by Jaxon Reed
He turned and looked at the skeletal remains of a large public building nearby. Columns in the front lay collapsed, crumbled along what used to be white marble steps now layered in soot and grime.
Chunks of broken stone littered the street. The structure’s large wooden doors were broken and open, revealing nothing but darkness inside the damaged building.
“That’s Melody Hall, too,” the boy said, jerking a thumb toward the building. “I think it used to be the seat of government in this city.”
He turned back and faced them, tilting his head.
“Why are they both called Melody Hall? It makes no sense. Why not continue calling the city Melody, and this building Melody Hall? I don’t understand why the prince insists on this.”
Tawny kept her voice low, her eyes never leaving the boy. She said, “Do you think he actually spoke with Prince Synthan? Recently? Surely not.”
Percel said, “I think he’s got some memories of Rikkers’ jumbled up in there.” He tapped the side of his own head. Then he twirled his finger in a small circle.
The boy walked a little closer, staring at them.
He said, “Have you seen the prince? I’ve been looking all over for him. I want to ask him about this and some other things.”
“That is just creepy,” Erik said. “It’s like two people mixed together inside one body. An ancient messed up mage and a young boy who never ages.”
Percel said, “Well, we know what happens when he’s confronted with the truth. Are you ready, lass?”
Tawny said, “No. I still don’t know how to pull in mana from the Abyss. And I’m going to need all I can muster to take him on.”
“I think,” Nessa said, “I mean, I’m pretty sure I can cast Pool of Mana for you. Maybe you can use that when you fight him.”
Percel said, “Why don’t you try it now before we get started?”
Nessa nodded and stepped away from the group. Toby turned to watch her.
She bowed her head and clasped her hands in front of her chest, concentrating.
For a minute, nothing happened.
Then, off to one side, a swirling pool of black appeared in a large circle floating just above the ground. Thick, dark clouds of mana spun counter-clockwise, like a giant vat of stirred oil.
“Oh, that’s good,” Tawny said. “Yeah, that’s quite a bit. It’s all thick and concentrated. Thank you, Nessa. I will definitely be able to use that.”
The cleric smiled. She looked tired. The spell had leached her energy.
Nessa’s eyes seemed to age instantly. Dark circles formed under them. All the blood had drained from her face, too, leaving her looking pale.
Percel said, “Get your iron-tipped arrows out, lass. I know you’re knackered, but we’ll need whatever advantage we can get when his inner beast is let loose.”
“I don’t think iron does much to him, based on what we saw of Choster’s memory,” Tawny said.
“Even so,” Percel said. “We need to be ready. Everyone but Tawny, step back.”
They left her there, standing alone next to the mana pool while they retreated to relative safety. Tawny stared at the boy and concentrated, searching for the Abyss.
“Where are they going?” the boy said. “Have you seen the prince?”
“Rikkers,” Tawny said, drawing a deep breath then letting it out slowly. “Ludge. Megalos Magos . . . Know this. Prince Synthan is dead. You killed him fifty years ago, before you took Rikkers’ body.”
The boy’s face looked stunned for a moment, as if she had reached out and physically slapped him.
Then his face twisted into a snarl.
“NO!”
Huge white aethereal arms sprang out of the boy, then a large, gruesome face popped up and over his head. The creature lunged for Tawny, leaving the smaller physical body behind.
She flew up and back while casting a spectral shield, forming a blue globe around herself.
The ghostly hands whiffed through the air, like scythes slicing at wheat.
From a safe distance up in the air, Tawny shouted down to him.
“Everyone has always treated you like a typical threat, Megalos Magos. But you’re not typical, are you? Weapons, even spells, have little to effect on you in this form.”
Ludge left the body of the boy behind completely. His head was too large, and his arms stretched beyond the length of his legs. They were thick as tree trunks and ghostly white.
He flew into the air, both hands reaching out for her.
She pointed down at the pool of mana and pulled it up. The mana reacted, rushing to her call. It formed into a thick black spear, shooting through the air.
She flung her arms at Ludge and the mana spear obeyed her unspoken command. It rushed toward her foe.
The projectile hit him, and a force wave pulsed throughout the city. Raw mana slammed into ectoplasm, piercing Ludge’s side.
He screamed in pain and surprise, the force of the impact knocking him down to the ground. He lay stunned for a moment.
“You are a master of Spirit Magic, Magos,” Tawny said. “And this is an ancient battle form of yours, isn’t it? It has proven you well in centuries long past. But my mother knew how to defeat you, and I’ll finish what she started.”
Ludge rolled over and sat up. He roared in pain and frustration. His pale white body shimmered for a moment. Then he launched into the air again.
Tawny looked for mana to pull and found no more.
She yelled down to the team. “Nessa! Cast another one!”
Nessa nodded, and clasped her hands. She struggled to concentrate. She felt weak and tired.
Ludge flew, arms outstretched. Tawny backed up, then turned and sped away. Ludge chased after her.
Nessa gasped, and finally another mana pool formed, floating just above the ground. This one looked far smaller than the first.
“You’re not going to be able to do that again, lass,” Percel said.
Nessa sat down, thoroughly exhausted.
She said, “Maybe I can drink a potion.”
Percel shook his head.
He said, “They don’t work as well for clerics. You know that.”
“It won’t hurt,” Nessa said.
She got up slowly, looking and feeling lethargic, and rummaged through one of the magical bags until she found their potion cache. She grabbed one, popped the cork, then sat down and sipped on it.
Tawny raced back toward them, flying like a streak through the air. Ludge came close behind, his arms outstretched, a rictus grin of hate on his oversized face.
She looked down and spied the new mana pool. She reached, pulling it up and forming it into a spear again, then flung it behind her in one graceful motion.
The mana slammed into Ludge’s face, knocking him down several feet but not to the ground this time.
He roared in pain and fury before racing after her again.
Tawny yelled down to the group as she passed overhead.
“Nessa! I need more!”
“I can’t! I have to rest before I can cast another one!”
Tawny rushed off into the darkness again, Ludge close behind.
“I wish we could do something!” Erik said, gripping the hilt of his Nikos sword. “I feel so helpless. She’s up there doing all the work and we’re down here doing nothing.”
Choster reappeared with a poof, surprising everybody.
He said, “If you want to do something, maybe you should attack Rikkers over there. Seems to me that’s a weak spot. Ludge has left him undefended for the moment.”
Everyone looked at the boy, still standing in the same place. He remained motionless, hands at his side and staring down at the floor.
“I still don’t understand their connection,” Nessa said, finishing the last of her mana potion.
“Rikkers is long gone,” Choster said. “Ludge preserved the body in an attempt to help heal himself, I suspect. But Ludge is not quite right in the head, thanks to their mother.”
> He glanced at Toby when he said this. Toby nodded at him.
“Right,” Erik said. “So, if we attack Rikkers’ body . . . what will happen?”
Choster grinned, flashing his fangs. He said, “Let’s find out.”
-+-
Tawny flew through the darkness as fast as she could, stale warm air whipping past her face.
She had not flown much before this, but the spell to do so was relatively simple. It consumed considerable mana, though. She could not keep it up much longer.
Ludge roared from behind her, swung and whiffed the air with his overly long arms. She drew up her feet instinctively, avoiding his death grab without looking back.
This could not last forever, she knew. Desperately she reached out for the Abyss in her mind . . .
And came up empty. Again.
Ludge roared once more and with a burst of speed he raced up closer, arms reared back to make another lunge and grab . . .
And he stopped.
Tawny swiveled midair, watching him in the dim light.
Ludge turned back toward the others and howled. His voice filled the giant dome with anguish and anger . . . and something else. Hatred.
He streaked back toward Melody Hall and the team.
Tawny’s eyes grew big.
She said, “Uh oh.”
She raced after him, pouring on the speed.
Tawny did not know what her friends had done, but whatever it was, it had grabbed Ludge’s full attention. And that was bad.
-+-
Erik approached Rikkers boldly, holding out the Nikos blade in front of him. Choster and Percel followed close behind while Toby and Nessa stayed put, watching from a distance.
“Careful, lad,” Percel said. “We don’t know what will happen when you strike him.”
But Erik remained determined.
He marched up to the little boy and said, “If this helps Tawny, it’s worth it.”
Rikkers stood immobile even when Erik drew within sword reach. The boy stared down at the ground, eyes blank and listless.
Percel said, “Is he still alive, y’reckon? Is there any part of the Rikkers I used to know still in there?”
Choster shook his head. He said, “He’s not breathing and no blood is flowing. I can tell. The body is preserved, but the soul is long gone.”
“That makes me feel better,” Erik said, “in regards to what I’m about to do.”
The Nikos sword blurred. It arced through the air and sliced off the boy’s head.
It fell to the ground, bloodless, and the body collapsed.
In the distance they heard an angry scream, near the middle of the vast dirt ceiling.
“Get away, lad! He’s coming back!”
“I just want to make sure we got him,” Erik said.
He stabbed the head several times. The sword tip crunched into dark material inside the skull, but still no blood spilled. Then he stabbed the body’s back repeatedly, near the heart.
They heard another roar, closer and louder.
Erik looked up to see Ludge flying faster than he expected.
The monster spied Erik, his eyes locked on him in rage.
Erik turned and ran. Ludge adjusted course, impossibly long arms stretching out.
Tawny sped right behind Ludge, chasing him. She saw him veer from his course, heading toward Erik.
She reached.
She reached down below the dungeon, below all the dungeons.
Deeper than she had ever reached.
She searched in her mind for the Abysmal Depths . . . The Abyss . . .
She found it, and pulled.
Tawny pulled harder than she ever though possible, as Ludge’s arms reached out for Erik . . .
And the mana came.
An unlimited torrent of raw, black mana answered her call, springing out of a rift in reality between Tawny and the inky depths.
It rushed forward into her world, twisting and turning. Then it snapped straight as an arrow and infinitely long.
She whipped her hand toward Ludge and the long black line shot forward, slamming into the monster’s back.
He howled in rage and turned to face her.
She whipped the mana toward him, sending more and more into Ludge. It hit his ectoplasm and absorbed into his body.
Ludge fell, struggling with the force flowing into him.
A long black tendril slammed him to the dungeon floor, pinning him there.
Tawny dropped, landing lightly on her feet nearby. She kept pulling the mana stream out of the rift, sending a never-ending torrent into his ghostly body.
He absorbed it, struggling as it soaked into him.
He turned from spectral white to gray as mana overloaded his ectoplasm.
His screams turned from rage to pain, and still Tawny kept the mana flowing, overloading his body.
She yelled, “Stand back!”
Everyone ran, ducking. Choster poofed into a cloud of mist.
Ludge’s body turned darker, darker . . . and darker still, the very essence of pure black mana.
PHABOOM!
His body exploded. Blackened specks of ectoplasm scattered throughout the city in a dark cloud.
Tawny clenched her fist and cut off the flow. The mana stream stopped, followed by silence. The remaining mana dissipated quietly, absorbed into the surroundings.
Choster poofed back into existence. He smiled and clapped slowly, offering a bow to Tawny.
He said, “Good job.”
“Aye,” Percel said. “And congrats on becoming one of the few mages who can tap into the Abyss. You’ll never run out of mana again.”
He gave Tawny a look of admiration, mixed with awe.
Erik walked up to her, his sword hanging loose in one hand. He hugged her with his free arm.
She squeezed back, wrapping her arms around his middle and resting her head on his shoulder.
She whispered, “I know what to do with Toby.”
He let go and looked at her.
“Do?” he said. “What do you mean, do?”
“I’ll have to show you. Come on, we’re near where my mother fought Megalos Magos. I have to find something. Something she made before she died.”
She held Erik’s hand and pulled him down the street. The others fell in behind them.
“What are we doing?” Nessa said.
Tawny said, “One more thing before we leave. It’s important.”
Soon they came to a familiar intersection, Tawny’s Ball of Light illuminating the streets from above.
“Is this where your mother fought?” Nessa said.
“Yes. We need to find the sewer grate . . . there. Down in there is my mothers’ mana core. I need it.”
Erik looked at the old metal grate, partially covered in dirt and debris. He walked over to it, reached down and tugged, his muscles rippling. The grate would not budge.
“Oof, It’s going to be tough to get down there, Tawny. It’s not something my lock picks can help with, either.”
“Allow me,” Choster said. “I have a knack for getting into tight spaces like this.”
He poofed and they watched a black mist seep down into the grate. A moment later, the mana core came flying out of the sewer as he tossed it up from below.
Choster became incorporeal once more and flowed back up as mist before popping back into his physical form.
Percel watched it all from a distance. He remained behind while everyone gathered around the grate.
He glanced to the ground and something caught his eye. He stooped to find a metal bracelet, lying untouched for years.
He reached down to pick it up, then brought it over to where Tawny stood.
Percel said, “This was your mother’s, I believe. A short-distance teleportation trinket.”
He handed it to Tawny. She smiled and put it on her wrist. She blinked away, appearing down the street half a block. Laughing, she blinked back to stand in front of them again.
After admiring it o
n her wrist for a moment, thinking about her mother, her smile faded.
“Are you sure this doesn’t belong to Dungeon Corps?” she said. “We found it on a mission.”
He shook his head and said, “That’s a family artifact, lass. You should have it.”
She thanked him with a hug, then she turned to face Choster. He handed the mana core to her, and she took it with a smile.
Everyone gathered closer around her.
“What are you going to do with it?” Nessa said, pointing at the mana core.
It glowed softly in Tawny’s hand, a soft blue aura surrounding it.
She did not answer out loud. Instead, she looked up at Toby.
He stared back at his sister and placed his finger in his mouth.
“Mother said that mana is the only thing that changes our forms. I think I can change him with her mana core. Come here, Toby.”
Obediently, he stepped forward, looking down at the small blue ball in her hand.
Tawny squinted, concentrating. She cast a basic spell of mending.
She said, “Nessa, I need you to cast Field of Healing. Make it as powerful as you can.”
Nessa was about to ask why. She caught herself, though, and instead clasped her hands in front of her chest and concentrated on the spell.
Tawny reached up and placed the mana core beside Toby’s head, focusing on her own spell.
The core sank into his skin, then deeper into the side of his head. Gently, she pushed it all the way into his skull and finished her spell.
He went limp, his arms and head sagging.
Nessa grabbed him, alarmed.
“Toby?”
He straightened, standing to his full height.
He opened his eyes. He blinked down at Nessa, then he looked at his sister smiling up at him.
Tawny said, “How do you feel, Toby?”
Toby stared at her for a long moment, his eyes growing sharper. Blood rushed to his face, and his lips parted slightly.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
He said, “Good.”
Chapter 15
Nessa said, “Toby? You can talk!”
“I . . . yes. Yes, I can. I don’t know why I couldn’t . . . before . . .”
He stared off in the distance, then down at his hands, as if seeing them for the first time.