The ball of energy exploded causing a great flash that blinded both of them. Akielas was pushed back by the impact. That very moment he used the Omnistar, flew through a portal and appeared behind Arkana. While she was still blinded he shot a lightning beam and landed a direct and critical hit. She screamed so loud it echoed throughout the realm. Akielas had pierced a hole through her back, he was sure he had struck her heart. Arkana fell and crashed into the ruins of the castle on top of stones and splinters. Akielas dove down for the final blow. Like a hawk to its prey he fell upon her and plunged his sword through her back once more. She coughed blood and when she tried to get up, Akielas stomped on her. Strangely the three cosmo jewels were still obeying her, hovering next to her.
“You said you need a body, so then tell me, do you miss the feeling of pain as a human?” he asked nonchalantly.
“Fool, I am a demigod, I cannot die,” she replied while she faced the ground staring at her own blood on hands and knees. “This body is nothing without my cosmo.”
She stood up effortless, even with his sword through her back. Akielas pulled out his weapon and stepped back in surprise. He could not believe that she could move even after being stabbed twice. He almost forgot that his opponent was not human. The wound in her body healed quickly, much faster than carnomancy or illumancy.
“So you cannot be killed,” Akielas realized. “Fine, then I will just have to destroy your soul.”
“It is futile. You will not see victory today,” she snarled. “I will hold back no longer.”
Arkana’s aura expanded and she used the three cosmo jewels this time. A pillar of fire rose from the crimson jewel and turned into a dragon. A spout of water rose from the sapphire jewel and took the form of dragon. The aero jewel created a twister and from it rose the image of a four winged dragon. Each dragon was a manifestation of the jewels, remnants of the gods themselves.
“Exterminate his existence,” Arkana commanded.
The three dragons began to chase Akielas while he flew away. The air dragon reached him first and pulled Akielas into a vortex. The winds of the air dragon were sharp and cut him. Akielas propelled himself out of the vortex with a blast of fire. He landed on the ground with a stomp then placed his hands on the ground to manipulate the earth. Boulders started to rise and surrounded him, creating a shield. The fire dragon wrapped around him and released its deadly flames. He combined his cosmo and maju to convert the boulders into walls of diamond. The boulders shed a layer that turned to pebbles and then revealed large structures of diamonds that protected Akielas from the flames. What would take him minutes as a mage now took him seconds in the omnith state.
The water dragon came and blasted him with a beam of ice that froze the surface of his dome of diamond. All three dragons attacked his dome while he was protected inside. Akielas burst from the dome clad in diamond armor and released a ray of divine light. The three dragons paused when they saw Akielas’ light. They did not move, only stared at him as if frozen in time.
“All elements must obey their mother attribute, the light,” he said. “Everything was born from light and darkness. Return to the remnants, false dragons.”
“They will not,” Arkana said as she approached.
She was dozens of feet away from him with the cosmo jewels orbiting her, controlling the false dragons she had summoned.
“These are imitations of the real dragon gods,” he stated. “Is there anything real about you?”
Arkana did not reply. She raised her sword upward and the jewels spun around the blade, shining and humming. The three dragons began to merge. Their bodies slammed against each other by the force of the jewels then formed a new dragon. It was a purple dragon. It had no physical body, it was made of pure cosmo. It was thrice as big and Akielas was somewhat frightened by it.
He was still in his diamond armor that he had forged with his cosmo. He watched the dragon open its mouth as if to eat him and he confidently flew in. While inside the dragon he expanded his cosmo with a scream. The amount of cosmo that ran through his body was more than he knew he could handle and it began to hurt his mind and muscles. His cosmo burst through the purple dragon making it vanish.
Without hesitation he flew towards Arkana, yet before he could reach her, she caught him in a gravitational zone. Akielas’ body dropped to the ground. When he tried to get up it felt as though he was being squashed under a boulder. Too heavy to move, he could not budge and even breathing became too difficult.
Arkana came and stood away from the gravitational zone that she had created. Akielas looked up at her and tried to raise a hand as if to crawl towards her.
“You were not aware that cosmo magic can control gravity,” she said. “Not that you humans know much about gravity except that it makes things fall.”
Akielas became frustrated. He was kissing the ground, unable to move and this massive force of gravity made him seem weak and fragile.
“It is not over,” he rasped. “I will not be dominated by a false god.”
More cosmo swelled within him. His skin turned red and his eyes felt like they would pop out of their sockets. His muscles grew slightly and he was able to stand up against the force of gravity. It was difficult to stand, like learning to walk again, but he managed to do it. He trudged towards Arkana gritting his teeth, sword at hand and his body felt as if it would explode.
“Fool, if you keep abusing your body with more cosmo then you will kill yourself,” Arkana criticized.
“Yes, I know, and I am taking you with me!” he yelled and shot streaks of lightning strings from the tips of his fingers.
He was able to catch Arkana before she could run away. His lightning paralyzed her and he pulled her into the gravitational zone. When Arkana was forced into the zone the gravity ceased and Akielas was able to stand with ease. His body still overflowed with cosmo and he began to lose control. Although he had caught her with his lightning, his own body shook ready to either shut down or die.
“Ember always fell for this trick,” Akielas said. “Lightning has never failed me. And now it is time to extract the evil and see the real Ember.”
Akielas held his sword lightly in one hand while controlling Arkana with his lightning. He took the Omnistar and waved it over her forehead. The eye of the Omnistar opened and it began to flow. Akielas pulled it back and began to extract Arkana’s soul from Ember’s body.
“No! This is my vessel! This body belongs to me!” Arkana yelled.
“Thanks to Zarviack I invented this little trick,” he said. “A spirit travels via channels of cosmo. Therefore I can use the Omnistar to transfer your soul somewhere else, and trust me, I made sure you won’t like it. You extracted Willow’s soul but you could not have done it without using cosmo. It is the energy that travels in the unmanifested, where the spirits reside, the formless.”
Akielas could see Arkana’s soul as he pulled with the Omnistar. He kept pulling and then he heard her voice again.
“Master, help me! Help me!”
Ember called for his help. Something he had not heard in decades. He was sure it was the same little girl that he had raised and he planned to set her free. He kept pulling, Arkana resisted and just when he was getting exhausted and his cosmo was getting weaker, he used the Omnistar to transfer Arkana’s soul inside the omnithium sword that Eckxio had given him.
The Omnistar did what it had always done, open a portal from one dimension to another. From Ember’s body into the abyss of the omnithium steel. Once Arkana’s soul was trapped, Akielas dropped both his sword and the Omnistar and fell to his knees. Ember collapsed and she fell in his arms. He cradled her and sighed with relief, hearing her heart beating.
******
It felt like an hour had passed after Akielas had trapped Arkana’s soul in his omnithium sword. He had closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again Ember was still in his arms, still in the castle ruins in a piece of land that floated in the infinite ocean of stars. There was silence, so s
ilent and tranquil that he hoped it would last forever. He could hear Ember’s heart beating. He remembered when she used to sleep in his arms when she was eight years old. Akielas no longer felt that cold evil maju from her and he hoped that she was now free from the evil that had clutched at her heart.
The cosmo jewels hovered around Ember but Akielas was sure that she could no longer use them.
The omnithium sword lay next to him. He looked at it and felt Arkana’s cosmo within.
“This sword will remain right here in this realm,” he said. “Arkana, you will never corrupt anyone ever again.”
His body ached and holding Ember’s weight was hard. He had used up all his maju after he fought Arkana and the omnith state left him dry. He used too much cosmo and over worked his body. He was now exhausted and felt weak. He had dropped the Omnistar and it was a few feet away from him, but dragging his body to it seemed like too much work at the moment.
“Maybe I should stay here a little longer,” he said.
“It’s not like you to slack off,” Ember said, voice low and weary.
Akielas smiled after hearing her voice. Ember looked happy. He had not seen her face in a long time. He loved when she smiled and laughed and made fun of him. She grabbed his hand and they looked at each other as they once did, master and apprentice. There was no anger, no resentment and no hate.
“Finally awake,” he said. “Good to have you back.”
“What happened to her?” Ember asked.
“I trapped her soul in the omnithium sword. I don’t think she will ever escape,” Akielas answered.
“I hope so,” Ember responded. “Help me get up.”
With all the aching in his body, Akielas stood up and helped Ember get to her feet. She could not make eye contact and he knew why. Her plan to rid the world of magic had failed, her brother, sister and lover were dead and the goddess that she worshipped had betrayed her in the end. Ember had nothing, she was empty, and there was nothing else she could do.
She fell to her knees for she was extremely weak and her body had been used up by Arkana. “Don’t help me,” she told Akielas before he even tried and stood up again with her legs wobbling.
“It’s over. We can go home now,” he said. Akielas went over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “We don’t need to keep fighting.”
“It’s not over yet,” she replied and shoved his hand away. She turned around and pushed him. “We will finish this here and now.”
Akielas sighed and palmed his face in disappointment. The girl was as stubborn and bullheaded as he remembered. Nothing had changed. Not even after she had lost everything. Ember still wanted to fight and prove that she was better than her master.
“Why do you still want to fight?” he asked. “You have nothing left. You lost. Your false goddess used you and possessed you. Naunet, Jairo and Hertha, they are all dead. What are you trying to prove, Ember? Tell me. What is it that you want? There is no point in continuing, or do you really want to kill me that badly?”
Ember created a dark cloud with both hands then extracted her black twin swords. She pointed at Akielas, panting and teetering as if she would collapse again.
“No magic, only swords. Fight me right now and let’s end this,” she challenged. “It is not over until one of us dies. So let’s do this the old way.”
“You are not going to answer me then,” Akielas said and frowned. “Fine, you had your chance.”
Akielas drew his normal sword from his waist. He wanted her to surrender but was still willing to kill her if necessary. However, he was not sure if he could defeat her in his current condition. He was too tired and his vision was blurry. His muscles ached and it hurt when he gripped his sword.
“Time to die, master!” she yelled and lunged.
Blades collided, sparks flew and she pushed him back. Akielas staggered and she dashed to strike. He parried her swords then fell on the ground and he knocked her down with a leg sweep. They both stood up and clashed again. She blocked his attack, swung and cut his shoulder. Akielas groaned but continued, ignoring the pain. He lashed out clumsily, Ember evaded him then kicked his ribs and he fell once more.
He quickly stood up with all the pain in his body. She was approaching quickly and blurred in his vision and so he followed the luster of her blades and blocked. Ember slashed with her swords one strike after the other, pushing Akielas back, and all he could do was block and parry. He was still faster than her but was not sure how long he would last. His maju was so low that he had to rely on his blurry vision.
As he fought, it felt very nostalgic. It was just like the time when he was teaching her how to use a sword. She charged at him wildly like she did back then. She had not changed her way of fighting. Ember was always stubborn and was either toying with her opponent or trying to take them down as fast as possible with a storm of swords. Akielas knew that she just wanted to win to fill a void. Ember hated to lose and sometimes would punish herself for her losses. He remembered that she fought with two swords because she thought it would give her an advantage but she could never touch Akielas. This was her final attempt at defeating her master in a one-on-one duel. When she swung her sword she was not holding back. She really wanted to kill him.
“You are slipping, Master Akielas,” she said. “Give it everything you’ve got. When I kill you, I want you to know that you tried your best.”
“I find it incredible how you still run your mouth, as weak as you are now,” Akielas replied.
She kept attacking and Akielas could only block and parry. At some point he lost his balance and almost fell. Ember went for a killing blow, sword raised over her head, falling down on him. Akielas twisted his body and her attack missed, then he spun, cut off her hand then elbowed her. She staggered back and fell screaming with her stump in her armpit.
“You brought this upon yourself, Ember,” Akielas said. “Don’t make me kill you. I have had too much mercy. Surrender now or die.”
Ember still had one sword. Her right hand was cut off, but her left could still fight. She stood up, propping herself with her sword and growled at Akielas. She pointed her sword at him and hid her bleeding stump in her armpit. She was not going to stop no matter what.
“It’s not over,” she rasped. “Come on. Fight me.”
“You won’t win, Ember. This is pitiful,” Akielas said.
She ran towards him screaming, dripping blood from her stump. Akielas parried her attack sending her sword flying then spun and sunk his sword in her chest. Ember gasped and bled from her mouth. Akielas yanked his sword out and she fell in his arms spraying him with her blood. He sat on the ground and cradled her while she sobbed, tears filling her red eyes.
“Why did it have to end this way?” Akielas asked, eyes moist, trying to suppress his tears.
“Arkana…she…ruined my entire life. No. I ruined my life. I followed her. I asked her for power and took it without really realizing what I was doing. I felt like the world had stolen something from me and I wanted to take it back. But I wanted everything. The whole world. I was not going to be satisfied with ruling a kingdom. I could have gone back home to Yama, but my desire to dominate grew more and more. It wasn’t until I started collecting the cosmo jewels that I began to feel as if I was disconnecting with myself. I had abandoned something about myself to rid the world of magic and conquer it all.”
“This is all my fault,” Akielas said.
“Now that I look back, you were right, ridding the world of magic was the coward’s way out. Destruction is so much simpler. It is easy to destroy and take things from people by force. Maybe that was why I took that path, but now I see that I was a fool,” Ember confessed.
Tears trickled down her cheeks and she sobbed. Akielas shed tears as well, feeling her pain and regret. Akielas did not remember Ember ever crying. She was always defending Jairo and Hertha. These were tears held in for so many years and he wiped them and kissed her face.
“Thank you for setting me fre
e,” she said. “I won’t be able to hurt anyone anymore. I am free of pain. I no longer feel the lust, the greed, the hate and the emptiness that I ignored for so long. Being in your arms like this makes me feel like we are back home in El Nido again.”
Akielas did not know what to say. He could no longer hold in his tears. He did not want her to die. Despite everything that she had done, he still believed that she could have turned to the light. He still blamed himself for not being a good father and teacher, but he was happy that she had finally opened up to him.
“I am sorry for what I did. I am sorry about your wife, Demitra. I know an apology is not enough but I just wanted to tell you that I was always jealous of her. I know that I was too young but I was jealous because she seemed so perfect and even had control of her dark magic. I wish I could have been like her. All I wanted was love, the love I never had.” Ember sobbed and coughed up blood until she gave her last breath. Her heart stopped and her soul left her body.
Akielas closed her eyes and kissed her forehead. He cried and yet he was happy that he got to hold her one last time before she journeyed to the afterlife.
“Rest in peace. I will miss you,” he whispered. “I guess death was your only escape.”
His only fear now was that he would get stuck in this realm. He had used up all his maju and cosmo. He could not cast any spells and would not be able to use the Omnistar either, not even the three jewels.
“What am I going to do?” he asked the unknown. “I am too weak to use the Omnistar. I won’t be able to open a portal and I can’t send a signal to the others with my teleport crystal without any maju. Well, I guess I would not mind dying here. My mission is complete and I can remove this pendant.”
Suddenly, he saw a portal opening from afar. A window to Odealeous. He was not sure how it was possible since he was not using the Omnistar.
Caim flew through the portal and Akielas’ hope was quickly restored. It was a miracle to see the demigod here. Caim flew towards him then knelt down next to him.
“We were beginning to think you were dead, but I see everything turned out in our favor,” Caim said. “You killed her?”
Blood of Mages (Rift of Chaos Book 3) Page 30