The Marenon Chronicles Collection - By Jason D. Morrow Page 0,297

his staff to the ground.

“I don’t know!”

Inga walked up next to him and stared deep into his eyes.

“Silas, you’ve got to clear your mind of any distractions. You possess the power to destroy it. You’ve got to find that power.”

He knew she was right, but it didn’t explain how he should find it. He closed his eyes and tried to search his thoughts. He was distracted. So many new options of magic flew through his brain, but he needed something specific. Silandrin had said Silas would have the power to do it, but where was this power?

“Clear your mind,” he heard Inga say, though her voice felt distant.

He breathed slowly, trying to calm his thoughts, to purge his mind of everything. After a moment, his thoughts cleared. That’s when the words formed in his mind.

He had never heard the language before. It wasn’t of his own tongue, and it wasn’t Erellen, but something else. A certain phrase passed through his mind several times before he decided to speak it.

“Osh tü lorminan, Kül vorheesh-sellan…”

The ground beneath them began to tremble.

“Osh tü lorminan, Kül vorheesh-sellan,” he repeated louder.

The shaking became so severe, that the others fell to the ground, but Silas stood firm. He opened his eyes to witness what was happening before him. The blue light had begun to swirl again, and the view of the other side into Earth started to disappear. The words remained fresh in his mind.

He could see the medallion’s sapphire jewel pulsating the light brighter than he had ever seen it before.

A third time.

“Osh tü lorminan, Kül vorheesh-sellan!” he yelled.

The blue light vanished. The medallion exploded into pieces as the rock wall crumbled to the ground into a dusty heap.

Everything went black as Silas lost all consciousness.

*****

When he started to feel himself walking, he knew he was dreaming. The red dirt path before him stretched long, but he knew his destination. He was walking toward the Red Gate.

“Silas!” a voice called out to him. “Silas!”

He looked in every direction, but could not find the source of the voice.

“Over here!”

Silas looked up in time to see a cloaked figure jumping from a tall boulder to the ground in front of him.

“I see that you know the words of the medallion’s destruction,” the man said.

“What?” Silas asked.

“The words,” the man repeated. “I don’t know them myself. They are from an ancient tongue of the Stühocs. Powerful words. Anithistor used them to create the red medallion and Silandrin used them to create all the others. The fact that the words came to you only proves who you are.”

Silas said nothing, wondering who this man was and how he knew this information.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” the man said.

“Who are you?”

“I’m alive,” Will said with a smile, though he didn’t seem overly happy. Silas thought that is expression seemed forced.

“But who are you?” Silas asked him.

“I’m Will,” the man said. “Will Ainsley.”

Silas’ eyebrows wrinkled. “But you’re dead.”

“That’s what most people think,” he said. “I was never killed, Silas. I ran off into battle and no one ever saw me again. They never found a body because I had been captured.”

“This is a dream,” Silas said. “You aren’t real. I don’t even know what my father looks like.”

“Dreams for the powerful are never just dreams, Silas. “After years of trying, I’ve finally escaped the Stühocs, but I’m still in Mudavé.”

“Why are you still in Mudavé?”

“I fear my recapture. There are more enemies patrolling the borders of Mudavé than ever before. You must have started something. I’m hiding in the Reemlock Mountains.”

Silas knew this couldn’t be real. How could no one have known that his father had been captured?

“Why haven’t the Stühocs turned you?”

“They tried but it was too difficult. They’ve kept me around to use against you. A ransom perhaps. I just wanted you to know that you will not be alone here. I will be waiting to help you. We can finish this together.”

“How are you talking to me through a dream?”

“Magic,” Will said with a smile.

Silas shook his head. This can’t be real.

“It’s so good to see you, Silas. I wish your mother could have seen you now.”

The mixed emotions that racked Silas’ heart were unnerving. Part of him wanted to talk with his ‘father’ forever, but part of him wasn’t sure he would even remember this when he woke. Were these just built up emotions trying to compensate for the feelings of abandonment? Did he even feel abandonment?

“It’s time for you to wake up, Silas. You have more