by Zeppy Cheng
Jirgrar: It remains to be seen.
I turn to the soldier who handed me the phone. “Thanks.”
The soldier nods. “I hope my family isn’t in town. They live in the exclusion zone.”
“We might not have to drop a nuke,” I say. “There might be an alternative.”
The soldier looks at me like I’m crazy. “That’s an S-class portal. You saw that gigantic mammoth. Not to mention the golem and gorilla.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know for certain. But there is hope.”
The soldier looks as afraid as I am. He is shivering. “I never knew monsters could be that huge.”
I cough. “I didn’t know either. I’ve never seen anything that big before. I mostly spent my time being a porter in D-class dungeons. Even the balrog I killed wasn’t nearly as big as that mammoth.”
The soldier leans against the hard wall of the APC.
The sound of a low-flying supersonic jet tears through the air. I hope they aren’t delivering the warhead now. We still have a chance if Brine Ward’s solution works.
Ten more minutes of driving pass, during which the driver accelerates, throwing caution to the wind and putting a good amount of distance between us and the rampaging raptors. Finally clear of the traffic, in an empty stretch of road, the APC stops. The hatch opens. We are a good twenty miles away from the portal at this point.
An armored car pulls up next to the APC. Barley steps out, followed by Sebastian.
Sebastian bows. “Master, Brine Ward has requested your presence in the negotiations.”
I climb out, nodding to Derwyn and Jozunen.
Derwyn waves. “Good luck. The fate of Britain rests on you.”
Sebastian leads me into the government armored car. Barley sits in the front seat and I get into the back. There are two Men In Black beside me.
“We’re heading to a prearranged area picked by Brine Ward,” says Barley. “They requested you specifically.”
I lean my head back and rest, hoping the soldier’s family is okay.
The government driver takes us to a small secluded plot in an abandoned industrial park, covered in dirty concrete and grass growing through cracks. Gena and three Shinigami are standing there. She smiles as I get out of the vehicle. “Did everything go as planned?”
“As planned?” I say.
Gena smiles sweetly. “Did you really think that your invisibility trick fooled us?”
I am starting to sweat. “So you used me?”
“Of course,” says Gena. “And you did a great job. I won’t make you a villain, but you did screw everything up in a glorious fashion.”
“Was Alice part of this?” Everything is falling apart.
Gena laughs. “Of course. I was the one who convinced her to open the portal. I promised that I’d be able to bring her mother back.” She scoffs. “A little airhead is what she is. Maybe she has financial smarts, but that doesn’t mean she has any wherewithal.”
I am ready to break down. “You mean, you used her, too.”
Gena shrugs. “I’m a mafia don. Of course I use people.” She turns to Barley, wearing a saccharin smile. “You can’t prosecute me. I’m going to make a deal with you. I stop the portal monsters from taking over a third of the United Kingdom. And you give me and my organization amnesty.”
Barley is gritting his teeth. The two government agents beside him are equally frustrated.
Gena appears satisfied. “We’ll bring all the paperwork for you to sign. We’re going to turn into a legitimate corporation from here on out. Don’t worry. We won’t do anything stupid.”
Barley frowns. “So how are you going to defeat the portal monsters?”
She motions, and Valya steps out from behind an old signpost. He is carrying a black sword. Gena points to him. “Give it to me.”
Valya presents the blade to Gena. She swipes it back and forth. “This is the ruler’s blade. The monsters of the Dominionia will bow before it.”
“So you’re going to have control over an army of monsters,” says Barley. “We can’t let you do that.”
“Would you rather Wales be overrun with beasts and lose millions of your citizens in the process? Would you like to destroy part of your nation with nukes, only to still lose?” Gena’s smile is dangerous. “I wasn’t the one to open the portal. If you had let me keep the key, I would have gone along my way without causing billions of pounds in damage. This is all your fault, as you were the ones who sent Markus to infiltrate our compound and steal the key. We are not culpable.”
“But we can still prosecute you for what you’ve done!” says Barley.
Gena laughs. “Try it, and you’ll see a good portion of your population trampled under the feat of the monsters of Dominionia.”
Barley is in a quandary. He turns away. “I’ll get approval from the government. But please, hurry. There are lives depending on this.”
Gena’s smile becomes even more dangerous. “After we sign the paperwork.”
“Paperwork won’t protect you for long. We’ll find a way to get you.” Barley steps into the government car. I am about to follow. “No, you stay here. Keep an eye on that wily worm. You and your network should be able to keep her from doing anything terrible.” He closes the car door, and they drive away.
I turn to Sebastian. “Um, so, are my agents doing okay?”
“No casualties yet,” he says. “Our network has mostly been evacuating citizens. Although we have power, we are not strong enough to fight the contents of an S-class portal on our own.”
That should be enough. Now to confront Gena. I turn to her. “You manipulated Alice.”
Gena shrugs. “It’s all a game. You just have to know how to play it.” She runs her finger along the tip of the bone sword. “Alice was stupid to allow me to influence her.”
“You promised her something you can’t deliver!” I say. “You tricked her!”
Gena shows her teeth. “That, my dear, is the way of the world.”
I am shaking now. If my mother were dead, and if I had been offered the ability to revive her, what would I have done? I would have taken the chance. I can’t blame Alice for falling for a stupid trick like that. But I have to know. “How did you know about Alice?”
Gena begins pacing back and forth. “Do you really want to know?”
I nod. “Tell me.”
“Well, it won’t hurt,” says Gena. “You see, I’ve been looking into you for quite some time. You’re a very interesting person, after all. A nobody with poor stats all around was able to defeat a balrog. I know that Dungeon Striker missile didn’t do the job. Those things are trash, not worth anything. They can barely kill a B-class.” She sits on an exposed piece of concrete. “And you were able to absorb a ten-thousand-year spirit without any acclimation and without suffering Pewter’s Syndrome.”
I turn my gaze away.
She looks me up and down. “And I knew that you would be able to help me in this. You were recognized as an S-class, and that excludes you from many laws that would have taken effect otherwise.” She rests her chin on her fist. “You are very lucky to be an S-class in this situation. Thus, you are a perfect agent.” The sides of her lips curl up. “I want to offer you what I offered your double back when you were wandering invisible around my compound. I want to offer you a deal.”
I shake my head. “I can’t deal with—”
Gena holds up her hand. “Don’t. Wait until I’m done giving you my offer.” She tilts her head. “I want entrance into—”
Gena says a word and I can’t understand it. Pain lances through my head. I grasp my temples and fall to my knees.
“Whoops,” says Gena. “Haha. I forgot about that effect.” She says another phrase. “There we are.”
The pain is gone. I remember the word.
Silverbones.
Gena’s face lights up. “Yes, the Silverbones. All of their members have immortality. But one must earn entry. If three current members vote you in, you become immortal as well.
” She looks at her fingernails. “Of course I want immortality. But more than that, I want power.” She runs her finger along her nails. “I want to be able to say something and have it happen.” She looks up at me. “Do you understand?” She then smiles sweetly. “I’m willing to help you get in yourself if you cooperate with me. All I need you to do is stand by and let things happen. You’ve already helped me enough.”
I shake my head. “I can’t make deals with a—”
Gena stands up, brushing her hands. “With a what? A mafia boss?” She tilts her head, making eye contact with me. “You can’t defeat me. I have the key to ending the Dominionia portal’s prolapse. What difference does it make that all the monsters will answer to me if I use the object?”
I have a choice to make. Either I fight, or I stand by and watch as a Russian mafia boss obtains ultimate power. Choice made. I approach Gena. “I’m not going to bow to you.”
Sebastian and three of my devils stand between me and Gena’s Shinigami. But two dozen Shinigami appear out of nowhere and begin surrounding us. I can’t call back my other devils — they are too far away.
“So you have made your choice,” says Gena. “I’m not going to kill you now, but mark my words. You will regret choosing this route.”
Sebastian turns to me. “I will die for you, master.”
I nod. I summon the ten devils that are still inside me.
At least fifty Shinigami against me and fourteen devils. This isn’t a fair match.
“Run,” says Sebastian.
I turn and run. There is no escaping it — I am at a loss.
The battle starts. The devils fight the Shinigami. Two devils die almost instantly, taking a Shinigami with them. I burst through the edge of the battlefield. I am almost free.
My body freezes. A piece of netting weighed down with metal balls has caught me. I collapse into a heap on the ground. I summon a knife as quick as I can and start cutting. However, the material is tough, something like Kevlar, and my knife isn’t making progress. I conjure a chainsaw, but I can’t operate it tied up like this and it falls to the ground.
Before I can conjure another cutting tool, two Shinigami pick me up and carry me to Gena. Sebastian kneels beside her, his face covered in blood. Only five of my devils are still alive.
Gena smiles at me. “If you don’t want your favorite servant to die, then call off the rest of your devils. We don’t want to fight more than we have to.”
I eye the black sword beside her. There’s no way I’m getting it any time soon. I cringe. “Call them off.”
Sebastian looks devastated. “Master!”
A Shinigami pushes him down. “No talking!”
I cringe again. The ropes around me are tight. I could do something crazy like conjure a bomb or a tank, but I know I won’t be able to aim or control the thing as I am.
Gena nods, satisfied. “Pick him up and put him in the car.”
Two Shinigami shove me into the back of an unmarked black van. I don’t know where I’m going. All I know is that I failed.
26 Passion
I am sitting, wrapped in a net, in a mafia van. Three Shinigami watch me. I have nowhere to go from here. This is the end. No matter what I imagine myself conjuring, I know it won’t get me out of this situation. Not without Sebastian dying, and I can’t have that.
As I rock back and forth with the van’s motion, I hear a screaming coming from far away, a terrible scream like the end of the world. It’s a familiar sound, one I remember from just a day or two ago.
It’s Rarden.
The van jerks to the side. The three Shinigami stand up, but before they can do anything, three spearheads shoot through the sides of the van and pin them to the walls.
The van’s back doors open. The sound of screaming reverberates through the air, and there’s Rarden, stepping up into the vehicle. “I’m glad I made it.” The screaming falls silent.
“Why are you here?” I manage to ask through my ringing ears.
He shakes his head. “I missed my flight. I had nothing else to do.” His expression is mischievous.
I stumble out of the van and onto the ground. “Where’s Sebastian?”
The other mafia van, the one carrying Sebastian, is a burning ball of fire. But before I can panic, Sebastian appears from the other side of the van I just exited. “Master, I apologize for being so weak.”
I shake my head. “No, I was the weak one. Where’s Gena?”
“Right here,” says Gena, following Sebastian around the side of the van. “You will regret this.” She aims a rifle at me. Unlike the portal beings who serve me, I have no natural protection against modern weapons. Time seems to stop around me.
But Rarden puts a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Let me handle this.” The screaming starts up again in earnest. The sound is powerful enough to bend reality.
Gena switches aim and fires off several shots at Rarden. The screaming spirits around his body reflect the bullets, sending them pinging into the side of the van. In a single casual motion, Rarden stabs Gena through the chest with a sword he pulls out of the spirits. Gena spits blood and collapses. The black bone sword drops from her belt.
A military helicopter is roving overhead, some distance away. I pick up the black bone sword and turn to Sebastian. “Call that helicopter somehow! We need to get to the portal!”
Sebastian puts his hand to his ear. “I’ve got our agents in the military to give them a command.”
A Shinigami charges at us from the other van, appearing out of the flames like they were water. Sebastian whirls around and grabs the monster in a headlock. “Your master is dead,” says Sebastian. “You have no reason to fight any more.”
The Shinigami growls. “We made a contract.”
Sebastian tightens his grip. “You can serve a new master. Isn’t that how we work?”
The Shinigami goes limp. “Our loyalty is not that cheap.”
Sebastian taps the monster on the head. His eyes roll backwards and he slumps. “They’ll come around eventually.” Sebastian lets go of the monster and it drops to the ground.
The military helicopter approaches from above, stirring up a violent wind. It lands next to the two mafia vans, one burning and the other punched through with multiple holes. A soldier leans out of the helicopter. “Are you the one we’re picking up?” he shouts. “I just got the big wigs on the line. They say to take you to the portal.”
I climb on board the helicopter. Rarden follows.
Sebastian bows. “I will take care of the remainder of Brine Ward.” He steps back from the bird.
The helicopter lifts off, and the ground falls away beneath us. We fly straight towards the area where the portal opened up. As we approach, I can see the hundreds of monsters still spreading out through the countryside. It appears that most of the land surrounding Crickhowell is a national park. This is lucky, as the monsters haven’t yet invaded a heavily populated area.
We fly over a forest until we reach the portal’s location. I catch sight of the aircraft-carrier size mammoth in the distance, as well as the trail of broken trees it has left.
“Land us near the portal!” yells Rarden.
I grip the bone sword in my hands. It is cold, and heavy.
The helicopter lands in the park where the portal opened. Monsters still spill out of its depths, but they form an open area for us to land, their eyes widening as they stare at us. It is as if they sense, and respect, the sword in my hand. The battlecruiser-sized mammoth turns around. It pauses, sniffing the air, then turns and lumbers toward Rarden and I.
“Get out of here!” Rarden waves off the helicopter.
“You sure?” yells the pilot.
“Get out! Now! Things are about to hit the fan!”
The lesser monsters form a circle around Rarden and I. The battlecruiser mammoth rumbles to the edge of the circle and lowers its nose, resting its ivory tusks on the ground.
A single mustachioed man slides down the long nose and lands
nimbly on the grass. He is holding a scepter made of gold, topped with an Indiana Jones style crystal amulet. He taps the scepter on the ground and a chunk of grassy ground the size of a basketball half-court rises up beneath him, taking Rarden and I with it. By the time it stops climbing, I can’t even see the mammoth.
It is just the three of us.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“Aye, Jimmy!” says Rarden, less confuddled than I am.
“I have told you many times not to call me that, peon,” says the mustachioed man in an accent as sharp as cut glass. He twirls his cane and six raptors step out of six tears in hyperspace. “Shall we see how long you can go for?”
The raptors stalk towards us. Just as they are about to attack, two gunship helicopters make a pass. The bullets tear up the grass, but ping off of the raptors’ magical hides.
The mustachioed man flicks his scepter and both helicopters explode into flames, careening into the ground. He doesn’t even glance at the carnage. “My name is not Jimmy. It is James Walworth the Second. Please do not forget this.” He twirls his scepter again and six more raptors step out of more tears in hyperspace.
“You know him?” I say.
Rarden chuckles. “Me and him? We go a long ways back.”
A raptor pounces at me. I conjure a shield just in time to block its razor sharp claw. The shield throws up sparks and I am pushed backwards several feet, dangerously close to the grassy pillar’s edge.
Rarden gives the raptor a good kick and it flies back, whirling, colliding with another raptor and knocking both of them off the grass pillar. Magic, I wonder, or soccer in his past? Man, I’m thinking some weird thoughts again.
The raptors pull back. “Ah, yes,” says James Walworth the Second. His expression is the smuggest manifestation of British high class I have ever seen. “The prodigy. The one who somehow made himself a kingpin, the owner of a vast commercial and criminal empire, before the age of seventeen. How did you do it? What is your secret?”
I brandish the bone sword at Walworth. “I don’t even know who you are.”
Two more raptors jump at me. I twist, knocking a raptor’s teeth out with my shield, slicing the arm off the other. Rarden kicks both off the pillar. Soccer. No, magic. Definitely magic, and something I want to learn.