Shane Hegarty - Hero Rising

“Tornclaw. In the middle of the Great Ocean of the Dead,” said the Sprite in a helium-high voice, smiling brightly as if delighted to see Finn. It scrambled down the Cyclops’s arm and around behind Finn to get a closer look at him.

“Those tools you see? They’re here because this whole island used to be a crystal quarry,” continued the Cyclops. “It once stretched all the way out into the sea there, but has been hacked away until only the mountain is left. There are no crystals any more, just the bones of those once forced to work here.”

“…” Finn started to say.

“How did you get here? We found you because the little guy …” he pointed at the Sprite lurking at Finn’s legs, “… traced you through an energy imprint you’re leaking since you exploded in this place all those years ago. He can see you through the invisible walls separating our worlds.”

“I can’t see you clearly, though.” The Sprite grinned. “You look more like an orange blob.”

Cornelius was still scratching an itch while Hiss got out of the way.

The other, quiet Legend stayed half out of sight, except for those burning eyes.

“But most of all,” the Cyclops said to Finn, “you’re wondering, how are you talking to a Cyclops when they don’t exist in the first place?”

“That’s not what I was wondering,” Finn said, even though it was what he was wondering. Or at least, one of the things he was wondering.

The Cyclops leaned back, grinning. “Well, you’d be right to wonder.”

“If that’s what you were wondering,” clarified the Sprite, looking up at Finn while picking at the fabric of his jeans.

Finn swatted him away, and he backed off without complaint.

“We don’t exist,” said the non-existent Cyclops. “True, I have one eye. But it wasn’t always that way.” He paused and gave Finn a closer look at the scar circling an eye that appeared to have been pulled over across his face; around it was a patch of crooked, raised skin that looked like it had been carved with a stone and stitched back with that same stone. “I’m Fomorian, like Gantrua. But we had a little disagreement. This was the result. And now I work for your old pals here.”

Cornelius had finally stopped scratching, and Hiss was able to lift himself, curled and steady, to meet Finn’s gaze. “His name is Sulawan. Our tiny friend there is Beag. And I am sorry we had to grab you like that. It was the easiest way.”

“The easiest way?” exclaimed Finn. “You put me in the mouth of a sea creature.”

“A Leviathan, to be precise,” Sulawan the sort-of-Cyclops said.

“Which means that you, pal, got the luxury trip.”

“It didn’t smell like luxury,” said Finn.

“The rest of us had to rely on being flown here by Quetzalcóatl,” growled Sulawan. “They don’t like carrying me, and I sure as hell don’t like being carried.”

As if on cue, a shadow crossed the beach, a wing slicing through the cloud cover. Finn looked up and saw one of the Quetzalcóatls – a kind of enormous flying serpent that looked too broken to fly yet did so majestically. Some of them had led the resistance against Gantrua when Finn first came here, had controlled the Orthrus through some psychic trickery. But they had also been at war with serpents loyal to Gantrua. He had seen them fight in a great sky battle when rescuing his father from the Infested Side.

“Uncomfortable as it was, we are always in danger of attack in the skies so the Leviathan was about the best way to hide you and get you here to some sort of sanctuary. There is a lot we need to keep you safe from,” explained Hiss. “There is the danger of other Quetzalcóatls trying to grab you. And the Leviathan is big and tough enough to keep you hidden from some … other very dangerous threats.”

“Why?” asked Finn over the sound of the tide grinding on stone. “Gantrua is gone. I stopped him. Me and Emmie did.”

Sulawan took the rock from his mouth, worn almost to a stub. He decided there was a little more chewing in it. “Yeah, well, when you grabbed Gantrua you let loose something far worse.”

Cornelius whimpered, shook his heads; his ears whipped around.

Finn looked to Hiss. “I don’t understand. I thought with him gone, things would be better here.”

“They were,” said Hiss. “For a time.”

“But when you rip the head off a Hydra,” said Sulawan, “you shouldn’t be surprised when two more grow back.”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m new to this,” argued Finn. “I’ve stared down the throats of a Hydra.”

“It’s a metaphor, kid,” said Sulawan, amused by his spirit. “And you might want to turn down the attitude a little. My friend over there doesn’t react too well to attitude.”

The hidden Legend remained in the shadows of the rock, eyes yellow, silent. It bothered Finn, although he was distracted by Beag the Sprite at his leg, staring up, delight glued on to his face.

“So, why bring me here?” Finn asked.

“To answer a question,” Hiss said. “Is Gantrua still alive?”

Finn considered this. They’d gone to all this trouble, and that was the question?

“Yes,” he answered. “Sort of. He was desiccated.”

A shudder ran through everyone. Finn sensed it even from the Legend in the shadows. Even the sea seemed to smack at the broken ground extra loudly.

“Where is he kept, kid?” asked Sulawan.

“In my house, I suppose. My old house. An assistant called Lucien took it from us.”

“So if you had to, you could get Gantrua back?” asked Hiss. Cornelius moaned a touch, shook the muscles beneath his sleek but weathered coat.

Finn was stunned by the idea of returning the Fomorian, had to replay the sentence in his head to make sure he’d heard it correctly. Once again a shadow passed overhead, darkness crossing Finn’s face and jolting him back into reality.

“Who would want to bring Gantrua back?” he asked.

No one answered.

“ You want to bring Gantrua back?”

“Not really, kid,” said Sulawan, stubby rock crunching between his chipped teeth.

“But we have no choice,” said Hiss. “When he left this world, he left us a gift in case he ended up trapped in the Promised World. A sort of … insurance policy. To wreak devastation in the Infested Side.”

“What did he leave?” Finn asked.

A Quetzalcóatl swung from the clouds, circled and shot out across the sea. They followed its path.

“It looks like we will be able to show you,” said Hiss.

With a whine, Cornelius stood and followed a narrow curve around the edge of the mountain, with Hiss swinging gently behind. Sulawan pushed up behind Finn, glaring at him with his one eye to encourage him to follow. Beag was scampering across too. Finn couldn’t quite see where the other, silent Legend had got to.

He almost tripped on the broken tools that scattered the entire beach.

“This island was once rich with crystals, and the mines were here for many years,” said Hiss sadly. “So many spent their lives here and gave their lives here. They hacked and hammered at this island in search of opportunities to open a way to the Promised World. Piece by piece, strike by strike, over so many years, so many lives, until most of the island itself was lost beneath the ocean.”

Finn walked carefully after the Orthrus. A new serpent appeared above them, where the mountain met cloud, and dived straight towards a point about one hundred metres out to sea. Finn could see that out there the ocean was bubbling, foaming.

“Out there in the depths are many bones, long covered over by the encroaching water,” continued Hiss. “But it turns out that Gantrua found a way to rouse the dead, wherever they lie in this world.”