by Logan Jacobs
At this point, I was across the room, too far away to physically stop the spirit. Zolderon leapt into the Seelie king’s body and took possession of him.
The old elf’s body absorbed the spirit like a sponge, and it expanded gruesomely for a brief moment before he went back to his normal size and stood up tall. The king’s pale grey eyes turned on me, and there was a distinctly malicious glint in them as he smiled at me and strode toward the doorway.
I started to move on him, but he turned and threw a single command over his shoulder.
“Stop the human, my elite guard,” he ordered. “Oh, and do say hello to Verituck for me, ‘Racmoth.’”
The possessed king turned to walk out the door, and the six tall elves who were currently engaged with my team stopped what they were doing and turned to face me. They dashed across the room at lightning-fast speed and blocked my path.
Edora spewed a stream of hot, bright blue fire at one of the elite guard. The flames hit him in the back, and the Unseelie held her spell for a solid ten seconds. When she finally pulled away and let up her stream, the elf stood there as if nothing had even happened.
“What the fuck?” Edora growled.
“These tall MFers aren’t dying, Milton!” Kal added as she smashed her axe blade harmlessly into another Phobo’s back.
As I halted my gait and examined the deadly Phobos, I realized all of them had a strange gleam in their eyes. Their bodies were also surrounded by a strange, metaphysical shimmer.
It was the same glow that had surrounded Verituck.
“They’re possessed!” I yelled out the moment it dawned on me.
The rest of my team stopped their fruitless assault and ran over so they could form a small defensive cluster around my position.
We were face to face now, like two small armies against each other. My team was behind me as we stared down the ghost-like elves, who didn’t seem to have any interest in making the first move. The Seelie Queen and the two elves huddled in the corner, as far from the fight as they could possibly be.
“Okay, how do we get them un-possessed?” Maaren asked quickly. Her breath came in hot and heavy, and her white hair was messed up in the cutest way.
“Zolderon would have had to use a spell,” Danira muttered quickly. “These guards don’t seem to have a mind of their own. We need to kill Zolderon, and my guess is it’ll do away with these things, too.”
“Hive mind,” Kal chimed in. “I see that in my sci-fi shows all the time. Kill the leader, and the rest become harmless, empty shells.”
“HC, what happened with the spell?” Ariette demanded. “That should have worked.”
“I don’t know!” I growled and placed my hand on my gun.
“Those words literally translate to ‘kill ghost,’” Edora said, “but it can also be translated as ‘demolish ghost’ or ‘overthrow ghost.’ When you used the spell before, he was outside of any physical body, no?”
“You’re right!” I gasped. “So now that he’s inside of somebody’s body … ”
“It should work like a charm.” Edora nodded. “But you will surely need to make physical contact. A spirit doesn’t have blood to connect with, so you’ll need to make direct contact in order for your magic to work.”
I took in her words for a brief moment. I had no way to be sure she was absolutely right, but it made sense. My magic worked through blood. Someone who didn’t have blood would, theoretically, be immune to my spells.
It was certainly worth a shot.
“Alright, team. Keep these guys occupied,” I ordered. “I’ve got an evil spirit to kill.”
I leapt forward, but the evil elves all turned toward me. They were following their master’s direct orders, and I was sure they only cared about what I was about to do. My women surged forward around me, like a wall. The first elf tried to hack me with his machete, but Maaren leapt forward and parried with her axe.
I dashed forward, almost at the door, when a dark skinned elf with dead eyes tackled me sideways. I slammed to the ground, all the air thrown from my ribs, and I blindly threw an elbow at whatever I could. I made contact with the side of the elf’s face, but he was completely unaffected.
I flipped over onto my back and threw up a knee into my attacker’s stomach. His machete blade was placed against my cheek, and it slid up my face painfully as his body was tossed back off me. As we both stood to our feet, a large bead of blood began to run down my face and drip onto the floor.
The elf gripped his machete tightly, raised it above his head, and prepared to attack. Just then, Ariette came out of nowhere and slammed the hilt of her sword against his head. The blow didn’t do much damage, but it did cause him to stumble sideways and topple to the ground.
“Go!” Ariette ordered, and I nodded silently as I turned and dashed out of the room.
I looked back at my room full of friends, and I just hoped everyone would be fine until I could find Zolderon. They were strong, and badass, and I had every bit of faith in them and their powers.
But they were fighting something that couldn’t die. If I didn’t end this quickly, they would easily be outlasted by the undead.
I skidded down the narrow, dark hallway in search of Zolderon. The temperature dropped steadily, and I knew that was a sign I was getting closer. I burst through the tile door, into the grand foyer, and skidded on its slick floor. I glanced around wildly as I searched for the blue tunic, and then I caught the fabric out of the corner of my eye.
There he was. Zolderon, in the king’s body. That same inky black outline now surrounded the king as he headed calmly toward the entrance of the castle.
I dashed over the floor as the vibration of my Hand started up again, and I reached out to grab the bastard and put and end to his sorry existence.
But I didn’t get the chance.
Zolderon whipped around and threw his hand. My momentum halted, and my body flew back through the air. I smacked into the wall on the other side of the foyer before I could even register what happened. There was a sick crack somewhere deep in my shoulder, and pain flared up so much my vision swam as I tried to force myself to breathe.
Zolderon took a careful, painfully slow couple of steps toward me, and his face floated around my vision as he smiled, slow and malicious.
“So this is the powerful human prophesied to defeat me, huh?” he asked as he stopped a few feet short of me.
I started to regain my consciousness and pushed myself off the floor, but it was hard to concentrate with the pain that shot through my shoulder.
“You won’t win,” I managed to choke out, but even to my own ears it sounded like an empty threat.
“Oh,” he tutted and tilted his head in a fake pout, “but I already have. Soon, in this body, I can command the Seelie to do whatever I want. Humans and all the lesser races will take their place where they belong, under the boots of the Fae. And the best part? They will do it without a single hesitation. They must listen to their king, after all.”
The anger flared in me and overcame the immense pain I was in as every cell in my body vibrated violently again, and magic sprang into my body.
“You’re wrong, asshole,” I growled. “Not all of the Fae are radical bastards like you. They won’t just mindlessly follow your orders like one of your fucking ghost henchmen back there. The minute you call for humans and other races to be put down, they will rebel.”
Zolderon just shrugged. “Then I will find another host,” he suggested. “One that they will listen to.”
“You’re not gonna be possessing anyone, asshole,” I screamed as I lunged forward at the evil spirit.
Zolderon raised his hand once more, and my entire body froze in place. “Such gusto,” he snickered. “It’s almost a shame you have to die. You’d make an excellent ambassador to the humans. Or even better, a member of my elite guard. But you’re also a symbol, and as long as you’re alive, people will rally behind you. That’s why you must die. I’m not going to lie, Racmoth, I expect
ed a lot more out of you.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, ‘Your Highness,’” I growled.
Little did Zolderon know that he had fallen right into my trap. While he was distracted by his own monologue and holding my body in place, I was connecting with the fucker’s blood. He may not have had any, but the King certainly did.
In one swift motion, I used my Hand to pull Zolderon’s feet out from under his body. I immediately jumped on top of the Phobos leader and wrapped my arms around him in a violent bear hug. His nails clawed at my scalp and yanked on my hair, but I held him as tightly as I could as I ignored the screaming pain in my shoulder. Even if he froze me now, I was firmly attached to his body.
The magic pumped through my veins, and my entire being felt like it was on fire and being torn apart, bit by bit. At the exact same time, I summoned every ounce of strength I possibly could and threw all of my concentration into my Hand and my powers.
“ACWELLAN GAEST!” I shouted out, desperately loud.
Zolderon still struggled beneath me, but I had an iron grip on the frail body as my magic overtook my very being. I became a cloud of searing heat and vibration, and I felt this enormous wave of magic rise through my body, from my toes all the way to my head, before it pushed its way out through my hands, and into Zolderon.
And then everything went silent.
Zolderon froze, I froze, and it was as if time froze. The evil spirit peeled away from the king like an outer layer of skin and moved through me, a wave of icy air, before he hung suspended above me for a split second.
His eyes were wild and angry, but for the first time I saw a twinge of fear in his face.
That’s right, asshole. I beat you.
Zolderon’s face twisted into a pained grimace, and his spirit exploded into a cloud of midnight black dust that burst forth like a fireworks show.
I let out a happy chuckle and laid back on the tile floor, victorious. That was the last thing I remembered before my world went black.
Chapter Nineteen
I woke up as the Seelie forces from all the other guilds rushed in. Ariette, Danira, and Kalista stood over me with worried expressions, and there was a rush of activity all around.
“Oh, thank God, you’re awake!” Ariette exclaimed the second my eyes cracked open.
“What happened?” I asked as I sat up carefully. My entire body hurt in a massive, deep way, all the way down to my bones. “The last thing I remember was--”
“Careful, Milton!” Kal exclaimed as she tucked a hand behind my shoulder to help me up. The moment she did, sharp pain radiated out and down my back, and I grunted loudly.
“Not there,” I gritted out as I leaned my weight on my other arm. “I think it’s broken.”
“Lay him down, child,” Herm said gently from behind Kalista. The old wizard smiled softly at me and gave me a nod.
“The spell,” I started as my memory flooded back to me. “It didn’t work at first. I had to touch him for it to work. Why?”
“You have strong magic, Milton,” the wizard murmured, “but not strong enough to raise the blood of a dead man from the earth. Connection is key. Zolderon had no blood, so you had to make physical contact with the next best thing: the blood of the one he had possessed. It was only when your magic had a direct funnel to Zolderon that the spell would work.”
“Magic is more complex than calculus,” I chuckled. “But at least it’s over.”
“So was it really cool?” the dwarf demanded as she stepped away from me. “Did he explode and shit?”
“Kal, let him breathe a little first,” Danira grunted.
“Yeah,” I chuckled to the dwarf. “It was pretty damn cool.”
“We knew you did it as soon as those elves dropped to the floor,” Maaren said proudly. “They just froze up and then fell over like toppled statues.”
Seelie from all over rushed about the foyer. The king was nowhere to be seen.
“The king. Is he … ?” I started, but I couldn’t finish the sentence for fear of the answer.
“Alive,” Edora said quickly. “Weak, but alive. And I have to be honest, Milton, he looks a hell of a lot better than you do right now.”
“She’s right, HC, we better get you to the infirmary,” Ariette agreed as she looked down at me.
Danira motioned over two dwarf nurses with a stretcher, and they helped me onto it, not so gently.
“Hey, HC,” Ariette said as they started to hoist me into the air. “You were incredible.”
She leaned forward and planted a soft, warm kiss on my chapped lips. Ariette’s kiss was full of the emotion of the last week, and love flooded my heart as she pulled away and looked at me.
My entire team had stood behind me on this crazy mission, full of danger and terror, and come out the other side of it stronger than ever.
They all went back to help the wounded and the citizens of the capital as the dwarves bounced their way to the infirmary.
I figured out later that most of the Phobos army had been decimated by Kajul, as the dragon worked to help the Seelie and Unseelie troops. But the real takedown had come after I defeated Zolderon. According to the eyewitnesses, Hasen included, it was like every single member of the Phobos army had suddenly stopped, like some secret, subliminal message had told them that the war was over. They had dropped their weapons and surrendered peacefully. Most of them were now held in the same prison that had housed Kajul for all those years.
My shoulder was completely broken. The entire shoulder blade had been shattered when I slammed into the foyer wall. Thankfully, the Fae knew their way around a potion or two, and I was healed within two weeks, and ready to go home.
As for Zolderon, I had no idea what happened to him. Since he was already a spirit, my guess was he was gone for good. Absolute nothingness was a bitch, but it was still too good of a fate for such a heartless bastard.
It really had turned out the way the prophecy had foretold. When it came down to it, it was him and me, one on one.
And I had won.
It had been two weeks since that fateful day. Now, here my team stood, directly in front of a newly erected portion of the wall around the capital. The king had ordered an enormous mural to be painted on it in our honor, and the unveiling ceremony had turned into a huge deal. Fae from all over had travelled to see the team that had saved their king and defeated the greatest evil this realm had ever known.
I looked down the row next to me. We were all seated in beautiful golden chairs, right in front of the curtain. The artist, a famous Seelie painter by the name of Ocheas Vern, was the one to do the unveiling. He stood in front of his hidden creation, ready to reveal his artwork that would commemorate this event for all eternity.
Unless, of course, a giant army decided to roll through town and take down the wall again.
The Seelie king and queen were seated to my right, at the edge of the row. The king and I had barely spoken in the two weeks since Zolderon had possessed him. The extent of our conversations had been a brief visit while I was in the infirmary, with a lot of press and cameras, so he could thank me and honor me as a hero in person. Outside of that, I hadn’t seen much of him. He seemed changed, though, as if he floated around a shell of who he’d once been.
On my left, Ariette, Danira, Kalista, Maaren, and Edora were all seated with me in the beautiful golden chairs, with equally as beautiful dresses.
Ariette was in a gorgeous, dark green dress that halted at her inner thigh and showed off her cleavage. The garment was held up with a halter-like wrap around her neck, and it hugged her fit body in all the right ways.
Danira was in something more “business professional.” She wore a dress with black and white stripes that ran vertically up her body, and the garment itself was about knee-length. To top it all off, she wore a dark gray blazer on her upper body that really pulled the “commander” look together.
Kal’s outfit, on the other hand, was totally Kal. She was wearing a purple dress that matched her e
yes, but she admitted herself that it was over fifty years old. Still, it looked good on her. The dress had a plunging neckline that showed off her massive breasts playfully, and the train hung off her curvy ass like a cascading waterfall of purple.
Maaren and Edora both decided to go the traditional route. They wore the “formal” clothes of the Unseelie people, a dress made out of burlap. Still, they both put their own spin on the outfit. Maaren’s was much more modern in its design, with exposed shoulders and a loose hourglass shape. Edora’s, on the other hand, was styled almost like a sundress.
Ariette must have felt my gaze on her, and she turned to smile softly at me. Her blue eyes were bright, and for the first time in a long time, completely unbothered.
“Ready to be honored, Hero Complex?” she whispered excitedly to me.
“Always,” I replied with a chuckle. “Especially when it’s alongside you guys.”
“Guys,” Kal whispered quite loudly. “Look who’s here!”
I scanned the crowd and saw all of our friends. Herm, Sal and his family, Hasen … even Kajul and Storm had made it to the unveiling. But then, I saw a sight that made my heart jump into my throat.
It was fucking Arendor.
Even more shocking? He looked happy to be here.
“Finally!” I mouthed to the rest of my friends, and they all laughed.
The king rose on my right and hobbled up to the front, just under the curtain, so he could look out on the crowd behind us. A palace attendant, a young dwarf, dashed up on stage and handed the king a microphone before he dashed off in the opposite direction.
“Hello,” the king said softly and cleared his throat. “Thank you all for coming today. As you may well know, the heroes we honor saved not only my life, but this entire realm from a dark fate.”
A huge roar of cheers and applause rose up from the crowd behind us, and I shifted in my seat to turn and glance at the thousands of people as they clapped and cheered our names.
“Well, without further ado, I would like to reveal the masterpiece Mr. Ocheas Vern has created in their honor,” the king announced.