A tap on his arm made him focus on Kimberly who held out a sealed paper with a bloody fingerprint on it. “I was told to give this to you once we got to Aerth.”
Jeremy frowned, his brows coming together as he took the parchment. “Told? By whom?”
Kimberly gave him another of those strange looks. “By you.”
Still puzzled, Jeremy broke the tape holding the letter closed.
Hello brother,
If you are reading this, it means I succeeded. Succeeded not only in overcoming the compulsion you gave me to speak to no one else aside from you, but in saving your weak and worthless life one more time. Just once, I wanted to do something because I wanted to. To believe I was not wholly enslaved to your will. Your Other powers work based on desire. The stronger the desire, the stronger the power. This has been true of every ability we have ever encountered. Be it Atlantian or Phaser. And so, I assumed if my desire was strong enough I could rip control of the body away from you and use it as my own.
I was right. I could not control it for long, and it was easiest while you slept. But I was able to subdue your ego to the point you never knew I had taken over. My desire to live was strong, because it is your desire. So I spoke with EVE while you slept, and found a way for you to live once you cross the barrier into Aerth. It was not a hundred percent sure thing, but it was over ninety. To me, that was better than the thirty you had.
I have never done anything for another person before. That is not how you programmed me. The very thought of saving someone else’s life makes me want to vomit. But you are not just another person, as I said before, you are my family. So I leave you with this gift, your life in exchange for mine. I have dispersed my ego, all that which can be called the Ice Prince, into the very fabric of Aerth. I did this the moment you stepped through the rift, unknown to you or anyone else. You are now a part of this new world through me. As such, you have a right to exist and live here.
This new world you envision, you think someone like you does not belong in it. You are wrong. Someone like me does not belong to such a world. It is my personality that belongs to a world that has long ago died away, not yours. You make the future better. You have ideals that create. My hands can only destroy. It will be your hands, not mine that make it all happen. You are weak still, you will always be weak when compared to me. But you’ve grown strong. Strong enough that you don’t need me anymore. So as the first and only act of my own free will, I chose to save you, to save my family.
So I say again: hello, and goodbye my brother. May you find the future you seek, and may you seek the future you wish. And remember: Live hard, love hard, die hard.
Ice Prince
Jeremy felt tears on his cheeks, wiping them away quickly. When Kimberly opened her mouth to say something he cut her off. “It is just a farewell letter from a very old friend who has helped me out numerous times. You could say he was like my brother. Now, I have to live without him.”
That said, Jeremy folded the note carefully, sticking it deep into his pocket so it wouldn’t get lost. It was strange, he didn’t feel different. He thought he should at least feel like a part of himself had just been taken away forever. It still felt like Prince was there in the back of his mind like he always was. But now that he focused, it was a faded feeling, like he was sleeping.
The bushes rustled in front of them, Jeremy instantly had a gun in his left hand, aimed at the noise. A small flying fairy burst from the bushes and he fired without thinking. The fairy dodged out of the way, moving erratically, which made it difficult to get a lock on its position. The creature somehow maneuvered so Kimberly was between him and it.
“Stop! I’m not an enemy!”
“Nimli!”
Kimberly whirled at the voice behind her and Jeremy saw it was an Urma, not one of the Unnamed. He lowered his weapon, leaving his palm empty with but a thought. Kimberly had a wide grin on her face as the Urma settled on her shoulder.
“What are you doing here?”
“Looking for help protecting Yandor from among my forest friends. The magical creatures are going crazy you know, and the world is turning upside down. They keep attacking and wearing everybody down. We all knew you would be back eventually. Your branch is still on the Quester’s Tree. So everyone has been fighting as hard as they can to make sure there is a town still standing when you come back. Bree is sick with worry, and Jordon has been tying prayer notes to the wishing tree every day. But between you, me and that old Grand Wizard, they aren’t going to last too much longer without extra help. Yandor isn’t big and doesn’t have a lot of strong mages. Now that Maria has taken up the cloak of a Grand Wizard, at least they have two of them able to protect the place. Still, two Grand Wizards can only do so much.”
“Did you find any help then?”
A few. The gnomes agreed to help for some of my tears.”
“Your tears?”
“Yeah, Urma tears can polish gems and rocks to the brightest shine. It was a small price actually. Never could understand gnomes. I found three centaurs not consumed by madness willing to help, and a coven of Slyph. Though, since they are fairies of air, I expect they already forgot and are playing in the currents again. The ravens will help of course, they are guaranteed a feast of corpses, so they want to be there for first claim. But what are you doing here? Last we all knew you just disappeared when the Paradox Echo closed.”
“Long story, the short of it is I brought help. Sixty two mediators to be exact.”
“No mages?”
“No. None of these have ever been partnered before either.”
“How is that--” The Urma’s eyes went wide as she surveyed the army before her. “--Oh.”
The Urma named Nimli began to laugh. “You’re always full of surprises. Next thing, you are going to tell me you made it back to Earth too.”
“I did. I chose Aerth.”
Nimli shook her head, her birdlike musical trill echoing from the trees. “Of course you did. Why wouldn’t you manage such a thing?”
Kimberly grinned, but said nothing, letting the Urma work her mirth from her system. But Jeremy noticed the gleam in her eye that said she had thought of something. Once Nimli had pulled herself together, Kimberly spoke.
“Nimli, I have a question for you. Would your brother and sister Urma be willing to help protect Yandor as well?”
“I think they would if I asked them. But they are far away from here.”
“Perhaps not as far as you might think.”
She turned towards him then. “If we use the Controllers to pinpoint Nimli’s coven of Urma friends, do you think a Rift Generator could link with her like I did with you to go there? Then they could teleport all of them back here easily, since they will already know this place.”
“Easily. They might be a little off, just like I was, but certainly within a mile or so. They would only be stepping across the space of a single world, not passing from one world to another.”
Jeremy held up his hand, motioning at the army behind him with two fingers. “Steven’s!”
A grizzled veteran Jeremy had worked with for a long time and trusted, jogged forward to stand next to him. Jeremy quickly outlined the plan and introduced him to the Urma. The fairy looked skeptical, and not a little distrustful, but Kimberly supported his words and got the little woman to agree. She sat in his palm and imagined her coven as she was instructed. Steven’s sliced open reality and stepped through, the rift closing instantly.
“You sure they will be of much use?”
“Someone once told me that if a fairy gets angry, not to argue with them. I thought he was joking, but now, I think he was serious. Besides, if we have a swarm of killer mutated flying fairy creatures on their way, who better to help fight their speed then another fairy?”
“Good point.”
His earpiece suddenly came to life. By the way Kimberly cocked her head to the side, Jeremy knew she too heard the voice of the female Controller. “Sir, we got a deviation. A si
ngle Unnamed has broken away from the lead group. Estimated time of arrival at the target destination is thirty minutes.”
“How long before we get there?”
“About an hour at your current pace.”
Kimberly bit her lip, her eyes closed, and wings sprouted from her back. As she prepared to jump into the air, Jeremy held her back.
“Wait. Only fools rush in with no plan. And it is the fools who are always the first to die. Don’t let your emotions override your common sense. I am sure you know rushing off like that will accomplish nothing.”
He looked around at the group, his mind already evaluating their skills. Evaluating how to achieve his goals with the minimum amount of effort.
“What information can you give me on this deviation?”
Marrion’s voice cut in then and he imagined her holding her temple with three fingers as she processed all the information being fed to her. “It is called a Gorgrunge I think. Giant family, four arms, armor plated skin, resonance crystals imbedded in the skin to absorb water element which it then uses. Higher than average tolerance to fire. No real weaknesses that we have yet found. Skin resists blunt strikes but sharp edges will cut it. That’s about all we got.”
“That is more than enough, love.”
He turned to the soldiers waiting his orders. “Dera!”
A young woman not long out of her peacekeeper training stepped forward. “Sir!”
“Use your shape shift ability to transform into the fastest bird you can manage. You will carry Kimberly to the destination ahead of the rest of us. Assist her if you need to, but stay back and be prepared to pull her out of danger if you have to. The rest of us will double time it the rest of the way.
His eyes turned to Valerie who looked impressed by his handling of the situation. “Valerie, time to give you a crash course and test out your Aura ability. Imagine a circle of color spreading out from your feet. Whatever color you want. Desire imbuing everyone with stamina and speed. Use pictures if you have to. If it helps to put everyone in a car or something, then do so. You will feel a tingling sensation building in your chest. Your muscles will tighten up in response. Hold it for as long as you can and then let it all go. The longer you hold it, the more potent it will become.”
“O-okay. I- I think I can do that.”
The group gathered around Valerie as Dera changed into a giant raven. The woman’s eyes closed and her shoulders bunched as she made fists. A soothing green light cocooned her body, dim at first but slowly growing brighter and brighter. With a gasp her shoulders dropped and the green light sloughed off. Flowing from the top of her head down to her feet. As it fell, it spread in a perfect circle around her. Jeremy could feel the new power surge through him. A sense of being well rested, a full stomach, and a barely contained desire to move. Without waiting for his signal, Dera and her passenger took flight, heading on an arrow course for Yandor. Jeremy raised his hand once more.
“We run!”
He was off like a bolt of lightning before his hand finished falling. With shouts of glee the rest followed like a pack of animals. Valerie tried to keep up, but she was the focal point of the power. She gave others the ability to surpass their limits, but she didn’t receive the benefit herself. Taking two bounding steps to the side, he scooped her up in his arms easily and kept moving. Nothing could tire him out. Nothing could slow him down. He was invincible. He was free.
And he was alone.
Chapter 41: Multiple Personality Disorder
“So that’s the short of things. The next wave of these Unnamed will be here in about twenty more minutes. Any able bodied mages should form a temporary contract with one of these mediators to increase your power. There will be more forces coming soon as well, as soon as Nimli makes it here. I’m told if we can hold out for three hours, the Controllers can pull most if not all of these creatures back into containment.”
“That’s a tall order Kimi. You do realize we have been fighting nonstop for a long while now right? We are all tired. It is all we can do to hold off the regular monsters, and you want us to pit ourselves against creatures unimaginably stronger?”
Kimi gave her grandfather a nod, taking his words to heart. Maria could see Kimi had changed yet again since she had last seen her. As if she had taken another step ahead of her somehow. Become stronger. No, stronger wasn’t the right word. More emotionally stable. It was strange, Maria could see it all so clearly now. Could sense the state of other peoples emotions. It was one of the magical abilities of the Holy element. Maria knew now why she had been unable to unlock and use her magic. The answer was so simple looking back at it.
Holy, unlike the four main branches of earth, wind, fire, and water, was about other people. Normal elemental magic was about knowing yourself and your capabilities. Holy was similar to a support type magic in it was used to know others. It had massive destructive capabilities, but also strong defensive ones as well. Kimi and Nimli had been right when they had said she was always thinking about herself and how she could benefit from other people. Her inability to let go of grudges had made her subconsciously block her own magical pathways.
But having gone on Quest and having fought beside so many different people. Having shared their pain and made friends with those she had hated, had finally released those bonds. Wearing the persona of the Ageless Sorceress had helped her see things in a different light. See people in a different light. But at that single moment when her desire to protect Jasmine and Isabelle from the imperial soldiers, even when she had no more of Kimi’s magic to call upon, had become so great; her magic had burst free of the weakened chains she had shackled them with. Now, she felt it like a fountain inside of her. Growing greater with every new friendship she made, every new grudge she cast aside. It wasn’t limitless, no magic was limitless, still it was enough to have people recognize her as a Grand Wizard. That was all she had ever wanted.
“How about this, Since there are sixty men and women fully rested and ready to go, we will go out first. The rest of you can stay back and rest as long as you can. You can protect my mother for me. When it looks like the tides of battle are starting to turn against us, you can jump in. If you are able to hold your own, we can take a break behind the shields. If not, we will continue to fight.”
“That would work, it is an effective strategy. Potentially throw them off guard as well. And if Nimli’s reinforcements show up like you say they will, that’s even better. You’ve grown into a fine young woman Kimi, I’m proud of you.”
“What are you acting all proud for you old fart? You act like she’s your own daughter and not some random Phaser who happened to show up out of the blue.”
“Quiet you old hag! I have a right to be proud! Why shouldn’t I think of her as my own daughter? I took her into my home, I fed her, I helped her get adjusted, I even put a note on the wishing tree for her!”
“Hmmph, so you did what any decent person should do and claim familial rights to her? I have half a mind to knock that stupidity right out of your head!”
“Just try it you withered husk! I’ll make you clench so hard those rocks you call brains turn to diamonds!”
Her grandmother and grandfather both raised fists, but then let out a sigh and lowered them. She knew they were both too tired to fight like they normally did. Still it lifted her spirits to see the exchange. It was the first time since she had told them Kimi was missing that they had acted like their old selves. She understood how they felt, Kimi had quickly put her mark on all of them and become part of the family before Maria had even known it.
Kimberly smiled at the exchange as well before sliding around them to approach Maria. When Kimi was in front of her, her grin widened, though Maria noted a bit of nervousness in her posture and her emotional state.
“It’s a bit delayed, but I’m back. Listen, Maria, I know I’ve said some harsh things to you but I want you to know--”
Maria didn’t let her get any farther, pulling her into a tight embrace like sh
e had wanted to do for the last three weeks. “I don’t care. You were right to tell me off. We both did and said things we regret. Let’s just put it all behind us. I’m just glad your back safely. I knew you would be. You had to come back. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to say thank you.”
Kimi returned her hug and Maria felt some of her own anxiety over their eventual reunion ease away. She hadn’t been sure exactly what she was going to do or say when the time came, but it seemed her body had known what to do. Because this moment felt right. Maria saw Bree off to the side, letting them all have their moment, but the waves of joy and contentment coming from her were almost visible to her newfound sight. There would be time for the two of them to speak later, but Bree knew now was not that time. Now they had to focus on the battle ahead.
“Enemy sighted!”
An overlarge raven turned into a woman as it landed in front of the man Kimberly had introduced as Jeremy. A strange fellow who wore a mask over his eyes and looked as composed as a statue. Yet inside, he was a swirling mass of emotions, the largest of them was grief. He betrayed none of this as he barked out orders which were obeyed immediately. When Maria looked out the archway, she could see the mass of creatures coming closer. At the front of the pack were three huge floating eyeballs at least as big as she was. Red beams shot from the iris to carve deep gouges in the dirt. Behind them came more of the creatures Kimi called a Gorgrunge, and behind them packs of what looked like misshapen unicorns.
“Attack!”
Jeremy’s shout was answered by all sixty of the soldiers he commanded. He flicked his wrists on the run, forming those strange weapons like Kimi could called guns. They didn’t look like the ones Kimi could make, but still had the same basic shape. These he tossed to the side where a man who’s emotions were dark and full of death caught them. He pointed at the head of a Gorgrunge, stepping to the side a little as a red mark appeared on its forehead. His other hand swung out and a second mark appeared on Jeremy’s chest.
Out of Time the Grand Quest Page 48