Alchamerica

Many of us grew up hearing stories of faerie lore; fantastic worlds of dark and light magic, creatures that ignite the imagination, dark warlocks and light witches, faeries and Elves, beings of pure good and great evil. In my family those stories were more like a genealogy lesson.

My grandma was particularly attached to these stories as she came to America from Ireland as a young girl. She would tell me, on her emerald native land faery folk weren’t just stories. “You can still feel their energies on the wind. Don’t forget Mora,” she would say, “You are a child of faery, your gifts come with responsibility.” I miss her greatly, but I’m glad she never got to see our family’s destiny manifest.

In the year 1026, the great wizard Arkanymatus separated the two worlds of faery and man. The war between the Light elves and dark elves threatened to end reality as we know it and so the mighty wizard put us all on universal time out. My ancestor Eperion King of the light elves was tasked with protecting the key to the gate of Donegal in Ireland. Stripped of his immortality, this responsibility would be passed down through his blood line. A heart shaped locket made of some sort of crystal surrounded by a golden setting, the stone seemed to glow in the moonlight. I was told it was the key to the gates that separated the worlds or man and faery. He decreed that for one thousand years the two worlds would remain apart, hoping that in that time they could learn balance amongst themselves and that would translate to balance between each other. He was wrong.

Most people don't realize how many pyramids are actually on Earth. Later we would realize the opening sites were all located in the sky above them. The Pyramid of the Sun – Teotihuacan, Mexico, Prang Temple – Koh Ker, Cambodia, Tomb of the General – Ji’an, China, Ziggurat of Ur – Iraq, Tomb of Kashta – Meroe, Sudan, the Bermuda Triangle and of course the Donegal gate. When my grandma was still a young girl my great grandfather moved the family and the locket away from Ireland and the gate, anticipating that when the time came for the gates to open we may want some distance between the locket and whatever came out. His paranoia was rewarded.

Christmas Eve 2026 – time and space ripped open at different places around the globe. Hundreds of gateways tore open the sky, seemingly endless armies of creatures that mankind had previously thought folklore and faery tale poured through, all corrupted and bent to the will of their master, the Dark Elve king Dormirus. I’d heard stories of him my whole life. The brutality of his armies that fought against my ancestor King Eperion. The stories did not do him justice.

It took three days for Dormirus’ army to decimate the world's militaries. After all, what Air Force had been trained to battle dragons? Whose navy would ever imagine they would face a fleet of kraken? Even the bravest soldier’s mind broke at the site of an army of orc and ware beast. The Leader of the world gathered to arrange their surrender. Dormirus had his men run them all through with pikes and place them on display in front of the United Nations headquarters. A forest of the slaughtered leaders of Earth stood as a message to all who still survived. There is no surrender, only complete annihilation.

It’s been 87 days since the initial strike. Humanity is holding on by a thread. Hunter seekers track and exterminate whatever people they can find. Dormirus has started using his magic to transform the larger cities around the world into palaces that better suit his liking. The locket gives me some power. Not nearly enough to take on Dormirus but enough to be a pain in his ass. We raid small supply depots for food, weapons and provisions. Our main focus has been finding survivors and getting them to safety. There’s not many safe places left but we managed to find a sanctuary deep in the Appalachian mountains. We call it Valvanire after the ancient light elf capital city. Tonight there is conflict in the halls of Valvanire.

The little hope that’s left is fading quickly. We are as effective as roaches scurrying for scraps. Eventually the exterminator will win if we can’t find a way to end this war. We need a weapon, a powerful one or all is lost. We know Dormirus is the source of power for his forces but even feeding a portion of his strength to his horde he is still miles out of our league, my league, as I am the only one gifted with faery magic.

The great hall echoes with differing opinions. “It’s madness to sit around waiting in these mountains to be found and slaughtered like rats,” bellows Terrance Williams, former special forces when that was a thing, “If we must die then let’s die fighting!”

“But what of the survivors?” asked Mike Franklin. He was a car salesman before the world died; he jokes that it’s a good thing he got into CrossFit just before hell arrived. “We’re their only chance for rescue.”

Janice,Terrences’s wife, stands up. “Rescue? For how long, realistically how long can we hide. They’ll never expect an attack, maybe we'll get a lucky shot!”

“Lucky shot!” Mike looks to be at his wits end. I think it’s time for a recess.

“People, people. Clearly we won’t settle this tonight so while we’re still safe let’s get some rest.” As if rest is a thing anymore...

I don’t go back to my quarters, shit I can’t remember the last time I slept in there. I go to our makeshift library. It’s kinda weird the amount of magic books these guys always have on them. Every raid there’s a bunch of them. They carry them like bibles or something.

“Hey, thought I’d find you here.” It was Mike, I knew the salesman in him wouldn’t let this die. “You here to pitch me again?” He knows I’m only half joking.

“No not this time Mora…” he actually looks worried. “I don’t agree with some crazy suicide mission, but Terrence is right. Unless you see something in those books you haven’t seen the last thousand times you looked in them, there’s nothing on earth powerful enough to end this.” Oh my god, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before.

”Nothing powerful enough on earth! Call everyone to the hall. Holy shit.”

“Mora, what the hell, wasn’t ‘rest’ your idea?” Terrence and Janice stumble in, half asleep. “Yes I know but I think I know where we can find a weapon. You said it Mike, nothing on Earth powerful enough. What if there’s something on the other side of the gates?”

I’ve experienced a lot of different things in the last few months, but this level of silence is new. I can’t read Terrence right now, I look at Janice for a clue. Of course Mike speaks first. “I take no responsibility for this.”

Terrence goes into soldier mode. “How?”

“Uh okay well the locket can open the gates, my grandma told me the Esperion asked for the help of the wizard Arkanymatus, he’s the one that had the power to separate the worlds of man and faery. A guy that strong must still be alive or like, have a magic staff or something.” “Which gate? How do we get there?” As soon as Mike asked I knew he was in.

So I did what he would do, hard pitch. “Well if Arkanymatus originally brought Eperion through the Donegal gate in Ireland, maybe on the other side, you know he’s close by there?”

Again the silence. This time Janice breaks the silence. “Just for the hell of it how would we get there?”

“Umm I found a teleportation spell in one of the books we confiscated?”

Mike, slaps his head “God damn it.” He takes a deep breath. “Well, regulators… mount up.”

I read the spell. We were not prepared for this kind of travel. It feels like every atom in your body is turned sideways and inside out then reconstructed. Guess we better just hope everything gets put back in the right place.

Fortunately everything remained intact, but it was rough, really rough. After the puking stopped, the task became to find the door to the inter dimensional portal at Donegal. Remembering the last time the gates opened was in the sky, our best bet was at the top of the pyramid. After your first time teleporting, climbing a couple hundred feet can be serious cardio. Terrence makes it up first, straddling the top he reaches down to help Janice. Losing his balance he falls backward, but instead of tumbling down the other side he’s stopped by an invisible barrier. “Found it,” he states with a self satisfied giggle. Eventually, we all make it to the top standing on the edge of dimensions; possibly the first humans to go, wherever we’re going. “Now or never people.” Damn I could have done better than that. Whatever. I power up the locket and we cross over.

Now we find ourselves standing on the side of a vast mountain range. The whole dimension seemed to be like an old pair of underwear coming apart at the seams. Gravity was losing its hold. This must be what walking on the moon is like. The magic that held this world together is expiring. The only thing that seemed to be unaffected was a small castle not too far in the distance on one of the peaks. I state the obvious, “Looks like that’s our place.”

It seems like we’re there as soon as we take the first step. I’m not the only one that noticed. Terrence unusually rattled, “What the hell was that.”

“Guess we’re expected,” I say, trying hard to sound cool and calm. The doors open seemingly by themselves.

“Okay so what..?” Before I could finish my sentence we were standing in the throne room of the castle. There he was, surprisingly human, unassuming, just an old man in a chair. Then he spoke; “Oh Mora it’s good to see you. I can feel the energy of Eperion in you, it is your birthright.”

I don’t know what to say so I figure, get to the point, “We need your help, humanity is on the verge of extinction we need a weapon. Something that can defeat Dormirus.” Arkanymatus stood and pointed towards a room that we had not noticed was there before. It was illuminated but we couldn’t tell where from; an armory full to the brim with magical weapons. “Go to town, people,” I sighed. Finally hope