by Brad Clark
He let the pendant that he was holding drop to his chest. It was barely glowing red and felt heavy as if it were pulling hard on his neck. He could feel its power diminishing, and with each second that passed by, he felt his own strength weaken. It would not be long until all that he had felt would be but a memory, and he would be of no use in the battle. If he expended too much of his remaining power on healing Elissa, he might not have enough to defeat the enemy.
Slowly, he shook his head. “I’m sorry. I could, but there is a war to fight. I only have so much power. I cannot waste it on one life. I have to save all our lives. We all have to be willing to sacrifice to save our world.”
Marila’s eyes flashed wide in surprise. She looked down at Ellisa’s peaceful face, and then she became angry.
“I am not from this world,” she snapped, her eyes narrowing with anger. “I am not Human. I am far from it. I know what sacrifices so many have given to get us to this point, but what worth will those sacrifices be if we can’t start to save those that we love. Until days ago, I had no idea what love was. I only knew hate, but now I know the power of life and the power that this world gives to the universe. There has been so much death, can we not give a little life?”
“I have only so much to give,” Hargon explained, turning his head towards the enemy that was now so close he could see individual faces. “No more time.”
“So many have given all they have already! It’s your turn. Heal Elissa. Heal her and her baby.”
Movement caught his eye, and he saw Conner run up the stairs, his face showing the pain and anguish of seeing the love of his life struck down. He dropped down to his knees at her side and looked up at Hargon.
“Hurry!” Conner shouted with a mix of fear and anger.
Hargon stood still, looking down at Elissa.
“He will not do it,” Marila said.
“The Dragon’s Egg gave me the strength to bring the barbarian army here, but it was a spell beyond my power. I have so little left.”
Conner put his hand up and unclenched it to expose the black Ark of Life gem sitting in his palm. “This will give you all the power you need!”
Hargon’s heart pounded at the sight of the black gem. With it in his hand, he would not be limited. His strength would never wain, and he could cast spells to destroy the enemy and heal his friends as well. Slowly, he lifted his hand to reach for it.
“No!” Glaerion cried out. He had followed Conner up the steps, knowing that Conner would do just what he was doing, but hoping he would not. With the speed and grace of an Elf, he raced forwards and pushed Hargon away from Conner.
Hargon stumbled but caught himself quickly. He turned on Glaerion, his eyes ablaze with hanger, and held his hands up, balls of fire swirling around them.
“He cannot have it!” Glaerion shouted out, his mind ready to cast a spell that would deflect any fireballs that Hargon tried to cast at him. “It is too powerful! No one man can hold the full power of the Ark of Life!”
“Elissa,” Conner replied. “He can heal her.”
“Hargon’s own words were right. We cannot sacrifice the world for one person.”
Conner stood and shouted back, “Easy for you to say! It isn’t your wife and child that are dead!”
Glaerion clenched his jaw and said, “We have already talked about this! Hargon cannot have the Ark of Life!”
“What do you mean you’ve already talked about this?” Hargon shouted back. “It is the only way to win this war!”
“The Deceiver is gone. No more of his generals or army will be coming.” Glaerion to the army. “That is the last of them. We have our own army to fight them. An army that is strong enough to defeat them.”
“What is left to fight is not an army,” Hargon snapped. “Look down there! Those are merchants and farmers, not soldiers. The Knights are off fighting the first army that showed up. We have many Elves, still, but not enough to fight that army. How many more will die? No more need to die, starting with Elissa, if you give me the Ark of Life.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Glaerion said.
Conner drew his swords. “You cannot let her die!”
Glaerion shook his head. “Don’t let it come to this. We are friends, not enemies.”
“You are my enemy if you stand in the way of Hargon healing Elissa.”
“What are you afraid of, Glaerion?” Hargon asked. His hands were at his side but were still encased in balls of fire. “Me?”
“Yes! I have seen this countless times. Humans simply cannot control the power given to them. It is not your fault, and I don’t blame you. It’s in your nature.”
Hargon slowly shook his head. There was no way to explain to Glaerion that he was both right and wrong. An hour ago, he would have been right, yet now, he was not the same person. He was different, but he knew there was no way he could convince Glaerion. He ended the fireball spell that had encased his hands. “It is not my nature.”
“History proves otherwise,” Glaerion said.
With an even, soft voice, Hargon replied, “You have to trust me. At some point, you have to trust someone.”
“Give him the opportunity,” Conner said. “Trust him.”
A silence fell across the top of the wall. Elves were still holding their shields up to block the catapulted rocks from reaching them, and the twang of the occasional bowstring could be heard, but no one spoke. Feet shuffled as the curious came closer, wondering how this small battle was going to turn out. Conner had his swords out, ready to fight. Hargon stood still, hands at his side, free of fireballs, but open and ready to defend himself. Glaerion stood between them, his hands near his dagger, and his mind ready to cast a defensive spell in case Hargon attacked him.
Conner sheathed his swords and straightened up. There was a nearly audible sigh of relief. “Glaerion, you know me. You know us. We are not the same people that lived a thousand years ago.”
“There were good people back then, too, you know,” Glaerion replied. “There will always be good people, just like there will always be bad people. Sometimes, it’s impossible to tell that apart in Humans.”
“Hargon is one of the good ones.”
“He may be now, but when the power of the Ark of Life is in his hands, then what will he be?”
Conner took a couple steps forward until he was centered in a small group of curious Elves that had gathered around him.
“This started what seemed a lifetime ago. I was all alone, minding my own business, hunting for food because I was hungry. I came upon Elissa, who had been kidnapped. I saved her life, and from that moment I was a part of something far greater than anything I could have imaged. When I went to South Karmon’s castle to train with Master Goshin and the Karmon Knights, I thought I reached the pinnacle of what life offered. What I thought was a grand city was but a tiny spot compared to the rest of the world. I discovered that there were other people like me, but different. I discovered other races. Elves. Dwarves.” At that moment a shadow passed over them, and they all looked up to see Myllia banking overhead. “Dragons. Ancient creatures from the past. I realized that I wasn’t even Karmon! I am Hurai. One of the fabled chosen ones of the One God, whatever that means!” He let out an uncomfortable laugh. “Through all that, I have come to know some really, really good friends. Some of them are no longer here, having been killed because of me, or for me. I am here, in this place, at the end of this war only because of each and every one of you. Hargon healed me from the dead, and Michael told me I would not be alone on this path, and he was right. Now, though, it is time to finish what was started. This is the end. Today. Now. It can only happen when we give Hargon this black gem, and he finishes it all. The One God put us all here and for a reason. Each one of us has a role to play, and we must play it out. Glaerion, you are my dearest, and best friend. I would not have lived through the past couple of years without you at my side. I do not want to lose that, but you have to let this finish.”
“You have to be
willing to let Elissa go if it means the world survives.”
The thought of letting Elissa die caused Conner’s head to spin and stars to sparkle in his eyes. For a moment he thought he was going to faint, but after a couple of deep breaths, he found his strength and balance.
“The Deceiver is dead. Gone. Wherever he went, he is not here. It is over. There is no reason to let anyone else die when we have the chance to save them.”
“Let me finish this,” Hargon said. “Give me the gem, and I will heal Elissa. Then, I will destroy the rest of the Deceiver’s army. And then, I will destroy the Ark of Life. I don’t know how, but I will find a way. You are right, Glaerion. The power is too great for any one man. It is that power that drove my brother to bring the Deceiver into the realm in the first place. You are also right in that I crave that power. Who would not? I have felt more strength and power than I could ever imagine, and I struggle even now to want more. We always want more power. Whether that is engrained in Humanity, I do not know. I see the results of uncontrolled power, and that is the Deceiver, and I do not want that for me or for this world. You have to trust me that I can control this power and relinquish it once I have it. I promise you, I will.”
Glaerion’s right hand touched his dagger.
Hargon let the corners of his mouth curl up to a smile. “Yes, I know you will kill me if I do not. I hope you do. I don’t want to crave this power, but I do. Right now, I feel strong enough to give it up, for I know the corruption that it can bring. If you must kill me to take it from me, then so be it.”
Hargon walked forward, towards Conner. Glaerion stepped aside. Conner lifted the gem up once again and set it in Hargon’s hand.
Hargon felt the power immediately. It swept through him and into the red gem that had become dull and lifeless. The red gem pulsed with brightness, temporarily blinding everyone around them. The Ark of Life had restored the power of the red gem, feeding it an energy that was far greater than what he had felt before. His mind flashed with images that he knew were not from this age, but from a time long ago. Skies filled with Dragons as the skies were filled with birds today. There was peace between all of the One God’s creatures. Before Humanity, before Elves, and Dwarves, there was just the Dragon and other strange creatures that resembled some that he had seen but looked so different. The red gem was not just imbued with magic from the Dragon’s Egg but infused with the lifeforce of the unborn baby Dragon. He could feel it within the energy that came from the gem and knew that the Dragon had not had its life ended but transformed. The power of the Dragon was now one with him, coupled with the power of the Ark of Life, and it controlled him, and he knew it would not be controlled.
Hargon smiled with joy as he squatted down next to Elissa. He touched her gently on the cheek, letting all the energy and power of not only the Ark of Life but of the universe flow through him. It would have corrupted him, he now knew. The power would have caused him to become the evil creature Glaerion feared he would have become, but the lifeforce of the unborn Dragon was there, to help him control himself. Then he stepped back, watching Elissa’s eyes pop open and her chest heave with the first breath of her new life. Conner dropped to Elissa’s side and brought her into a hug. He was crying. She was crying. Everyone squeezed in to hug them, even Glaerion.
Hargon took a couple more steps back, observing it all. The last friend he had was his brother, and that friendship had ended the moment when Tarcious had killed the rabbit so he could see Hargon heal it. From that moment, he had known that friendships were only a means to an end, but now, he realized they were so much more. They were not all here, atop this wall, in the middle of a battle for no reason. Each one of them offered a little bit of the whole. Conner was the glue that held them all together, and he wondered if the young man even really understood it. He had brought them all together, to this point in time, to stop what had been an unstoppable enemy, and it took all of them working together to do it. He had healed that rabbit on his own, and from that moment forward, he had lived his life on his own, relying on his own strength to rule an Empire. Now, if he had relied on that strength, he would have failed. He would have let the power of the Web of Magic rule him, but by letting his strength to be powered not by himself, but by others, it would not rule him. He would rule it.
Then Hargon turned away to face the oncoming enemy. Behind him, he had given life, and in front of him, he would end it. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.
Conner gently helped Elissa to her feet. She touched the spot on her chest where the spear had entered. She remembered it striking her but could not remember the pain. It did not hurt now, nor did it even itch like a freshly healed wound sometimes did.
“You okay?” Conner asked.
She touched her belly and smiled. “Yes. I felt a kick.”
Conner could not contain his emotions. He knew that if he tried to talk right now, he would only let out an uncontrolled sob. He hugged her again, feeling the soft skin of her cheek against her.
“Is he gone?” she asked. “Is the Deceiver dead?”
They both turned in panic as explosions rocked near them. It took only a moment to realize they were not being attacked, but it was Hargon striking down the approaching army. As she looked past Hargon, she could see the devastation that was being wrought upon the Deceiver’s army. She knew that she should feel something at the deaths of the enemy, but she felt nothing. She wanted them to die in the most painful way possible, and she did not feel guilty at all.
***
High in the clear, cloudless sky, Myllia pulled up alongside Immerillis, her wings pumping steadily to drive them forward. Both had released the last of their fiery Dragon Breath on the enemy, and they would need some time to let it regenerate.
“I no longer feel the touch of evil from the Deceiver on the Web of Magic,” Immerallis said.
“Yes, he is gone,” Myllia replied. She twisted her neck so that her good eye could see Immerallis. By now, she had gotten used to not being able to see out of her damaged eye and dealing with it was now almost instinctual. She had also forgiven the Human named Marik for maiming her as it had been her own arrogant anger that had caused her to try and kill as many Humans as possible. With her anger gone, she had finally realized that the Humans were good people and could even become her friends. Maybe she could spend the rest of her days in their midst, rather than hiding from them.
“The war is over, then?”
Explosions erupted below behind them, and they both quickly banked to change direction to head back toward the enemy. A steady stream of fire had erupted from the wall and was directed towards the enemy soldiers. As the fire struck the ground, mud and grass were sent erupting high into the air. The line of fire marched across the field, tearing into the soldiers. As soon as the fire touched a soldier, they burst into flames, sending them screaming to their deaths. In only minutes, the field was empty of live soldiers. Those that had survived were running for their lives through the forest. More than half of the soldiers, though, were burnt corpses.
“I think it is over, now,” Myllia finally replied.
“You feel the power?” Immerallis asked.
“Hargon has the Ark of Life,” Myllia said calmly.
“What do we do?”
“Do? We do nothing. The war is over, and we will help kill the remnants of the Deceiver’s army.”
“What about a Human holding the Ark of Life? It is too powerful of an artifact for any Human to hold. We must take it back!”
Myllia once again turned her neck to look at Immerallis. “The Age of Dragons is over. It is the Age of Humanity, and it has been for a long time. King Illichian, Glaerion, Conner, Queen Elissa, and all the others know how powerful, and how dangerous, the Ark of Life is. It is a problem for them to handle, not for us.”
“We cannot just let them be! They are Humans!”
“The Humans are in control of their own destiny. It is their time. It is their age. Dragons ruled the world many, many th
ousands of years ago when the world was new, and Humanity was in its infancy. Now that Humanity is here and thriving, it is time for us to go.”
“Was that why you so readily allowed Melissa to be sacrificed even before she was born?”
Myllia turned her head away from Immerallis and was silent for several beats of their wings. The pain of what she had let happen would never go away, even though she knew it had been the right thing to do. From high in the sky she could see the fallen bodies of the Deceiver’s army. If she had not done what she had done, those bodies would be Human, Elf, and Dwarf.
“It was necessary,” Myllia finally said. “But, inevitable. Elves, Dwarves, and Humans are but offshoots of the same race. As their kinds intermingle, they will become one once again, rather than three, as they were meant to be. Our presence will only get in the way of progress.”
“Intermingle? You really think they can coexist?”
“To win this war, they needed to. Now that peace is coming, it will be difficult, but they will have to figure it out.”
“But, if a Human has the Ark of Life, they can become more powerful than the Deceiver!”
Myllia banked to the right to start a slow descent down towards the courtyard. Immerallis matched Myllia’s moved, flying close at her side.
Myllia replied, “As I said, it is the Age of Humanity, and it is no longer our place to have a say. Our time is over.”
Immerallis let out a growl loud enough for Myllia to hear even with the rush of wind across her ears. “We are all of the One God, and this world is all of our responsibility! We cannot just let it go to the Humans.”