A Child of Two Worlds

by Mark Cole

  “Good morning, Beautiful. Have a good nap?” he asked with a big grin.

  She stared at him. “Too tired to hit you. Not funny.” She glanced around at the flashing lights. “Have to get out of here.”

  “Don’t worry. After I kill Azreal, I’ll get all of us out of here,” he said. She nodded. “Can you stand?” She nodded again, and he helped her up. Terra tested her balance and took a halting step. Alex put his arm under her shoulders and half-carried her. He was concerned for her, but there was nothing he could do right then.

  A clanking sound came from around a row of pods. It stopped when a humanoid robot on treads came into sight. Alex glanced behind and saw what looked like some kind of control panel.

  “What is that thing?” he asked pointing with his free hand at the robot. The machine lifted one of its arms toward them. Terra lurched to the side pulling them down another row of Extraction Pods. An explosion blew up the control panel. More sirens sounded as all of the pods began to drain and tubes were disconnected. Water was vented from the ceiling, cleansing the gel from the rousing occupants of the extraction pods.

  “Fyrian machina,” Terra said, her voice growing stronger. “The Architect was here.”

  Alex nodded. “Yeah, I met him.” More robots began to appear. When you are outnumbered, try to even up the odds. Alex shattered every pod he ran by.

  Beings of every shape, size, and race stumbled out of the broken glass. Everything coming out of the pods was dazed, but they came alert fast enough to cause chaos in their mass exodus. Alex saw the way down was blocked, but he wasn’t planning on leaving the way he came in. He spied the stairs up from the room and pushed their way toward them.

  Alex glanced at Terra as they ran up the stairs. She seemed to have more color than she did moments before, and her steps were much steadier. Good, he thought, she seems to be recovering very fast.

  “Alex,” she said. Her voice sounded normal. “I have something you need to hear.”

  “Now isn’t the best time.”

  “I know that,” Terra said. “They said we are going to have a girl.”

  Alex smiled. “Good. Let’s celebrate later.”

  “I just wanted to tell you in case we didn’t make it out of here.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Don’t talk like that. We will get out of here together. I promise,” he said as they entered a large room. More stairs went up on the opposite side. A large gateway arch was to their left with an empty throne across from it.

  Words like the ephemeral voice of a nightmare boomed throughout the room. “Don’t you know better than to make promises you can’t keep?” In the center of the room, a pale man with blood red hair and completely black eyes appeared. He was encased in glossy black platemail similar to a Daemon’s but lacking the spikes and protrusions.

  The Guardian didn’t need his wife’s sharp intake of air to know who the man in front of them was. His vision turned red with rage, and the Wrathblade flared. His voice was thick with hate when he spoke a single word as if it were a judge’s sentence.

  “Azreal.”

  The Demon Lord bowed with a flourish. “The very same. And you must be the Guardian. I admit, I do not know your name, but I find I don’t have much need for it, since you are about to die.” Black eyes, like twin bottomless pits of hatred and damnation, stared at Alex.

  “My name is Alex Zane, Demon,” the Guardian said. “I think it’s important to know the name of the man about to kill you.”

  The Overlord laughed. “You have no idea what you are getting yourself into, Human. You can’t kill me, not even with your shiny little sword. I have transcended what Fate has laid out for us. Always in the battle between life and death, good and evil, there has been balance. But now that balance has shifted. In my favor.”

  A blue haze filled the air around the Guardian. Azreal flicked his hand, and Alex felt a blast of energy slide over his hand holding the Wrathblade. If she hadn’t shielded me, I would have lost my hand, he thought. The Demon Lord glared at Terra with death in his eyes.

  “It seems the Architect was unable to drain all of your power, Nexus. But that will be remedied soon. The Obsidian Tower slowly drains the life force of all its inhabitants and transfers it to me. The machines simply accelerate the process.”

  The glowing, sapphire light enveloped Terra as well. A sudden assault of energy pummeled the shield from all sides. Every blow of telekinetic energy was deflected. Gouts of black stone erupted from the pure force hitting it.

  “I can’t keep this up forever,” Terra said through gritted teeth. Her voice was tight with concentration and strain. “Do something, Alex. I’ll keep the shield for as long as I can.”

  The Guardian charged across the gap between them with such speed everything seemed a blur. Blasts of energy buffeted him as he rushed the Overlord. He roared and swung his blade with all his might at the demon’s head. Flames leapt high, and the tip of the sword whistled through the air.

  Azreal casually caught the blade in the palm of his hand. The flames along the length of the Wrathblade went out. He clicked his tongue and shook his head at Alex. “Did you really think the blade wrought from the fires of my own Realm would harm me?

  “Fool,” he said as he wrenched the blade from the Guardian’s hands. It reverted back to the inert wooden form. The Demon Lord tossed the Guardian’s Blade away. It clattered across the glossy stone floor.

  Azreal’s weight shifted as he launched a wide punch at the side of Alex’s head. He got his arm up in time to block the blow, but the Guardian did not account for the Overlord’s enhanced strength. He was blasted from his feet and did three quarters of a turn in the air before crashing down on his side.

  “Since my powers won’t work on you because of the Nexus,” Azreal said as he walked toward the downed man.

  Alex lay on the floor in a daze. It was difficult to think, and his vision swam. Feet encased in black platemail filled his vision. A powerful kick to his head sent the Guardian spinning across the floor. His helmet came loose when his stomach slammed into something unyielding.

  The thorium plate that protected his chest caved in. He rolled onto his stomach and groaned. A boot pressed onto his back as he tried to get up. “I’ll just kill you with my own two hands,” the Overlord finished saying.

  “Champion of the People of Dae indeed,” Azreal sneered. A cold hand grabbed the back of Alex’s head and slammed his face into the black stone floor. Blood spattered from his broken nose, and his vision faded to black. He fought the encroaching darkness as footsteps moved away from him.

  “Alex!” Terra shouted. The fear in her voice cut through the fog like a torch. He stumbled to his feet. He looked up in time to see his wife barely dodge a punch to her midsection. The rage on her face seemed feral as her wings snapped open. They shone brighter than they had before.

  He watched as the Paragons engaged in a fight both magical and physical. The air cracked with the sounds of the assault as the two punched, kicked, and blocked the other’s empowered blows.

  The Guardian’s Blade lay against the gateway arch. He scrambled over and lifted it from the ground. Any advice? he asked, but the blade was silent. The Guardian ran to his wife’s aid. He swung the wooden sword at Azreal’s back, but it stopped before it even touched the black platemail.

  The Overlord of Hell landed a powerful backhand across Terra’s face, and she went down hard. The shielding blue haze faded. Alex tried to swing at Azreal again, but a blast of energy sent him flying across the room.

  He slammed into the opposite wall and was bound to it with bonds of energy so black they seemed to suck the light from the room. Alex struggled against the binding darkness, but he was firmly stuck with the Guardian’s Blade across his chest.

  “I’ll deal with you in a moment,” Azreal said pointing at him. “After I take care of the Nexus.” The Demon Lord faced Terra and began swinging his arms at her. Helpless, Alex watched as blood pumped freely from wounds appearing all over h
er body. His wife screamed in pain.

  “Stop!” Alex shouted.

  Azreal turned and faced him. “Or what, Guardian?” he asked with a wicked smile. “What will you do? Tell me to stop again? Don’t you worry. I won’t kill her… yet.” He began to turn back to Terra when something fast, large, and black slammed into him. The Demon Lord was knocked from his feet by the angry ebony blur.

  Claws flashed red, and Alex realized Caitlyn had launched herself at the Overlord. For a moment, he was hopeful they would survive. But faster than he could see, Azreal did something to the changeling that made her vomit blood. The Demon Lord tossed her across the room with no more effort than he would have shown a rag doll. Blood pooled around her limp form. We are all going to die here.

  Azreal walked back to Terra and began flaying her again. Her screams filled Alex’s heart and mind with anguish and rage. He felt the same power he had when he saw the slaughtered children at Highwind point and again at the Gap of Druun when he found out Terra had been taken.

  It called to him, rushed to him. It flooded into him like a crashing wave. It filled him like a cleansing fire. The power built in him, threatening to overwhelm him, but he drew it on further. He felt the raw energy fill his body until every fiber of his being screamed in agony.

  Alex roared with the awesome power flowing through him. The searing pain knifed through his mind as the mysterious energy ripped through him. A sudden blast of force blew out the wall he was bound to, and pale gray light from outside filtered into the tower. He knelt on the floor, looking at his reflection in the obsidian. Something about his face was different, but he couldn’t place it.

  He slowly stood and gazed across the room, oddly at peace. He held the Guardian’s Blade loosely in hand. The grip was different than the ones to which he had grown accustomed. He glanced down. A blade of glowing green energy three feet in length shone from a silvery metal hilt.

  a calm, male voice whispered into his mind.

  “Impossible,” Azreal shouted as the Guardian strode toward him. “You can’t have demonic power! You are human!” The Overlord of Hell stumbled backward and hit the wall behind him.

  The Guardian drew near the demon and grabbed him by the back of the neck. He didn’t know why, but Azreal’s blows didn’t seem strong at all. The Guardian looked into the demon’s eyes. They were solid in color, the mark of a demon, and black as night, the mark of the Overlord. He drove the sword of light into Azreal’s diaphragm. Hot, black blood spilled over his hand. “It is done,” the Guardian said.

  Azreal grunted in pain and coughed up more of the black blood. “I know what you are,” the Demon Lord said with a smile. His pointed teeth were stained with blood. “You will pay for this, half-breed. I will see you again, nephew.”

  “And I’ll be waiting,” Alex said.

  The Overlord of Hell faded to mist as his corporeal form faded way. Mocking laughter echoed through the room, but like Azreal, it faded away too.

  Alex strode to the Obsidian Throne and, with a mighty blow, sliced it in half. The tower began to rumble as it destabilized around him. Sheathing his blade, he walked to his wife. She was unconscious and bleeding from numerous wounds. He lifted Terra and cradled her as he walked to Caitlyn.

  Alex lifted Caitlyn’s form on a bed of force and strode to the gateway arch. He touched the side of the arch. A shimmering golden portal opened on the plains just over a half-mile away. Floating Caitlyn through the gateway first, the man carried his wife to safety.

  Chapter Twenty-three - The Way the World Ends

  Alex lowered the bed of force that held Caitlyn aloft. She settled gently into the dead, brown grass. He knelt and lowered his wife to the ground as well. Her eyes were open. She looked at him.

  “Alex,” she whispered. “Your eyes are green.”

  “I know.” Alex realized what had been different in his reflection. His eyes were now solid green in color with no pupil or white. “I’m a half-breed like you,” he said with a soft tone and smile. “You are dying, my love. Be quiet so I can heal you.”

  Terra shook her head weakly. “No, you will die.”

  “I don’t care about that,” he said with force. “I won’t just stand here and watch you die!”

  “And I won’t watch you die either.” She waved her hand toward Caitlyn. Blood from her fingers dripped into the dead grass. “I would rather die with you, than live without you.”

  Alex let out a deep breath. He understood. The half-demon stood and walked to his dying friend. He lifted Caitlyn’s large head. He sent a probe of energy into her primal form. She had significant damage to her internal organs. He gritted his teeth against the expected onslaught of pain.

  He pushed his energy into Caitlyn and used it to draw her injuries into himself. He trembled with the blazing agony that roared through his body. In a few eternal seconds, it was over. He coughed and blood dripped from his mouth. Alex rose and stumbled to his wife.

  She looked up at him from the grass. “Will she live?” Alex nodded. She said something too quiet for him to hear. He fell to his knees beside her and leaned in close. “Will you kiss me? Before it’s too late?” she whispered.

  Alex wiped the blood from his mouth with the palm of his hand. He placed his left hand gently on her stomach and kissed her lips one last time. Her eyes fluttered closed.

  A feeling of energy drew his gaze to his bloody hand. It was still perched softly on her midsection. A dawning realization settled on him. The baby! he thought. Panic seared through him. He tried to summon the remainders of his newfound powers but none would come.

  “I’m sorry, Terra,” he said. “I couldn’t save you. I couldn’t save myself. I couldn’t save our baby.” A tear fell from his cheek. It landed on the pommel of the Guardian’s Blade. Alex reached down to wipe the tear from the metal disc inscribed with the interconnected rings of the Nine Realms.

  When his fingers touched the hilt of his sword, he was temporarily blinded by a flash of light. He felt a smooth wooden shaft in his hands. His vision returned slowly. Alex loosely held a staff made of the purest white wood he had ever seen.

  a woman’s gentle voice echoed in his head.

  Alex remembered the time he had talked to Michael. ‘Your empathy will save her,’ Michael had said.

  “Please, I have to help her,” Alex begged. He had to hurry before the last vestiges of his energy faded.

  A split-second’s hesitation from the Voice of Empathy.

  “I don’t care. She is everything to me. She is pregnant with my daughter. I will not stand by while my world ends around me.”

  The staff began to shine. Alex’s vision dimmed.

  Terra awoke to find Alex slumped on the ground next to her, and the Guardian’s Blade clenched in his fist. Her white shift was shredded, but every wound on her body was gone as if they had never been. “No, Alex!” she shouted. “What did you do?” She pulled him over to her.

  Terra cried as she cradled his head on her lap. She wrapped her wings protectively around, enclosing the two of them in a glowing blue shell. “You can’t die here. You promised we would go together.” Tears stole her voice, and she couldn’t bring herself to say more.

  Blood from the wounds he had taken upon himself coated Alex’s brown hair and sun-tanned skin. Blood pumped freely from the hundreds of gashes. His shallow gasps told her each breath could be his last. Terra knew she would never see his green eyes smile at her again.

  A breeze rose up, and the tall, brown grass around them swayed. A fleeting break in the clouds allowed a single shaft of sunlight to bathe them in a luminous glow. Light glinted off of his sword pommel making the red hair hanging in front of her face glow with fiery light. Tears sparkled like diamonds as they fell from her jaw, landing on his forehead.

  “Why did you do it?” she whispered. “Why? Why did you…” The last words choked off in a sob. “Better if we had died than have to go on without
you.”

  Terra felt, more than heard, a deep humming in the air. She tore her eyes away from his face and looked up to see the Obsidian Tower explode in a bright white beam.

  Motes of light broke free from the beam and floated to the ground. Everywhere a gleaming spark of light, of life, landed, grass greened and wildflowers bloomed in a riot of color.

  “It worked,” she said, her tone bittersweet happiness intertwined with sorrow. “Life is returning to Dae.”

  A flurry of motes settled in around them. Hundreds drew into Alex. He gasped, and his eyes shot open. They were solid green with no pupil or white. “It hurts,” he panted. The flow of blood that had slowed grew stronger again at his renewed but fading vitality.

  “Alex!” Terra shouted. “You have to hold on. I can get help.” Caitlyn padded over to them on unsteady legs. “Caitlyn, Alex is dying. Get help!”

  The changeling’s eyes shot open and clarity flooded into her mind at those words. With a single glance at them, she nodded and began a lurching step toward where the army should be. Her pace evened and quickened. Caitlyn flew for help like a black arrow loosed from a bow. Terra prayed she wouldn’t be too late.

  “No time, my love,” Alex said. He coughed, and blood essayed from his mouth.

  “No!” Terra screamed. “You won’t leave me! How could you, Alex! Why?”

  He coughed. More blood. “Couldn’t watch you die. Couldn’t watch both of you die,” he said. His eyes, like twin emeralds, glanced at her belly. “Not when I could stop it.” He coughed again, less blood this time. “I love you, Terra Duval, my wife.”

  “I love you too, Alex Zane, my husband,” she sobbed. Tears fell onto his cheek, making clear runnels through the blood.

  “Don’t be sad, Beautiful.” Alex smiled, his solid green eyes looking up at her. He let out a weak, rasping breath and drew no more.

  Life returned around her. Flowers bloomed with life, a perfume of joy filling the air.

  She smelled only his blood.

  The breeze grew stronger. The air was sweet.