Chapter 8: The Walls Breathe

Chunks of ivory brick rained down as the nautilus-shaped tree forced its way through the ceiling to stand its full height. With a deafening crunch, just as many ashy branches clacked onto the tiles as bricks.

I shrank beneath the electrified tree, but my eyes shone once I remembered how my blade had severed the swarm’s threads of light with a single flick. Charging with my rapier held overhead, I drove my weapon into the surge of roots that had entwined the marble egg.

Ashy bark crumbled to the floor to reveal a network of woven fibers pockmarked with holes that looked as though a swarm of locusts had burrowed inside.

I clamped a hand over my nose and mouth when the stench of mold and fungus streamed from the gash in the tree. However, once the violet sparks that ran through them seeped into the floor, I jumped over the spot on tiptoes and scratched my chin while pacing around where the marble egg dangled from its fibers. “Shoddy engineering. How is this puny thing supposed to get fed enough electricity to move mountains, among other feats, with a dinky current like this?” I tapped the tip of my rapier against the fibers while shaking my head at the sparks that faded before coming close to the marble egg. "You see this with radios all the time. If the wiring gets worn from all that electricity, you can forget about staying up till midnight listening to your favorite antique program. But don't you fret!” I called out to whatever birdman was wailing from behind. “The solution couldn't be simpler. Everyone knows nothing conducts electricity better than metal.” I clutched my rapier’s hilt close to my heart. "Sorry, my dear, but this is for research."

I reached back to jab my rapier into one of the knots of crackling roots, leave the makeshift lightning rod beside the egg, and simultaneously sprint away to allow it to work its magic in peace, but I froze. "Not that I couldn’t handle the timing for such a feat, but this… magic hasn’t behaved properly from the start.” I grinned at how the horned birdman had hidden its threads of light at the very sight of my blade only to frown in confusion. Is violet electricity so batty, it defies basic physics? Why doesn't it understand that metal is supposed to conduct rather than sever it? “Oh, but just because this electricity is a tad pink shouldn't make a difference, right?” I gasped as the roots began to constrict around me to solidify the rotting trunk.

Sparks sprang from the tree before bouncing off my rapier.

I was pleased that the unexpected shock didn't course up my arm, but I flung my rapier to the ground when the sparks arched toward my face. My sword clanged onto the tiles where it became wreathed in electricity.

I didn't run more than three feet before the tiles rolled underfoot like waves surging down the hallway. I was about to employ my fancy footwork from all those years of fencing to catch myself when something smacked into my chest. Hitting the rocking floor, I found the salmon shark in my hands. I searched for the culprit only to gasp and scramble backward from Ludger.

The creature stood an inch from me: staring deep into my eyes. It patted my arm, pushed the salmon shark harder against my chest, and held up a claw. Before I could demand to know what the big idea was, Ludger faced the tree.

I winced, but rather than hearing the crackle of hundreds of volts searing Ludger’s tiny body, the lightning bolts the tree released while shoving against the ivory ceiling ricocheted off the creature’s metallic feathers: leaving scorched streaks in its robe.

Even as I scampered behind Ludger, the lightning bolts rebounded from the creature in all directions. I screamed and curled myself into a ball to crouch behind the salmon shark. As I pressed myself flush against the cold tiles and hugged my knees to my chest before the bolts that arced over my barrier could touch me, I reached for my empty scabbard. There must be something I can do. If I wait, I'm dead. No, I'd also be without proof.

Sparks crawled over the frozen flesh, and a substance like silk catching the form of wind flowed within the decapitated salmon shark head.

I sprang away from the salmon shark when the jagged features of its frozen flesh became silky and writhed against me.

The edges of this shroud unraveled into threads that were... “snatched.” I couldn't say what had caught the threads because I was too busy rubbing my eyes and pinching myself to check that I hadn’t passed out. Assuring myself that I hadn't lost my mind, I laughed over the idea of trembling at the thought of floor tiles until I dared to peek into the cracks. Whatever lay down there was busy pulling the threads of light until the shroud vanished.

My heart stopped when I couldn’t see any sign of the salmon shark, but once I turned my wide eyes from the electricity that arced overhead, I spotted the decapitated head’s faint outline against the ivory tiles it now blended in with.

You are reading story The Paradox Palace at novel35.com

Any pigment had been drained along with the threads.

Before I could reach to touch it with my non-dominant hand which I reserved for such purposes, I pulled back when the edges wavered.

Bone and frozen flesh melted into an amorphous blob that solidified into a rounded “stone.” Merging with the ivory, it sat snugly above the tiles. Fangs sat embedded in its side like parts of an unearthed fossil, and bleached eyeballs stared at the ceiling.

What is this witchcraft? I continued to gape at what had once been a salmon shark even as the crackling hallway quieted. Of course, levitation and portals are inevitable evolutions of electrical engineering for those gifted with the understanding of theoretical science, but since when could electricity account for... whatever the hell this is?

Sparks became absorbed into the brickwork as the roots that conducted them sank into the walls. Rather than tearing their way through, the roots submerged as if through water and became whole with the hallway that had trapped them.

Ludger stood tall against the waves of electricity that coursed over it, poised its beak down the hallway, and whistled a concerto that sent hundreds of threads flying toward the marble egg. Coiling the egg until it became cocooned in threads of light, the tree burned white.

As smoothly as a blooming rose, the floor, walls, and ceiling curled outward and stretched toward the invisible horizon. Realistically, this architectural “organism” would be limited by the amount of ivory from which it could “grow,” but my brain already felt like bursting with everything I’d witnessed within the past few hours. I released the breath I had been holding for who knows how long and let my aching muscles relax. For a minute, couldn’t I just admire this dream I’ve had since I was a University student? I’ve finally found it. A palace of living stone: ‘with a breath of mist that fills its halls while towering midst clouds from which none may fall.

Even with all my attention snared by the palace, my heart panged as I remembered when I had shared that rhyme with the Headmistress. “Whoever came up with that rhyme is a blithering idiot.” I smiled as I clutched the pocket’s surface to feel the crinkle of parchment beneath. I had buried the record since the day I had been stripped from my University uniform and wrestled into these layers of weathered leather countless other deckhands had worn before me. I had not dared to peek at the document since, but it always helped me stave off the day I would one day wake up in a cold sweat forgetting the Headmistress’s booming voice. “And who heard of rhyming mist with midst? They are practically the same word. Even if it is nonsense, you could have at least tried." Since I discovered that the only subject of worth was no better than a fairytale, the palace had plagued my every waking thought, but now… how could the Headmistress call this a burden? This living palace would no longer have to be stuck in my head. Here it stands: as real as I had always known it to be. The moment the Headmistress sees this, she’ll be begging me to return home just to hear my rhyme.

The horned birdman uttered a guttural hum.

Sparking circuits snaked from distant points in the hallway. They unraveled the horned birdman and Ludger’s overlapping portals before departing with the electricity that had brought the palace to life. Staircases that spiraled skyward slid back into featureless walls. A towering archway that led to walls of bulging “hornet nests” encrusted with chiseled leaves filled over with solid brick.

I shielded my eyes against the sweltering heat as the cluster of sparks streaked past us before halting at the seahorse arch.

This point where the running sparks accumulated burned white.

My eyes watered, but I swore the light began to push outward against the bricks until the cracks surrounding the burning hole became fissures. I stumbled atop the quaking tiles despite standing dozens of yards away. With a crack that reverberated inside my chest, the wall exploded. I coughed and waved away the clouds of powder that billowed from the cracked ivory. I craned my neck to gaze at the nautilus-shaped tree. At least half of its branches lay shattered around its roots, but it had torn through the ceiling of what was once again a square, six-foot hallway with its remaining limbs. The marble egg snapped from the lone fiber that held it and struck the tiles. But my gaze returned to Ludger once I realized they hadn’t moved.

Everyone stared at the tiny birdman who stood stock still before the nautilus-shaped tree. Its beak remained pointed at the hallway it had brought to life. Threads of light hung limply from its rigid features and stretched toward the marble egg they looped around. The marble egg scraped across the tiles as Ludger twitched and the hundreds of threads forced their way back through its eyes.

You can find story with these keywords: The Paradox Palace, Read The Paradox Palace, The Paradox Palace novel, The Paradox Palace book, The Paradox Palace story, The Paradox Palace full, The Paradox Palace Latest Chapter