by James Riley
She looked disappointed. “I cannot use my teeth or flames? That is hardly a hunt as I understand them.”
“If it comes to teeth and flames, I think we’ve already lost,” Fort told her. “Also, whatever you do, stay away from Rachel’s sword, okay? It can really hurt you.”
“So I should burn her if she gets too close, then?” Ember asked, sounding a little too hopeful for Fort’s liking.
“Not even by accident, Ember,” he said, giving her a stern look. “Promise me.”
She sighed. “I won’t burn the sword girl.”
“Or the other one! Don’t hurt Jia or Rachel in any way. Promise!”
“Fine! I will not harm any of the humans, or use my teeth or fire on the eternal one. Unless it becomes necessary, correct?” She looked up at him with such hope that he couldn’t help but smile.
“Fair enough,” he told her. “Just be careful, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt.”
She laughed hard at this, which didn’t make him feel any better. “Whatever you say, Father.”
“Okay, I’m opening the portal… now,” Fort said, and did just that.
Without a moment’s pause, Ember leaped into the air, flying straight through the portal with Fort just behind her. They emerged behind a cloaked figure that floated a few feet above the ground. That had to be the Timeless One.
Right in front of the figure, Jia and Rachel both looked ready to fight, with Rachel aiming Excalibur at the Old One.
“Now!” Fort shouted, and Ember released a burst of blue light right at the cloaked figure’s back. At the same time, Fort shouted, “Freeze!” in the language of magic, hoping that would paralyze the Timeless One.
Ember’s and Fort’s spells hit the Old One at the same time, and the cloaked figure toppled to the ground, unmoving. It landed hard in the dirt and rock, and just lay there as Rachel and Jia stared in surprise.
“I’m here to help!” Fort shouted, running over to them. “Rachel, now’s the time. Can you get to him?”
But neither of the girls moved. As Fort reached them, he turned to look behind him, wondering what was going on.
The cloak on the ground was dissolving away into black light, leaving nothing behind.
There hadn’t been anything beneath it.
“You can’t surprise someone who can see through time,” Rachel whispered to him as she turned in a circle. “Where did he go?”
“Fort, what are you doing here?” Jia asked, morphing herself in various places. First dragon wings much like Damian’s grew out of her back, and her fingers merged together to form hard, scale-covered fists. Her arm muscles increased to something beyond a bodybuilder’s, while huge fangs grew from her mouth. Entirely creepy all around, but exactly the kind of person Fort wanted by his side against an Old One.
“I’m here to face him with you,” he told them. “I couldn’t let you do this alone. And I can help, I promise!”
“And if we lose because of you?” Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, Merlin sounded pretty clear.…”
“He had rules to follow,” Fort told her, ignoring what she was implying about his lack of power. “You two just have to trust me, okay?”
“Can we discuss this when we’re not facing an Old One?” Jia said. “He’s here somewhere. He brought us here for a reason.”
“YES, I DID,” said a voice behind them. Ember whirled and launched herself at it as Fort and the others turned, but the little dragon was far too slow: The Timeless One caught her in a Time spell and froze her in place, the beginnings of a plume of fire emerging from her mouth. “I WANTED YOU TO SEE YOUR FUTURE.”
As Fort saw the Timeless One for the first time, he felt a horrible chill go down his spine. The creature seemed to have no body, and not much of a face, only a sort of melting infinity sign where his eyes would be. One hand emerged from the mostly empty cloak in a vicious-looking metal glove, while the other seemed to be entirely made of bone.
“Whatever this is, it’ll never happen to our world,” Rachel shouted at him, aiming Excalibur at the Timeless One.
“AH, BUT YOU DON’T GET IT,” the Timeless One said. “THIS IS YOUR WORLD, NOT EVEN A YEAR FROM YOUR PRESENT. THIS IS THE WORLD I HAVE MADE, AND ONE THAT YOU CANNOT AVOID.” He waved a hand, almost proudly. “YOU SEE, THIS IS THE WORLD WHERE MY FAMILY HAS RETURNED.”
And off in the distance, several glows appeared on the horizon: orange, red, and yellow. The colors of Spirit, Elemental, and Mind magic.
- THIRTY-EIGHT -
IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!” Rachel shouted, though Fort saw her looking off into the distance at the light of the other Old Ones nervously. “I don’t care if we’re ready to fight you or not, we will take you down.” She stepped forward, Excalibur shining in the burning sun.
“We have to get him before the others arrive,” Fort said quietly to the others.
“OH, THEY WON’T INTERFERE,” the Timeless One said. “THAT WOULD BE AGAINST THE RULES. BUT DON’T WORRY—YOU STILL WON’T WIN. DIDN’T MERLIN EXPLAIN? WHATEVER YOU DO TO ME NOW, THE FUTURE IS SET. I HAVE ENSURED MY FAMILY WILL RETURN, WHETHER I’M AROUND FOR IT OR NOT. YOUR DRAGON FRIEND DAMIAN HAS ALREADY FOUND THE SIX BOOKS AND OPENED A PORTAL TO MY FAMILY’S WORLD. THIS IS THE RESULT OF HIS BATTLE WITH THEM.”
Fort’s eyes narrowed. Well, that basically confirmed his worst suspicions, which made him doubly glad he was here.
“It can still be changed,” Jia said, her hammerlike hands glowing with blue magic. “If we have to find the book of Time magic ourselves, we’ll fix this!”
The Timeless One began to laugh. Rachel growled in fury, then leaped straight at him, the ground beneath her feet rising up to push her to his level. She swung Excalibur at him, but the Timeless One disappeared in a blur of black light.
He instantly appeared behind her, and she tried to swing out with the sword, but the earth holding her up began to crumble with age, infused with the Old One’s Time magic. She started to fall, and the Timeless One swung out with his gloved hand—
Only to pass right through her.
Rachel grinned. “I’ve been practicing, you old jerk,” she said, then gestured.
A circle of Rachels appeared all around them, each one holding a sword, all aimed at the Old One.
“ILLUSION? WELL DONE, CHILD, YOU’VE LEARNED TO MIX ELEMENTAL AND MIND MAGICS,” the Timeless One said, and Fort’s eyes widened. This was what Rachel had been training in? “BUT ILLUSIONS CAN’T HURT ME.”
“Maybe not,” all the Rachels said together. “But they can sure distract you.”
The Timeless One spun around at her words and struck out with his armored hand. Someone invisible cried out in pain, and the real Rachel dropped to the ground, nursing her now wounded arm.
“No!” Jia shouted, and her body split into a dozen copies, each one heavily armored and sprinting at the Old One. Was this another illusion? But no, the first one struck the Old One, who defended himself with a bubble of Time magic, much like the one the Carmarthen Academy students had made. The second Jia struck, and the third, and each one’s blow struck the bubble.
But how was she doing it?
The last Jia looked over at Fort, now that there was no room left to attack the Old One. “Golems,” she said with a smile, and Fort finally understood: This wasn’t Jia here, but a life-sized puppet, one she’d just duplicated using the same magic.
“AWAY!” the Old One shouted, and the golems began to disintegrate with age, falling apart before Fort’s eyes, a shroud of darkness appearing where he’d been floating.
“Can’t see the future… if you can’t see,” Rachel said from the ground, then used the rock beneath her to push herself to her feet. Once again, she turned invisible.…
But she reappeared as time reversed itself completely. The shroud of darkness disappeared, and this time, the Timeless One appeared next to the final Jia golem, his armored hand holding her in the air.
“SURRENDER, OR SHE WILL PAY FOR YOUR ARROGANCE,” he said
to Rachel.
“That’s not really her, genius!” Rachel shouted, but Fort could tell that his threatening even a golem that looked like Jia had enraged her.
“THIS MAY NOT BE HER, BUT SHE IS CONNECTED TO IT,” the Old One said, and slowly disintegrated the golem. “WHICH MEANS I CAN FIND HER, EVEN THROUGH YOUR ILLUSION.”
Again time reversed, but this time only for the golem, spiraling backward until Jia appeared out of nowhere, holding a tiny doll in her hands. Rachel must have cloaked her in illusion to keep her safe.
“No!” Rachel shouted, and tried to use the ground to hurl herself between the Timeless One and Jia, but the rock fell apart beneath her as the Old One aged it into nonexistence.
“Don’t worry, Rachel!” Jia shouted. “The Old Ones hate Healing magic, remember?” Her hands lit up with blue light. “I’m going to make him wish he’d never been born in the future!”
The Timeless One’s face broke into a grin. “THAT WAS MY BROTHER, KETAS, WHEN HE INHABITED YOUR FRIEND’S BODY. HEALING MAGIC DOES NOT HARM US OTHERWISE.”
And then he shot a spiral of black magic straight at Jia.
“YOU CANNOT WIN,” he said, now using his Time magic directly on Jia. She began to age quickly, passing through her teenage years to adulthood, then gaining wrinkles and stooping, her muscles disappearing. She tried to strike out at him, but the Timeless One grabbed her hand and wrenched it painfully. “YOU ARE SIMPLY NOT READY TO FACE ME.”
“Restore Jia!” Fort shouted in the language of magic, then turned to his dragon. “And free Ember!”
Jia’s age immediately returned to normal, and she smiled again at the Timeless One as Ember set his cloak on fire. “Are you sure about that?” Jia said, and swung out with hammer-hands just like her golem had.
The Timeless One disappeared in a blur, and Jia followed a second later, glowing blue, which meant she must have used her Corporeal magic to speed up her own movements like Merlin had suggested. Rachel thickened the air around them, just like she’d done in the Oppenheimer School, which made it tougher to breathe, but it worked: The Timeless One slowed down just enough for her to strike out at him with Excalibur.
He disappeared right before the blade touched him, appearing a few feet back.
“I KNOW ALL OF YOUR TRICKS!” the Old One shouted, and Jia skidded to a stop on the ground a short distance away, her enhanced muscles and speed reversed through Time magic. The air also thinned back out, and the Timeless One disappeared and reappeared next to Rachel, holding a horrible-looking sword of his own. “I HAVE FOUGHT SIX ARTORIGIOS ALREADY. YOU THINK MERLIN COULD TEACH YOU ANYTHING THAT HE DID NOT ALSO SHOW THEM?”
As Rachel frantically defended herself with Excalibur against the Old One’s sword, Fort raced over to Jia and helped her to her feet. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I can try to heal you.…”
“I’m good,” she said, wincing as Healing magic flowed through her body. “But we’re not winning here. Do you know any spells that could take him down?”
“I can definitely try,” Fort said, and turned back to the fight. The might of the Timeless One had pushed Rachel to one knee, and she was on the verge of losing. “Duplicate Rachel!” Fort shouted in the language of magic.
A thousand tiny Rachels appeared all around her, as Rachel stared at them in surprise.
Okay, that wasn’t exactly what Fort had intended. But at least they weren’t illusions this time.
The new army of Rachels pointed their tiny swords up at the Timeless One and shouted something too high-pitched to understand, though it sounded like some kind of war cry.
“Fort, what is—” Rachel shouted, but cried out in pain as the Timeless One swung his sword, narrowly cutting into her shoulder.
She dropped Excalibur for just a moment, but that was enough: The Timeless One seized his opportunity and froze her in Time magic.
“No!” Jia shouted, and used her magic to restore Rachel, but the Timeless One struck out in the midst of her casting, knocking her backward to the ground. The spell worked, though, and Rachel regained her sword, even as the tiny versions of herself all ran at the Timeless One, not even able to reach him.
“PATHETIC,” the Old One shouted, and sent the tiny Rachel clones away into time. “GIVE UP NOW, OR I WILL DESTROY JIA.” Another Timeless One appeared, holding his skeletal glove to Jia’s neck as Rachel pushed to her feet.
“Let her go!” Rachel shouted, then gasped as more Timeless Ones appeared around her, each one moving in a blur to strike her with their armored gloves. She blocked as many as she could with Excalibur and tried to form a shield with the ground around her, but the Timeless Ones were too fast, and again she fell to her knees.
Fort teleported over to her as quickly as he could and grabbed the sword from her hand, just as another Timeless One attacked. He managed to block the Old One, the sword mercifully not burning him again, then teleported them both, as well as Ember and Jia, away to the black castle in the distance, hoping to get some breathing room.
The multiple Timeless Ones were waiting for them. One of them grabbed Jia right back.
“THERE IS NOWHERE YOU CAN RUN, NOWHERE YOU CAN HIDE FROM ME,” the Old One told them. “YOU ARE THE FINAL OBSTACLE TO BRINGING MY FAMILY HOME. ONCE YOU ARE BEATEN, MERLIN WILL GIVE UP HIS RIDICULOUS CHALLENGE, AND I WILL HAVE THEM BACK! ”
“You won’t beat us,” Fort said quietly, handing Excalibur back to Rachel and moving to stand in front of her. “You and I both know this.”
The Timeless One began to laugh. “YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. MERLIN SOUGHT TO CHEAT, BUT I HAVE ALWAYS OUT-PLAYED HIM. NO MATTER WHAT POWER YOU HAVE, YOU DON’T YET HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE TO USE IT!”
“Oh, I’m not here to use my magic,” Fort said.
This made the Timeless One pause. “THEN YOU ARE EVEN MORE USELESS THAN YOUR FRIENDS SUSPECTED.”
“Maybe,” Fort said, looking up at the Old One with a raised eyebrow. “But why don’t we stop playing games, all the games. Come down here and face us as your true self.”
“Fort, no,” Rachel whispered. “You don’t know who he is. This isn’t the time—”
“It’s exactly the time,” Fort told her, then turned back to the Timeless One. “And I do know who he is. It was pretty obvious all along, wasn’t it, buddy?”
The Timeless One went still, then floated down to the ground. He raised his hands to his cloak, then pulled it off his head, revealing a mass of curly silver hair, and a very familiar face.
“Hey, Fort,” Cyrus said, smiling darkly at him. “Be honest: How long have you known?”
- THIRTY-NINE -
FORT HAD KNOWN, HE’D KNOWN, that it had to be Cyrus. All the clues, all the hints from Jia and Rachel, Merlin, even Cyrus himself only made sense if the silver-haired boy was the Timeless One, Merlin’s younger self.
And yet, seeing Cyrus here in this desolate world made Fort have to fight to keep from vomiting.
He so badly wished he’d been wrong. Fort had made so many other mistakes, why was this the one thing he’d gotten right?
This was his friend, the first person to actually welcome him at the Oppenheimer School. Cyrus had been his confidant, the one he had shared his fears and secrets with from the start. And it devastated Fort to see he was right, that Cyrus had been manipulating them all from the beginning.
“Really, when did you realize?” Cyrus asked again, as Fort hadn’t been able to even speak, seeing his former friend standing there wearing an Old One’s cloak.
“It doesn’t matter,” Fort said quietly. “I just wish things… were different, Cyrus. It didn’t have to be this way.”
“No, it always had to be this way,” Cyrus said, his smile fading as he stared at Fort. “It was the only way I’d ever get my family back. I’d think you of all people would understand that, Fort. What someone would go through to have their loved ones home.”
“How did you find out?” Rachel asked from the side of her mouth, her focus on Cyrus still.
“We promised Merlin we wouldn’t tell you!”
Fort smiled sadly. “Yeah, you were both pretty terrible with that,” he said. “You gave away tons of clues, especially after I found out Merlin was the Timeless One.” He looked up at Cyrus, barely able to keep his voice from betraying his feelings. “Sorry, your future self. Once I found out that Merlin—who looked human—was an Old One, then I realized his younger self might look human too. Plus, Merlin kept mentioning that you, Cyrus, had different plans from him, and you mentioned visiting his cottage trying to find out what he was up to, so it all fell into place.”
“Well, I’m happy to drop all the melodrama at least,” Cyrus said. He shrugged the cloak to the ground and took off his armored glove, then pulled the bones off his other hand, revealing that it was some kind of magical covering, with his real hand beneath. “And yes, I’m the younger self of Merlin, the Timeless One, the Old One of Time, all of that.” He waved his hand absently. “Phew. I really was getting tired of all the secrecy!”
“Merlin thought that if you knew, there was no telling what you might do,” Rachel said to Fort, her eyes on Cyrus. “I didn’t even think you’d be here with us, but in that case, it was kinder for you not to find out Cyrus was an evil eternal monster.”
“Hey!” Cyrus shouted as the other Timeless One, the version guarding Jia, took off his cloak as well, leaving another Cyrus standing there, though this one kept his gloved hand on, still threatening Jia. “Did you call Fort evil for wanting to bring his father home? Because that’s all I’m trying to do! And before you go blaming me for everything, the rules for the game with my older self stipulated that I couldn’t bring them back myself. All I’ve done is push you people in a direction you were willing to go.”
“So you’re saying you’re not to blame for this?” Fort said, nodding at the desolate landscape around them. “You weren’t responsible for wiping out humanity?”