing it was the result of an army of desperate Prints fighting for freedom made Dominaze realize what could come after her. If anything, this site made her more determined to show how different she was than Rizor.

  Dominaze tried to stand taller, though her muscles were still weak. “I’m not like him, Hemrick. I need to live long enough to have the chance to show everyone that.”

  Hemrick pulled her into a hug. “I hope you can.”

  The sun fell behind the cliffs and the dusk sky slowly faded. Dominaze waited for the cold night air to come, but it didn’t. In fact, it was getting warmer.

  “Is it getting hot?” She pulled away from Hemrick.

  “Hot?”

  He held still and looked around. Suddenly his eyes grew wide. Grabbing her hand he turned to run back the way they had come.

  “It’s hotter and the earth is shaking. It’s Tivok and Kor, the Fire and Earth Elect. We have to find cover.”

  “Wait,” Dominaze pulled her arm from him. “I don’t think we should run.”

  “What?” His eyes nearly bugged out of his sockets. “You can’t fight them.”

  “No kidding.” She rolled her eyes. “So I’m trying not to get caught. You sent your wind currents out to feel what lay ahead of us as we walked right? Well, if Kor is the most powerful Earth Print, couldn’t he feel us running on the earth? Shouldn’t we lay still or crawl on all fours like an animal?”

  Hemrick was shaking his head, but stopped for a second to think about it.

  “Dominaze, you just may be a genius.” He dropped to the ground. “Come on, we’ll take cover in those rocks until we know where they are. Hurry.”

  Getting on her hands and knees, Dominaze crawled after him. She wished she were wearing more than her pajama shorts as the rocky ground scraped her knees. There was a narrow space between two large red rocks. Squeezing between them, they stayed low and held as still as possible.

  “Dominaze, I beg you. Don’t to do anything out of your control right now.” Hemrick hissed as he looked around cautiously.

  Holding still, Dominaze closed her eyes. To her surprise she could still see where everything was, or feel where everything was. She could feel the shape of the rock they were hiding in and what was behind it. Though it was getting dark, she could see everything clearly—the trees, rocks and gorge. Suddenly there was movement. Dominaze jumped, startled by it.

  “What?” Hemrick gasped.

  “It’s just an animal,” she breathed. “I think. Maybe a coyote.”

  “What?” Hemrick shrank.

  “Not here.” She grabbed him. “Just past those rocks up a head.”

  “You can sense what’s over there?” He smiled. “This is great. Where are Tivok and Kor?”

  Dominaze closed her eyes and tried to relax and feel for anything else. There was movement overhead, an owl hunting perhaps and a scurrying on the floor by her feet.

  “Ah.” Dominaze squealed and kicked them away. “Mice? Ser
iously?”

  “Shhh…” Hemrick shoved her. “Please focus.”

  The mice ran from her feet and took cover within a nearby burrow. Then there was something bigger, a pack of some sort of animal moving slowly through the rocks.

  “There’s some sort of herd coming.” She scrunched her face trying to concentrate. “There’re nine and they’re pretty big. Maybe wolves.”

  “Oh great.” Hemrick groaned. “What about the Elect?”

  Trying to scan further, Dominaze didn’t feel anything like Print movements, but the wolves were moving slowly along the edge of the gorge and getting closer. She continued to follow them, when suddenly one of the wolves tripped and separated into two halves. A hand came out and hit the ground to catch the back half. The two halves stood and Dominaze saw them clearly—two Prints.

  “They’re not wolves, they’re Prints.” Her heart began to race. “They’re paired together to mimic the movement of an animal. I think they knew I would be able to see them. I thought they were nine wolves, but they’re eighteen Prints. What do we do?”

  “Calm down. This isn’t bad.”

  “We have nowhere to go, Hemrick. How is this not a bad situation?” she hissed.

  “Dominaze, none of them see the way you see. They can’t see every detail beyond their eyesight. They only see that which they are imprinted with. Kor can only feel the earth. Tivok can only create fire and the others may feel creatures or plants, possibly insects. It’s dark enough now that if we mimic the coyote you felt, we could walk right out of here.”

  “Are you sure?” She shook with fear of being caught.

  “No, but if we stay here our odds of seeing tomorrow go way down.”

  “Okay, fine,” she whimpered.

  Hemrick slipped off his shoes.

  “We better barefoot it. I don’t know how sensitive Kor really is. Now, how does the coyote walk?”

  Dominaze felt for the coyote while slipping out of her vine sandals.

  “She has quick small steps with her feet very close together. Almost as if she’s walking on a thin beam. There’s a light bounce to her step and she’s on her toes.”

  “Okay.” Hemrick wriggled out from the rock. “I can’t see, so you’ll have to go in front. Lead us toward the coyote. If we follow her, Kor may think it’s just two of them.”

  Dominaze looked around in the dark. “I can’t see.”

  “You can if you close your eyes.” He placed her in front of him. “Now, crouch low. Coyotes aren’t very big.”

  Crouching down, Dominaze closed her eyes. Again, she could see—feel—the environment around them. Everything pulsed at a different rhythm.

  “Um…I don’t know how well I can walk us out of here,” she whispered. “It’s not like seeing during the day. It’s like feeling something in front of us. If I get it wrong, we could walk off a cliff.”

  “We don’t have much of a choice, so…try not to walk us off a cliff.” Hemrick nudged her forward. “Now go.”

  Tiptoeing barefoot across the rocky ground, while crouched and so close together, felt absolutely ridiculous. The real coyote was just up ahead. Dominaze had to bite her lip to keep from yelling each time she jabbed her toe or stepped on something sharp. Suddenly the coyote stopped and turned around, facing the approaching Elect from the other side.

  “She stopped.” Dominaze whispered, pausing in place. “She hears the Elect coming. She’s curious.”

  The coyote abruptly started toward the Elect.

  “Oh no, she’s coming. She’s going to investigate them. If she sees us, she could give us away.”

  “Let’s head this way.” Hemrick nudged Dominaze to the side. “Aren’t those rocks? We’ll climb them and lay low until they pass.”

  Hurrying toward the rocks, they tiptoed across the sharp ground. Dominaze’s stomach grumbled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since the night before. The hunger was hard to ignore. She would do anything for something to eat. Hitting her foot on something hard, pain shot through her as she collapsed. Suddenly it was hard to see or feel anything around them, but a warping noise nearby worried her that something was there that hadn’t been there before.

  “What did you do?” Hemrick nearly fell over her.

  Reaching out, Dominaze felt a large wood trunk. It rose high above their heads and she could barely make out the full branches against the night sky. Touching the tree, she closed her eyes.

  She gasped. “It’s an apple tree.”

  “You grew an apple tree in the middle of the desert?” Hemrick hissed, “Dominaze, the Elect are coming. I can hear them.”

  “The coyote, too.” Dominaze got to her feet. “Quick, follow me.”

  She reached up for a branch and hoisted herself into the tree.

  “We can’t hide in a tree that is clearly not supposed to be here.” Hemrick grabbed her leg.

  “What choice do we have? They’re coming.”

  Jumping to his feet, Hemrick pulled himself into the tree just in time. Shadowy movements came through the darkness. Dominaze held her breath as she pressed herself as close to the tree’s branches as she could. She could hear their voices.

  “Here’s the spot.” Kor whispered. “The movement in the earth is fresh. This tree has just grown. She must be here.”

  “Elect, sir.” A woman whispered. “This tree is quite old and has been here for quite some time. See how its neglect has grown rotten fruit.”

  The woman took an apple from a branch and showed it to Kor.

  “Rotten?” Kor threw the apple to the ground.

  “Perhaps the movement was due to something else,” she suggested.

  “What then?” he scoffed at her.

  “Elect…sir...” Stuttered a small man. “There is a beaver burrow beneath the roots of this tree. They must be the reason for the earth’s movements.”

  “Fine.” Kor looked into the branches.

  Frozen in place Dominaze watched silently. All eighteen Prints gathered around, never breaking from their pairs.

  “Tivok.” Kor called.

  “Kor?” A slender man stepped forward, with his partner right behind him.

  For being the Elect of Fire, Tivok didn’t seem as impressive or intimidating as Dominaze thought he should have. It was too dark to see his markings, but there was hardly a heated glow to his eyes the way she remembered Brike having. He looked weak and tired.

  “Burn this tree to the ground.”

  “Elect, sir, please no.” The small man stepped away from his partner. “The beavers, it’s their home. Spare the tree, sir.”

  “Get back in formation.” Kor hissed at the man and the ground shook beneath them.

  “Kor?” Tivok waited for Kor’s decision.

  Just then the curious coyote barked at the group of Elders before scampering off to hide.

  “Very well, Amon.” Kor leaned over the small man. “Seeing as you were right about the coyotes, I’ll spare the beaver’s rotten home.” He turned away. “But as soon as we get back to Quarters Crest, Tistine, you will send out a reminder that plant growth is to be kept within their territories. Apple trees are not to be grown in desert areas.”

  The woman who spoke before answered. “Yes, Elect, sir.”

  Once Kor turned away and the others followed, Tistine paused for a moment and looked up into the tree, directly at Dominaze. She touched the side of the tree with her hand. There was a slight wave of Dominaze’s branch before she turned away and followed the others.

  Neither Hemrick nor Dominaze dared move a muscle long after the Elders were gone. Finally the hard branches on their tailbones were too much and they climbed down.

  “You grew a rotten apple tree?” Hemrick teased as he hopped out.

  “It wasn’t rotten when I grew it. That woman—Tistine—she changed it.” Dominaze picked one of the soft brown apples.

  “Why would she do that?”

  “I don’t know, but there’s
also no beaver burrow beneath the roots of the tree. The ground is solid and still.” Dominaze stomped on the ground.

  “Both Amon and Tistine lied?” Hemrick looked in the direction that the group had disappeared. “The trackers don’t want the Elect to find you. But why?”

  Dominaze pointed at the tree. “Look.”

  Looking at the tree, the bark changed where Tistine touched it. It curved, forming letters.

  To The Sky

  “To the sky?” Dominaze read aloud. “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know.” Hemrick shook his head. “For some reason Tistine and Amon helped you escape the Elect tonight, which means they don’t want you dead, but I’m not comfortable with them wanting you alive either.”

  ~8~

  A GREAT IDEA

  By sunrise, Dominaze had managed to fix the apple tree so that Hemrick and she could eat something, but Hemrick refused to let them travel far from it, in fear that the Elect were close. Now the sun was setting again and he paced back and forth while mumbling to himself.

  “How did they know you would bring me here?” Dominaze asked between bites of her apple.

  “They didn’t know.” Hemrick continued to pace. “If they had thought you were really here, they wouldn’t have given up so easily. They must have figured I would show you this place, if not right away, eventually.”

  “So they’re gone? Just like that?”

  “That’s wishful thinking, “ Hemrick laughed. “No, if the Elect don’t believe you’re here now, they’ve probably already set watch around the perimeter for when you do come. Which means we’re probably surrounded. We’ll have to sneak out.”

  Dominaze sank to the ground and traced one of the black markings on her leg. “Something tells me this isn’t going to be easy.”

  “Dominaze, as of yesterday morning, nothing in your life will ever be easy again. That being said, I hope you find that it’s worth it.” He continued to pace, but suddenly stopped and smiled a sly smile.

  “What are you doing?”