Hells Magic (The Armistice Book 1)

by Leslie Vatenar

  “I don’t know how to do everything yet.”

  “And you think you can compete with Craid?”

  “Yes,” Jayden replied confidently.

  The Reaper threw her arms in the air, displeased. Okay, I was starting to doubt too. He was powerful, yes, but Craid seemed more experienced and that detail could make all the difference.

  “You’re going to get yourself killed! When Craid kills you, you will hear me say, ‘I told you.’”

  “We have to try. Maybe you can teach him,” I said.

  The Reaper remained completely still. Then the information went up to her brain and she resumed her exclamations.

  “I use necromancer magic and I pass through the Hells before returning to the real world, you idiot.”

  “It must be the same principle when creating portals on Earth,” Jayden said.

  “You’re crazy.”

  “You’d have to be crazy to attack Craid anyway. Wouldn’t you? Because last time I checked, he was using you like a puppet. Did you rebel?” I asked.

  “I couldn’t,” she replied, her teeth clenched.

  Her anger was evident. However, even if she looked at me, I could swear this anger wasn’t intended for me. I felt like she was angry at herself.

  “Excuse me. You’re Death and, apparently, you enjoy all the trips you want. You could have asked someone else for help. But you don’t want to challenge him. Madness is our only chance. Stop spitting on those who are probably going to set you free and start helping us. If Craid is stopped, you get your heart back, no more blackmail and you’ll be free; that was the deal.”

  “You can’t learn how to make a portal in five seconds, it doesn’t work that way. You need the right instructions. Open a bad portal and you’ll find yourself at the bottom of a blue hole.”

  “I have to try,” Jayden insisted.

  “Well, fine, whatever you want. Craid was able to create a portal without being spotted by the Armistice magical defenses. We have to do the same thing. You have to do exactly what I tell you.”

  Liam and I went to sit on the hood of the car, which parked in the middle of the road. At this hour, weren’t in danger of running into many people.

  “Don’t think of a black hole and everything will be fine,” Liam said, raising his thumb. “Nor of a blue hole,” he added a few seconds later. “Nor of any colored hole. Don’t think about holes outright.”

  Liam nodded, eyes closed, confident that he was helping Jayden.

  The Reaper belittled his efforts. “The more you tell him not to think of holes the more he’ll think of them,” she said, her voice hoarse and threatening.

  She always seemed annoyed. We couldn’t be such a bad company. Just a varied cocktail, nothing very hard to digest.

  “Lesson number one. You need to know where you’re going and to have been there.”

  “Okay.”

  “Now close your eyes, it will be simpler. Imagine it. Preferably not directly in front of Craid.”

  The Reaper was circling Jayden while he did what she said. “Now call your magic. Use the details of your memories to create a link between you and this place. It’s like there’s a thread that connects you to the Armistice. Imagine this thread. Thin or thick, red, green, yellow, whatever. Hold it in your hand. Are you there?”

  “Yes.”

  “This thread is magical; it’s soaked in your magic. It leads you straight to the Armistice. It’s your mental GPS. Once you have established this thread, call on your magic to represent this thread in the form of a portal. Lead it to do what you want. Find yourself in the place you imagine. Add as much detail as possible, and establish an emotional connection with this place. What does it remind you of?”

  Anger suddenly appeared on Jayden’s features. His fists shook and his power increased in intensity.

  “It’s a bad idea,” Liam said, suddenly worried.

  “Not as much magic. Take it easy. Your power must be precise and rigorous.”

  But Jayden didn’t seem to hear anymore. Blue flames ran through his arms until they reached his neck and head.

  “What the fuck?” The Reaper exclaimed.

  “Jay! Take it easy!” Liam said.

  The Reaper also seemed to be alarmed. She backed off a few steps. “Stop it!”

  Jayden opened his eyes. They were an intense blue, and a mist of the same color surrounded his body. The earth under our feet shook as much as the trees; the wind had risen strangely. A thunderbolt startled us.

  The mist was getting dangerously close to Liam and me, and when I saw a few flashes of lightning going through it at times, I realized I didn’t want to touch it. It was as beautiful as it was lethal. Like the man who mastered it.

  “And to say we were afraid he’d die. At this rate, we’re the ones who risk dying,” I said as panic gripped me.

  Liam got up and somersaulted. He landed in front of Jayden, avoiding the mist. The Reaper and I kept going backward.

  “You’re going to kill Katy!” Liam said as he shook Jayden.

  Jayden immediately came out of his trance. His eyes returned to normal. The earth ceased to tremble, the mist dispersed then disappeared. The wind subsided. When Jayden saw me, he calmed down, closing his eyes, relieved.

  “You know what, I’m going to compliment myself thinking that if I had shouted, ‘You’re going to kill me,’ it’d have stopped you too,” Liam said.

  He sighed while The Reaper maintained a firm and predatory attitude.

  “It’s not for you that you’re a danger, it’s for others. We’ll try again; if it doesn’t work out and you do another scene like that, you’ll never get my help again.”

  Jayden nodded. He resumed his position, his concentration upped to the maximum. But The Reaper didn’t talk anymore, she stared at Jayden. It was impossible to know what she was thinking.

  “You’re much more than you seem,” she murmured after a few seconds.

  “Of course,” he replied.

  The Reaper continued to look at him with her dark and intense eyes, without saying a word. It seemed to me this wasn’t the answer she was waiting for.

  Liam patted Jayden on the back with a broad smile. “Come on, buddy. It was perfect, except you don’t go into a trance and you don’t try to kill us. You’re doing just fine.”

  “That’s totally untrue,” The Reaper said.

  “No kidding,” Jayden replied.

  “This time, let’s try without any emotion.”

  “Maybe I can give it a try,” I suggested. “The portals are made of magical energy. I can control energy.”

  The Reaper whirled toward me. “Okay, we’ll try with her.”

  She didn’t hide that she didn’t want to repeat the experience of earlier.

  “Do you agree?” I asked.

  “You have exemplary control over your powers. Go ahead,” Jayden replied.

  “Don’t think I’m going to repeat all the blah-blah,” The Reaper said.

  Fortunately, I remembered what she had said. I summoned my powers as I created my thread connecting me to the Armistice. It was green near me, but it became red as it approached the Armistice.

  I called my power to represent this link as a portal. I imagined myself passing through this portal.

  After two hours of work filled with repetitive failures, with a good dose of prayer and determination, I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

  “Perfect!” The Reaper exclaimed.

  When I opened my eyes, I saw that I had created the portal. The garden in front of the Armistice stood right there in front of us.

  “Now shut it.”

  CHAPTER 19

  “We must have a solid plan or one foot at the Armistice will cause us all to die.”

  Liam smiled. “So, it’s a good thing we have Death on our side.”

  “Don’t count on me to save your ass.”

  “You’ve just become useless.”
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  “You’ve been useless from the beginning.”

  A black mist appeared around Liam’s body as The Reaper clenched her scythe. Jayden’s cold gaze swept over the scythe and the Reaper. The message couldn’t be clearer. The Reaper hesitated. She put away her scythe. May the poor soul who dared touch Liam rest in peace; Jayden protected him like his brother.

  Liam grinned like a child before The Reaper’s defeat.

  “I have a plan,” Jayden said.

  He explained his plan to us and we all agreed.

  “I have to get reinforcements. It kills me to admit it, but the killjoy is right. I should have been looking for help from the beginning.”

  With these words, The Reaper disappeared. She reappeared an hour later. “Let’s go.”

  “Where is the reinforcement you were talking about?” I asked.

  “It won’t be long.”

  Liam’s eyes shone with a menacing intensity. He didn’t like it and I couldn’t blame him. The Reaper had been close to killing me. She remained dangerous, unpredictable, and intelligent. I hoped that she wasn’t also a traitor.

  The only thing that reassured us was the blood pact she had made with Jayden. Otherwise, we’d never have left her unattended.

  “One last thing,” Jayden whispered with his head bowed.

  He raised his head, his eyes shining a mesmerizing blue. Then his hand shot to The Reaper’s neck. “If anything happens to them because of you, I’ll make sure you meet your creator.”

  “Good luck with that,” The reaper replied, clenching her scythe in her right hand. “You know I could rip your heart out without even touching you?”

  Death was a fearsome warrior. She had been surprised by Jayden’s power, and we had neutralized her. However, I didn’t want to tempt the devil again. I knew we would have a hard time keeping all our members if we were to fight her again.

  “Could you?” Liam gasped, his eyebrows raised on his forehead showing his sincere astonishment.

  The Reaper smiled at him and I swore that it was the most disturbing smile I had seen. “Do you want me to show you?”

  “Nah. Where’s the fun if you don’t touch me?” He winked.

  Jayden released The Reaper with a sadistic smile.

  Without wasting time, I created the portal.

  “Until now, we could never stick to our original plans,” I said in front of the portal, my heart pounding in my chest.

  “The plans reassure, but on the field, there is only the struggle to survive,” Liam replied.

  We all went through the portal.

  We arrived inside the Armistice, or rather what Craid had done with it. The splendid walls adorned with artistic paintings in cheerful and diverse colors were now stained with blood and dust. The inky red color dominated a place that inspired victory, beauty, and grandeur.

  The ceiling was so high it resembled a sky decorated with frescoes that represented the triumph of battles, the wisdom of the Order members and the power of united people. The frescoes had an extraordinary number of symbols. It would have taken days to analyze the complexity of these masterpieces. Every object, every animal, every character present had a crucial role.

  I had discerned the symbols of the Order: the flower of life for mages, a griffin screaming for shapeshifters and a skeleton armed with a sword for necromancers. Each painting represented a story, and each of them had at least one of these symbols.

  “He’s in the principal room. Over here,” The Reaper said.

  She showed us the main entrance. But a thick black mist came out of that same entrance and headed straight toward us.

  “And he knows we’re here,” she added.

  The mist became wider, encircling us. It was impossible to see anything. The mist had filled the entire space of the grand room.

  I called my magic and, raising both my hands in the air, I created a force field that protected us from this mist, which didn’t look like a welcome gift.

  The force field formed a wall around us. Then I deployed an energy bolt through the force field that unleashed its power throughout the room. The mist disappeared.

  I heard noises coming in our direction. Then, a few seconds later, an entire army of Hells soldiers presented themselves to us, red eyes and fire swords brandished.

  “Liam,” Jayden said.

  Liam’s smile was radiant. “Like in the good old days.”

  “The fun begins now,” The Reaper said.

  I was the only one who wasn’t excited about this fight. It looked like I was the crazy one.

  Liam knelt, his eyes fixed on the soldiers. He snarled and it turned into a ferocious roar as his body became a… huge lion. A… lion. A black lion with bright green eyes. Black smoke emanated from his animal body.

  Jayden called his Hells dogs and they joined Liam. He was smaller than Jayden’s dogs but as terrifying as them. No words could describe my shock. The show was unimaginable.

  Even The Reaper stopped, taken aback. “Do you have other surprises like that?”

  Liam growled, as did Jayden’s hellhounds. The Reaper pulled out her scythe, and they all went against Craid’s army. The chaos began.

  In one swift movement, The Reaper had cut four Hells soldiers with her deadly weapon. Liam was clawing and shredding everything in his path. His mighty roars pierced the silence of the night. He was fast, fierce, and for the first time, I saw the danger he represented. Jayden’s hellhounds left no room for their opponents either; intense flames escaped from their mouths and decimated the Hells soldiers.

  “We have to find another entrance,” Jayden said.

  “Uh… I have a pretty crazy idea, but given how things are going, maybe it’s a rational idea after all.”

  I directed him to the exit. Before us, the main facade of the Armistice stood in all its grandeur.

  “Can you fly?” I asked him.

  “In theory, no.

  “And in practice?”

  “Still no.”

  “You can control the air, but you can’t fly. But what are we going to do with you?”

  “With Logi, Felagi and that”—he showed his devastating flames and my heart leaped into my chest, alerted by the power of the flames and the danger that emanated from them—“I can defeat anyone, I don’t need more. I use my magic to attack and protect myself from enemy attacks. Why would I learn to fly? I can create tornadoes if you want, but using the air to lift only the two of us is risky because I’ve never done it.”

  “The only other entrance is this window.”

  “I know, I know. Okay, come here,” he said, kneeling.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “I can climb it.”

  “With me on your back? No way. Another plan, I create a bolt of energy powerful enough to propel us up there.”

  “It’s an idea,” he confirmed as he got up. “As long as you don’t miss. If we were to get higher or lower, it would be quite difficult for you to create a flexible force field that could catch us while we fall.”

  “No pressure at all.”

  “Not at all. What could be worse? You miss, we die. It’s as simple as that.” His gaze was still riveted on the top window.

  “It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve come close to death.”

  “I’d rather have a brush with it than meet it.”

  “I see you trust me,” I said, through gritted teeth.

  He extended his hand. “Come on, princess.”

  I took it and called my powers to create the bolt. However, I realized that with the access I had to his power, my only restriction was my imagination. I had to think bigger. Think about the impossible. Energy manipulation was my dominant power, so I could use it to its full potential. What if I could create a force field around us to get us to the window? I closed my eyes and concentrated.

  My magic surrounded us. I remained tense and focused, imagining in every detail the result I wanted to achieve. Jayden’s pow
er spread through me and helped me create the magic bubble I imagined.

  “We’re there,” he whispered.

  He opened the window and entered while holding my hand. He pulled me toward him as soon as his feet touched the ground. The sudden movement propelled me against him, and my cheek met his muscular chest. He caught me by the arms and looked out the window.

  “Handy.”

  “It’d kill you to tell me I did a good job?”

  “That would indeed be painful.”

  I pushed him, stunned. Stunned because he’d never change and amazed that I liked him like that. We’d arrived in the reception room, but there was no trace of Craid.

  Craid, a dangerous mage; a bloodthirsty, soulless killer. The farther I went the more every neuron in my brain screamed at me to get out of there, and every part of my body seemed in tune with that wise decision.

  Then a masterful idea came to mind.

  “I should have brought a gun,” I whispered.

  “Do you know how to use a gun?”

  “No.”

  Jayden gave me a look that said, Well done, Katy, you’re a genius.

  Well, that was the look he had in my head. In fact, it was rather an overwhelmed look.

  “You also don’t know how to perfectly use your powers, I remind you,” I said, annoyed.

  We crept toward the door leading to the main hall.

  The two largest rooms were the principal room and the reception room. Each had two imposing chandeliers and white beams. The burgundy tapestries and paintings of the former members of the Order added authenticity to these two rooms with refined decor. They exuded a warm and luxurious atmosphere.

  The bedlam next door, caused by Liam and the others against the soldiers, concealed our footsteps.

  “Yes, but it’s better than using an object I haven’t mastered at all. Guns are for cowardly humans, Katy.”

  “But effective, you have to admit.”

  “As long as you aim well. There’s no way in hell I’m putting such a weapon in your hands. It would be a disaster for any living being.”

  “Are you afraid I’ll accidentally shoot you?”