by Aaron Oster
The other Morgan grinned, then raised his hands in a you-caught-me gesture.
Katherine lunged in then, her burning steel staff racing through the air, on a collision course with his head. Morgan dodged to the side, then felt pain wrack his body as a glowing pink blade pierced through his side. He brought his elbow down to try and knock Gwendolyn out of the sky, but his blow was halted as she threw her hand up, catching his elbow.
Before he could do anything else, Sarah struck, her scythe blade slamming into the crook of his shoulder and sending pain lancing through him. It was horrific, worse than any pain he’d ever felt before. Yet when Katherine’s burning staff slammed into his back, tearing through his stomach once more, the pain redoubled.
By now, Morgan had little strength remaining. The world was fading fast, and his grip on reality was slipping. Even his options to call on the Beats King were gone temporarily, as he’d used his Soulstream recently. All he could do was just hang there, his hands dangling at his sides as he used what little strength he had left to keep ahold of his spear.
His counterpart floated over, a mocking grin plastered on his face as he summoned a black spear and thrust it through his chest, right above where Sarah’s red scythe blade protruded.
“It looks like this is the end of the road for you,” the other Morgan said, pushing the spear deeper. “Got any last words?”
Morgan’s eyes flicked down. He could barely make anything out now, but he could see the shapes of his friends all standing below. He could feel the gathering power as they all built up attacks to try and strike back at the gods. So, he did the only thing he could, a last resort in a desperate bid to at least save their lives, even if his own would be lost.
With all of the gods attached to him, Morgan used his Hypersonic Flight, blasting them half a mile to the east before his strength gave out, and he sagged.
The others were temporarily stunned, and Morgan tightened his grip on the spear. Then, in a single thrust, he brought the weapon up, piercing through his counterpart’s chest and giving him a savage grin.
“If I’m going down, you’re coming with me.”
All of the gods tore their weapons from him at once, the other Morgan staggering back through the air as the spear slid from his chest, leaving a bloody hole in its place.
The other Morgan gasped, staring down at the injury, even as Morgan fell from the sky, his grip on the spear slipping along with his grip on the world.
“Kill him!” one of them screamed.
Morgan fell, staring up at the sky as a massive sphere of multicolored energy gathered above. He couldn’t block. He couldn’t dodge. In fact, he could barely breathe. Instead, he just watched as the sphere grew brighter and brighter in his field of vision, growing ever larger, even as he fell.
He’d managed to get them far enough away to give his friends a chance and could only hope that they’d do the smart thing and run, instead of trying to do something stupid, like avenge him.
His back hit the ground, and his vision flashed black, then the sphere descended, impacting with more force than he’d believed possible. The mountain began to disintegrate around him, and Morgan could feel his body going along with it.
The last thought he had was for Sarah, whose soul was still trapped within the spear clutched tightly in his hands.
10
Grace watched in horror as the four blades were ripped from Morgan’s body. Even from where she was standing, she could see it all happening as though in slow motion. Never before had she seen him injured this badly, not even when he’d faced the Pinnacle King, Pentagon.
She could feel the others trying to aim their attacks at the figures in the distance, but she already knew that they wouldn’t work. Even Lumia, who was now in her full-sized form, with dark fire burning between her jaws, couldn’t get to him in time.
The moment seemed to drag on forever, where Morgan just hung in the air, blood streaming from multiple wounds that were too horrific for anyone to survive. Then, the enormous multicolored sphere engulfed his body, and along with it, the entire mountainside.
Grace heard a piercing scream and felt something wet on her cheeks. It was only once the light faded, leaving a crater some half a mile wide, that she realized the pained, animalistic shriek had come from her. The earth was completely scorched, the ground glowing as a massive chunk of the landscape just vanished. Worst of all, though, was the complete lack of anything.
She could feel nothing from the direction of the blast, and although she felt her heart breaking into a million pieces, she already knew the truth. Morgan was gone, and he wasn’t coming back.
One of the figures floating in the air sagged, the others quickly converging on them. For an insane moment, Grace thought of hurling herself from the mountaintop. Maybe she could use the power of her sound to keep herself airborne, and with her most powerful skill, destroy the ones who’d stolen Morgan from her.
But before she could do anything, all of the figures vanished, leaving only the barren crater in their wake.
She continued staring out at the crater, tears streaming down her face. She was in shock, that much she knew, but she couldn’t bring herself to move or look away. At least, she couldn’t until someone else intervened.
“We need to get away from here, right now,” Elyssa said, grabbing her attention.
Grace finally turned, peeling her gaze away from the horrific scene of Morgan’s demise to see that things on the ground weren’t much better.
Katherine had collapsed to her hands and knees and was staring out at the crater as though she had just died along with Morgan. Lumia was staring as well, her nostrils flaring over and over as she tried to get even a hint of his scent.
Hilda was in shock, and so was Elyssa, but seeing as neither of them had been as close, they were far better off. Beatrice, the Queen of the South, was the only one who wasn’t in complete shock, though she was looking down the mountain with a grim expression.
Turning her gaze downward, Grace could see why.
Dozens of figures were appearing over the ridge, moving up to attack. Up here, they were pretty much trapped, and if they didn’t get moving, their only escape route would be blocked. Lumia also wasn’t strong enough to fly them all out of here, which meant that if they wanted to be safe, their only option was Katherine, but the woman was completely unresponsive, staring off into space with tears flowing down her face.
“We need to get moving. What do we do?” Elyssa asked, turning to Hilda and Beatrice.
“The cottage,” Beatrice said quickly. “It was built to survive the attacks of a Pinnacle King, so right now, it’s our only hope. I’ll grab Katherine, you grab Grace, and someone needs to get that drake to shrink because we can’t carry her like that.”
Grace wanted to fall apart, to collapse and scream in anger and sorrow, but she knew that right now, she needed to make sure that Morgan’s sacrifice had not been in vain. She knew what it had to have cost him to drag all of those people away, and she knew why he’d done it. That blast had torn a mountain apart, and had they been caught in that, they would all be dead right now.
Deep down, she still refused to accept he was gone, despite the fact that it was staring her right in the face.
“Lumia, I need you to shrink for me,” she said, surprised that her voice sounded so steady.
She was sure it had something to do with the fact that she had something else to concentrate on right now, other than the death of one of the most important people in her life.
The drake still seemed out of it but did as she was asked, her body shrinking down to the size of a cat and allowing Grace to scoop her up. As hard as it was for her, it had to be harder still for both Lumia and Katherine, who’d known him for far longer.
Lumia had spent an entire two years with him, and Katherine had known him for more than four. By contrast, she’d only known him a few months, but after all they’d been through, Grace felt as though it had been a lot longer.
“Can you run?�
� Beatrice asked, already moving to grab Katherine.
Grace gave a curt nod but didn’t say anything else.
“No! No, you can’t just take me from him!”
Grace jumped as Katherine screamed, struggling against Beatrice as she tried to pull her away from the side of the cliff.
“I’m gonna need some help!” Beatrice said as she tried to hold the thrashing woman in place.
Hilda moved quickly, grabbing Katherine’s other arm, and together, the two of them dragged the struggling and screaming woman off her feet. She continued to kick and thrash, and had she been in control, she likely could have escaped. As it was, she was too hysterical to do much of anything, and though she struggled and kicked, they managed to get moving.
Grace ran alongside them, moving diagonally across the peak to try and get down as their enemies moved to flank them and cut off their escape. Lumia clung to her shoulder, her small body quivering.
Grace wasn’t sure if the drake could cry, but the feelings of sorrow and anger radiating from her were more than enough of an indication of how she felt.
“He can’t be dead,” Grace muttered, even though it cost her precious air. “He can’t be.”
Lumia didn’t say a thing, only curling into a tighter ball and burying her face into her side.
“We need to move faster!” Elyssa yelled, waving her hand and dragging up a huge section of the ground to try and slow their pursuers.
“We can’t!” Hilda yelled back. “It’s all we can do to keep holding her!”
“She needs to open a portal then!” Grace found herself yelling. “It’s the only way we’re all going to get away!”
She was leading the group right now, despite her lower rank. She was the only one who was unencumbered or uninjured.
Beatrice and Hilda were holding Katherine up, and Elyssa had been hurt during her fight. Lumia might have been able to buy them some time, but she was too out of it, just like the Queen of the North.
“We’ve been trying!” Beatrice snapped. “She’s not listening!”
A flaming stone slammed into the ground just a few feet to her left, and Grace let out a squeak, jumping in surprise.
“Katherine, open a portal!” Grace yelled, half-turning to yell at the woman.
At the sound of her voice, Katherine – surprisingly – looked up. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and her cheeks were stained with tears. She looked as though someone had physically torn her heart out, and the pain on her face only made Grace want to break down once again.
She remembered what he did in his last moments.
No, he’s still alive! Grace internally yelled at herself.
Morgan wasn’t so weak that he could be killed by something as inconsequential as that sphere of destruction or being stabbed through the chest multiple times. He would recover. He was stronger than that!
Another flaming rock slammed into the ground next to them, and Grace yelled at Katherine again.
“Open a portal! Morgan wouldn’t want us to die!”
This got Katherine’s attention. Her eyes blazed with suppressed rage, but a half-second later, Grace found herself running through a portal, appearing near the bottom of the mountain and behind enemy lines. However, the portal fizzled out a half-second later, leaving Grace to wonder what happened.
She waited, staring at the place where the portal had been, but when it didn’t open again, she whirled to run back up the mountain.
“Don’t,” Lumia said, breaking her silence for the first time. “Something has gone wrong, but they’re still alive. Stay where you are, unless you would like to join…” Lumia trailed off, her voice sounding choked with grief.
“What do we do?” Grace asked, staring up the mountain and feeling hopelessness threatening to overtake her.
Lumia jumped from Grace’s shoulder, her body expanding into her hybrid form.
“We take to the sky and watch. If we can help, we will.”
Grace nodded grimly as Lumia scooped her up, then spread her wings wide and shot into the air. Fear, panic, and sorrow all warred within her, but when they flew higher and she saw the true scope of the forces arrayed against them, it was forced to the back of her mind.
The entire mountainside swarmed with figures, all converging on a single point about halfway up the mountain. There were far more attackers than she’d first realized, way more than should have been able to sneak into the Five Kingdoms. There was no way for them to fight, even with Lumia’s strength. All of the attackers below were at least at rank 50, some even reaching as high as the low 60’s.
There was no way of knowing how so many powerful fighters had converged in this area, but one thing was for sure — her friends only had two options of survival. The first had been Katherine’s portals, which had not reopened. The second was the cottage, which was sitting several hundred yards from the current position, although that would only be a temporary measure.
Either way, Grace needed to find some way of helping because right now, she was all they had.
11
“What the hell happened to the portal?” Hilda exclaimed as it suddenly fizzled out.
“Someone’s blocking me again,” Katherine growled, yanking her arms from around their shoulders and standing on her own two feet.
Both Hilda and Beatrice grabbed her as she turned to begin marching back up the mountain.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Katherine demanded, trying to break free.
“Stopping you from getting yourself killed!” Beatrice yelled. “We still have an opening to the cottage, but we won’t if we stick around for even another second!”
“I won’t just leave Morgan lying there when he needs my help!” Katherine yelled, her voice shrill. “None of you might care, but I do!”
“Morgan wouldn’t want you to die,” Elyssa said, her voice oddly calm.
“Shut up! Don’t say his name, you bitch!” Katherine screamed, whirling on the elf woman. “What do you even know about him, huh? You only wanted to use him for your personal gain!”
“I understand how you feel, but —” Elyssa was cut off.
“Understand?! How could you possibly understand? I loved him more than anything! More than my own life! I…I…!”
Katherine faltered, breaking down again, her entire body wracked with great sobs.
Elyssa didn’t answer, her lips drawing to a hard line. She could sense how close they were to being cut off, and when another flaming stone came streaking through the air, she was forced to deflect it. Whoever was throwing those was growing more accurate, meaning their enemies knew where they were. They needed to get moving. Otherwise, they would all be killed, and then the last chance for peace between their kingdoms would be shattered.
“If you don’t get moving, you’re going to die, and then what will Morgan think?” Beatrice snapped.
Elyssa felt a moment of shock as the Queen of the South spoke up, and she wondered why the woman would be so cruel as to give her that sort of hope. All of them had seen him go down, and no matter how tough Morgan had been, no one could have survived that attack. She doubted even a god could have escaped it, so what chance would a mortal like Morgan have had?
But when Katherine looked up, the ember of hope burning in her eyes, Elyssa understood. This was a dirty, underhanded, and cruel tactic, but it was one that was effective.
“That’s right,” she said, hating herself for every word. “If you’re gone, how do you think he’ll feel? He’s already lost Sarah. What will he do without you?”
Truthfully, Elyssa didn’t know much about either of their relationships, and all she knew about Sarah was that Morgan had loved her. However, she knew that Katherine had to have strong feelings for him as well, judging by the way the human woman had been acting toward her. Her admission to loving him pretty much confirmed her suspicions, and now, they were preying on this poor woman’s feelings to get her to move.
Katherine struggled back to her feet, although she didn’t move
to wipe away the tears.
“Do you really think…Do you think we can help?” she asked.
“Yes!” Beatrice snapped. “But we can’t do any of that if we’re dead, so come on!”
Katherine nodded slowly and finally began moving, her slow jog turning into a full sprint as they continued to encourage her.
Their time spent convincing her had cost them, and Elyssa could now see their attackers, pouring over the sides of the mountain and closing in on their escape route. She reached with her power, pulling the ground away around them and trying to bog them down. She was only partially successful, as some simply leaped over it, while others plowed straight through.
Her injuries were preventing her from using any of the larger attacks and she realized that they must have been more severe than she’d initially thought.
You’ll have time to worry about that later, she told herself, focusing on raising walls between them and their enemies.
Their race down the mountain was going to be a close one, and despite Katherine trying to open portals a half dozen times, all she’d managed was a small, fizzling spark before it died. It would take several powerful spatial manipulators to lock someone like her in place, and judging by the gathered forces' overall power, Elyssa could understand how.
What she didn’t understand was how the Cult of Strangler had managed to gather this many powerful fighters without any of them realizing. She needed to sit down and think, to brainstorm and try to connect the dots. There had to be a common denominator here, but if she hoped to find it, they would need to make it to shelter first.
They finally reached the base of the mountain with enemies breathing down their necks on all sides. The entrance to the cottage was only fifty yards away, but they were surrounded now, the forces of Strangler blocking off any chance at escape.
She whirled, throwing up another wall of Liquid Stone, only to have it shatter a handful of seconds later. There had to be over a thousand elves, dwarves, beastmen, gnomes, and trolls. There were forces from all five races of Faeland, all united under one cause and all trying to end her life.