War of Kings and Monsters

by Christopher Keene

  “Whether you want this or not doesn’t matter. The barrier to the Melkairen has been broken, the Melkai are free, and in return for being their savior, I am their ruler. You are traitors to your own kind!” He roared with laughter. “I can even control the third-circle Melkai as easily as—”

  GET OUT . . .

  The red slits of his eyes narrowed of their own volition, and he paused. He went to lift his arm again and realized that he could barely move.

  “What is this?”

  Behind the Melkai on the courtyard pathway two of their masters stood, his brother’s descendants—the Armalon siblings. The boy was crouched low, Aisic already lying unconscious on the cobblestones, welcoming him to squash them like insects.

  GET OUT . . .

  “No . . . Not yet! I will set you all free!” Struggling against the sudden will overcoming him, he managed to lift one arm. “Now watch as I smear your masters over the rock of their own kingdom!”

  Trembling, his sharp claws stabbed into the earth as he gripped the stone floor of the kingdom, bringing himself slowly over the tower toward them.

  GET OUT, NOW!

  Chapter 30: The Kairen Sword

  As soon as the barrier to the Melkairen had broken, Nathan had believed Ramannon to have won the fight. After all, he could move into the body of any Melkai he wanted, so when the world was full of Melkai, defeating him seemed an impossible task. Yet when he grasped for further power by possessing a Melkai of the third circle, Nathan realized the exact opposite was true.

  No matter the situation, Ramannon’s lust for power was entirely predictable, and because of this, it would inevitably be his undoing.

  Nathan breathed out painfully through clenched teeth, his eyes darting around the cobblestones for where Ramannon had left Laine’s key-half. Taiba was sniffing around the rubble, trying to pick up her scent.

  Laine grabbed hold of him. Despite the pain, despite the exhaustion, he rose slowly from the cobblestones, confident that the massive hand looming over them wouldn’t touch them. Neither Taiba nor the other Melkai could challenge the force behind a third-circle Melkai’s attack, but size wasn’t the secret to winning this battle.

  All they needed was time, time that the other callers and Melkai had already given them by moving the fight towards the back wall of the city, averting Ramannon’s attention away from their location, but more importantly, away from the key.

  After all, if Ramannon used his Melkai host to destroy the area, they would never find it. But he wasted too much time, and now it was too late.

  Laine cringed away from the attack as the shadow covered them. Taiba rushed to his side, and just like he had as a tiny lizard, he was ready to fight something larger than him—even this behemoth. However, as Nathan had predicted, the massive claw stopped right above them. He smirked up at it.

  “Hah, you just defeated yourself!” he shouted triumphantly. “It’s over!”

  Laine was staring up at him, one eyebrow raised in confusion.

  “What . . . what is this?” Ramannon’s arm shook violently as he struggled to push it down and crush them to no avail. “What have you done to me?”

  “I did nothing. You took control of a third-circle Melkai.” Nathan gripped his upper arm, the pain sharpening his condemnation. “And even if you are just a spirit, every caller knows that a third-circle Melkai is impossible to keep control of because they eventually become self-aware.”

  “What are you say—”

  “I’m saying your time is up!”

  Ramannon’s giant hand shook violently, and the red began to fade from his eyes. The Melkai regained control and lifted the hand to its face, appearing to no longer recognize it. There was a jolt from the earth as its face quickly descended toward them, the red of Ramannon’s spirit burning back to life for an instant longer.

  “Who do you think I am? I can go into the body of any Melkai near me!” The massive red eyes shifted suddenly from them to Aisic’s unconscious body. “Any Melkai.”

  Nathan inhaled sharply. At this point, their odds of defeating a dragon weren’t much better than defeating a third-circle Melkai.

  Dragon’s breath! If only I could find where he put the key . . . As soon as the thought hit him, Taiba returned to where he had been sniffing around and barked. Nathan glanced over to him, to where the corpse of the second-circle Melkai lay. Oh, that’s right. He still has it!

  Laine’s key had been in Ramannon’s grasp when his arm had been severed by her spell. And there, a dozen yards away from him was that arm, the glimmering Kairen Key still hanging from its clawed finger.

  His discovery was too little too late as the red glow faded from the third-circle Melkai’s eyes and Aisic’s own eyes sprung open. He bared his teeth in a grin, but it was a grin that Nathan recognized, Aisic’s own.

  Was Aisic only pretending to be unconscious?

  Aisic jumped to his feet and dashed toward where his sword had fallen. Before Ramannon could take over completely, he dived toward the sword, grabbed it in a roll and came to land on his knees. He then reversed the grip of its hilt, spinning the sword to point the tip of the blade at his torso.

  “Aisic, no!” Nathan cried. “You don’t have to do this! You’re supposed to protect me, remember?”

  “Indeed, even at the cost of my own life.”

  Even if it meant stopping Ramannon, Nathan didn’t want him to die too.

  “No, that’s not fair!”

  Aisic turned at Nathan’s call, their eyes connecting in the desperation of the moment. “I do have to do this, Nathan. This is the reason I came back. I swore I would finish what I started. I will not let him kill anyone else and will gladly give up my life to do so!”

  “Y-you want this?”

  Nathan stared into Aisic’s eyes. The irises were turning bloodred. Fighting against Ramannon’s presence in his mind, Aisic’s face contorted furiously.

  What if I can use the key to lock him away first? What if he just jumps bodies again? What if I don’t make it to the key in time?

  Aisic and Ramannon had both been cursed at birth, their mixed bloodlines giving them power that no man should possess. Yet where Ramannon had slaughtered thousands in his need for power, Aisic had become the hero who had brought peace.

  And now, to destroy one, I have to sacrifice the other.

  It felt like too much of a cost to pay. Yet the consequences, of which the proof was now all around them, revealed the truth of it. Nathan understood now how much it needed to be done, and although Aisic was the only one who could do it, he was giving him the choice. He had to allow his protector, his friend, to kill himself to save the rest of the world and make sure Ramannon never returned.

  He hated him for doing it, but it had to be done.

  Nathan nodded to his protector. Aisic ground his teeth and swiftly impaled himself on his sword.

  He coughed, and blood leaked from the wound. He fell to the hard tiles as Nathan and Laine ran to be at his side.

  “You two must . . . seal the Mel . . . kairen!”

  As long as the Melkai are in this world, once Aisic dies Ramannon can just transfer his spirit into another. Aisic’s body is his pact item now. He must die with Aisic! It’s the only way to finish him off for good.

  Nathan ran over to where Laine’s key-half was hanging from the severed arm. He snatched it up with his good arm and rushed over to Laine, gesturing for her to hand over his necklace with his own half of the key. She did so, and right away, Nathan saw how the keys could be connected.

  The spines themselves had small T-shaped slits and protrusions going down them for where they could be slotted into place. As he slid them together, the forks glowed white and stretched up from his hands, the grip of the key doing likewise to become the hilt and handguard of a crystal sword.

  “Those things make a sword?” Laine cried out.

  Nathan lifted the ancient weapon, gaping in awe. He recognized it from Aisic�
��s descriptions. “It’s the Kairen Sword. A weapon our ancestors created to lock away Ramannon and the Melkai.” They hadn’t made the keys to replace his broken blade. The keys were his broken blade.

  The crystal blade gleamed in the blazing white light. Nathan struggled to keep the sword aloft with his one good arm, but Laine helped him raise the magical artifact toward the red moon. A sudden rift of light shot into the sky. The cracks that had formed after the barrier had broken were now being filled with the many lines of white light that had spread over the land. The Melkai’s spirit forms were being drawn back into the Melkairen. Both of the Melkai Ramannon had possessed began to glow white and were sucked up, back into the cracks in the night sky. The darkness of the third circle’s wings vanished from overhead as the barrier began to recover.

  Light flooded around them, the power of the Kairen Sword drawing everything toward it like they were suddenly at the center of the world. The warm light felt like the living embodiment of everything they had worked toward. The line of light rising from the crystal sword receded as the cracks in the darkness healed over. It vanished in a sudden blinding flash, and all they could do was breathe.

  The red moon was replaced with one of pearl white. Not only was the barrier to the Melkairen reinforced, but the Kairen Sword had returned all the released Melkai to the Melkairen.

  Their own Melkai had also vanished, only their pact items remaining on the cobblestone tiles of the tower pathway. Nathan was tempted to test if his glove—Laine’s glove—still held its pact with Taiba, but right now the deciding conflict was happening at their feet.

  Aisic lay dying before them, and although he was shaking in pain, he still had a smile on his face. They crouched next to him.

  “The Melkai . . . are sealed? The barrier . . . reinforced?” he asked.

  They both nodded. “It is.”

  His tense body relaxed slightly hearing their tone of relief.

  “It’s . . . done,” he struggled to say, his voice trembling. “The world . . . is yours again. You two . . . are the king and queen . . . of these lands. You must . . . learn from the mistakes of the past . . . to create a better future.”

  “We will. But Aisic . . .” Nathan shook his head in sorrow. “We could have found another way. So long as he was possessing a Melkai, he would’ve returned to the Melkairen.”

  “And let him return when the barrier weakens again? No. There was . . . no other way.” Aisic exhaled heavily. “I’ve managed . . . to contain his spirit. He’ll finally die . . . with me. I’ve lived for five hundred years . . . I’ve seen the future . . . it couldn’t have ended any other way.”

  Aisic turned to Nathan, his voice quavering as he said his final words: “Keep your head up . . . you’re a king now . . . after . . . all.”

  Aisic’s body went limp, and the Scion of Akai, the last Arion, died.

  Nathan had heard stories of heroes, people who would sacrifice themselves for the greater good, saving others even at the cost of their own lives. He didn’t think they actually existed. Yet he had spent the better part of a month traveling with one, and now that such a hero had died in front of him, all he could feel was sorrow for his lost friend.

  It made him feel like there was a downside to heroes which no one ever talked about. Where they died, those who remained were left with sorrow, forced to grieve and move on. There was no sudden end for them, no satisfaction at a job well done, only the responsibility to live up to the sacrifice the hero made.

  Nathan took up the responsibility of living up to Aisic’s sacrifice eagerly. After all, his story wasn’t over yet.

  Tears poured down Nathan’s cheeks. Through his blurring vision, he saw the same glow from the sky that had surrounded the other Melkai surround Aisic. It grew until it was the shape and size of his dragon form.

  The glowing Melkai gracefully flapped its mighty wings and then sailed up into the night sky toward the moon, returning to its spirit form as it returned to the Melkairen. Nathan knew that a little piece of Aisic would forever linger within the dragon’s memory.

  The world was finally back to normal. The moon looked the way it had before their quests began, as though nothing had changed, but they had learned much about their origins and who they were to each other.

  Master Morrow came running back. “Nathan! You’re alright?”

  Nathan managed to nod, but he couldn’t look away from Aisic’s body.

  “I saw the barrier seal. You did well.”

  “I couldn’t save him.”

  “You saved the rest of us.”

  “What about the king?” Laine asked.

  Morrow’s face tightened. “I doubt he survived the destruction of the chapel. I must go check on my pupils.”

  Nathan ignored Morrow’s departure and made his way to the destroyed chapel to see if they could find Michael’s body.

  When still standing, the chapel had been massive, and now that it was in ruin, it covered most of the surrounding pathways and bushes. Laine spread out to assist his search. They’d spent several minutes looking through the rubble and mortar when Laine gasped.

  “What is it?” Nathan asked.

  “It’s the king!” she called.

  Nathan’s eyes widened, and he rushed over to see his old friend lying within the rubble.

  “Is he dead?” Laine asked.

  Nathan crouched down over him. Michael didn’t look like he was breathing. Nathan looked around in panic; he didn’t want to lose two friends in one night. He turned back and saw someone walking up the stairs toward them. It appeared that fate was on the king’s side as Kendra was the person walking up the pathway.

  “Kendra!” Laine called.

  Kendra stopped, her mouth dropped, and she ran over. “I was looking for you. Oh no, what happened to Aisic?” she cried.

  “He killed himself to take out Ramannon. There’s no time to explain, but there might still be a chance to save Michael, so please, if you can help him . . .” Nathan pleaded, knowing Kendra would have heard of King Michael’s tyranny from the people. “Please, Kendra.”

  “You don’t have to say anything.” Kendra bent over the body of the king. “I follow the healer’s code after all.”

  The plates of Michael’s armor were crushed under a layer of cobblestone and brick. Laine helped Nathan lift the bricks off him so Kendra could have a better look. Her hands ran along the armor until she found a buckle and unfastened the breastplate before putting her head on his chest. She pulled back in shock.

  “He’s alive, but he has a collapsed lung,” Kendra said as her hands began to glow the same way they had when she healed Aisic’s leg.

  “Will he survive? Can you make him better?”

  She gave him a dazzling smile. “Not a problem.”

  Laine looked like she didn’t know if she was relieved or not. “Nathan, are you sure we should be doing this?”

  Nathan put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. Before he was possessed by Ramannon, Michael was a good man. He was my best friend.”

  “Right . . . okay.” Laine nodded warily.

  She had seen his memories of Michael. It made sense why she believed him.

  Kendra’s expression grew more focused as she went to work on Michael. The green glow of her spell covered Michael’s chest.

  After no more than five minutes, Michael’s eyes sprang open. He gasped air back into his healed lung as consciousness return to him. He breathed heavily, his wide eyes their original blue color. His gaze flashed to where Nathan stood over him.

  “Nathan?” he asked, voice risen in panic. “Dragon’s breath, what happened?”

  Nathan suddenly realized the harsh reality that he was going to have to reveal to him. The words didn’t come.

  “Please!” Looking around, Michael grabbed Nathan by the collar in his panic.

  Nathan gasped in pain as his dislocated arm was jostled. Laine grabbed Michael’s wrist in return, teeth bared pro
tectively.

  Nathan shook his head at her, their eyes locked, and she stayed her hand. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

  “How do we know he’s himself again?” Laine asked. “He could be—”

  “Who on earth are you?” Michael coughed. He turned back to Nathan. “Who’s your girlfriend, little buddy?”

  Nathan grinned at Laine. “It’s him.”

  Laine’s shoulders relaxed, and she sat back.

  “Please, Nathan, tell me what happened,” Michael pleaded.

  Before Nathan could answer him, Kendra was at his side, touching his arm. “That’s going to need resetting.”

  Nathan winced and nodded. “Make it quick.”

  Her touch, which had been so gentle before, became firm, and with a wrench forward, a pull, and a sudden explosion of pain in his shoulder, he felt his bone being set in place.

  “Thank you.”

  Her touch turned gentle again as she checked him quickly for other injuries. Finding none, she sat back.

  It was time for Nathan to explain. He started off by telling Michael of their time in the forest and how, out of the blue, he had tried to attack him.

  Michael’s eyes continued to widen as he heard everything he had done after his mind had left him. Afterward, Nathan and Laine took turns telling him about their journey until Kendra ended it.

  “You skipped the part where he killed the king.”

  Michael jolted suddenly, his jaw going slack, his eyes filling with tears. “What? I killed my father?” He rose quickly, walked from them as though in a dream, then collapsed into the rubble, weeping in sorrow.

  Nathan followed him, thinking of how his mother had commanded him after the death of Kissick. “Michael, you have to take your father’s throne. It’s the only way to return things to the way they were before.”

  “I cannot become king. There is no honor in what I did, even if I was possessed. I cannot live in this place with people knowing how I became who I am. I have to find some other way, any way to redeem myself.”