Endure

by M. R. Merrick

  Darius and Drake had stepped back, and although Darius looked somewhat distressed, Drake remained neutral.

  “I’m afraid that isn’t a possibility,” Drake said. “You are not a god. In fact at this juncture, you’re not even a demigod. I doubt very much you would be able to overpower us. I think it’s in your best interest to keep to the plan.”

  Riley’s eyes were crazed and the strings of power swayed behind him. He smiled at Drake and let his magic respond. A single tendril lashed out, striking both Brothers and throwing them into the wall. He stepped toward me and the room darkened. His power swelled, the lights dimmed. The only sound came from his shoes tapping along the floor.

  “The Brothers dove into my mind once upon a time, their magic infiltrating the depths of my will. I remember, but I have no regrets. My cause is valiant and in the end, will save lives.”

  “How can you believe that? Look at yourself. You’re a monster.”

  “Is that what you believe. I’m the big bad man who stole everything from you? If I’m not mistaken, it was you who interfered time and time again. If you had stayed out of my way, you’d have lost nothing. The way I see it, you were the bullet that killed your mother and that pathetic halfwit who followed you around like a lost puppy.”

  The emotions inside me churned, magic bubbling over the edges of my soul, but I kept it contained. He was using them to get to me. I wouldn’t let him.

  “You can see it any way you want, because guns aren’t responsible for death,” I said. “The people who used them are, and at the end of the day, you’re the one pulling the trigger, Dad.”

  “Trigger man.” Riley grinned. “I like that.”

  The Brothers were back on their feet and rushing forward. Riley didn’t even look, his magic cut back toward them, but this time it didn’t connect. The tendril stopped just above their heads, the Brothers’ magic pooling together in streams of purple and gold and holding it at bay. Riley growled and his magic flexed, but as his power swelled, his growl turned into a cry. He dropped to one knee and grabbed his chest. The room became impossibly bright as his power vanished and the lights buzzed above us.

  “What is this madness?” Riley’s face warped with pain.

  “It’s too late,” Darius said. His hair swung down around his waist. His lips arched into a smug expression and he let out a laugh. “Just as your son had to bind the souls to his, you too must bind yours.” He lashed out with a streak of purple and black, knocking Riley to the ground. “We have hidden our true power from you long enough. We are not your servants, Riley Williams. You are but our pawn.”

  “I will die before I give your father command over me.”

  A smirk moved over Darius’s lips. “Yes, you will.”

  “That is enough, Darius.” Drake stood before Riley. “Ithreal only needs a vessel for a short time. Long enough to destroy one of the gods and weaken the chains that bind him. When he’s free in his true form, you will be released from your duty.”

  Riley struggled to his feet, legs wobbling as he tried to stand nose to nose with Drake. He stared up at the Brother, taking deep breaths and seeming to regain his bearings.

  “Think about it, Riley,” Drake said. “The power you have now is nothing compared to what Ithreal will grant you. All you have to do is complete the ritual and everything you wanted will be yours.”

  “No!” Riley shouted, reaching up and gripping his head. He hunched over and turned in a circle. “Make them stop. Tell them to stop.” He gripped his hair, pulling at his skull. “I wanted to stop the war. Under my rule there could be peace.” He threw his hands into the air and cursed at Drake. “I will bow to no one.”

  Darius stepped forward, his shoulders rising and falling with angry breaths. “And the man you want to be remembered as will be forgotten. Instead, you will be mockery—the hunter who went mad and destroyed his own kind.”

  “No…” Riley’s rough voice has softened and for a moment, he looked scared.

  “Yes.” Darius spat the word at him. “Your mind is weakening by the moment. You can feel your own brain deceiving you. Ithreal’s souls are too much for such a fragile shell. Finish your part in all this and let Ithreal bless you with power and immortality. Be legendary, Riley Williams. Be remembered.”

  Riley’s fear dripped off his face and his posture shifted. His eyes rattled in his head and his breathing became ragged. He cleared his throat, stood tall and confident, and adjusted the black coat that hung open over his shoulders. “Yes,” he whispered. He pushed past Darius and moved toward Drake. “Yes!” he screamed. And then he turned to me. “I will be remembered, and if you get in my way, I will be the monster who pulls the trigger again, and again, and again, and again.” He pointed at each of us. “Tomorrow is the solstice, there is no more time to waste. Take the girl.” Riley’s magic spilled from his back, black arms reaching out and pushing us to the side. His shoes tapped along the floor as he walked toward the glass entrance, magic floating behind him.

  Rayna’s grip tightened in my hand and the Brothers’ eyes turned to her. Drake looked sad as he approached, but Darius was almost giddy.

  “I’m sorry it has to come to this, Chase, but it’s time,” Drake said.

  “Sorry?” Darius laughed. “We’ve been looking forward to this for millennia, brother.” He tried to grab Rayna and without a thought, I hit him. My knuckles smashed into his lips with a godly impact. Darius hit the pavement hard, his head bouncing off the floor. Blood pooled from his mouth and seconds before his dark gaze turned angry, it was shocked.

  “She’s not going anywhere with you,” I said. All five elements were at my fingertips and I knew Drake could feel the power vibrating between us.

  Darius clambered to his feet, but Drake held him back with a single arm.

  “You will pay for that, hunter. When this is over, I’ll kill that bitch!” Darius screamed.

  I should’ve ignored it, but I didn’t. All five elements burst from my hand in streaks of colorful magic. As they pooled from my fingers, something new pulsed inside me and the elements twisted together, merging into a streak of white energy. Both Brothers were thrown across the room, the concrete wall cracking behind them. I kept them pinned high above the ground, but I struggled against their resistance. Had there only been one of them, we might have been evenly matched.

  “Must we go over this again and again? You cannot kill us, nor us you. Fighting is futile,” Drake said.

  My power waned and I felt tired. I couldn’t take on both of them. Streaks of gold and purple lashed out at my magic, weakening my hold.

  “Maybe not. But I can make it hurt like hell on the way down.”

  I dropped my elements, pulling them back into my soul. As they both fell, I moved with transcendent speed, pulling both daggers from their sheaths. I lunged forward, preparing to thrust them deep into Darius’s chest, but he was ready. A streak of purple flashed from his hand and into my body. The pain was sharp and the force intense. My body soared across the room, crashing into the wooden table in front of Marcus. He sat limply, his body and legs tied to the chair, hardly aware of anything that was happening. I jumped to my feet, ready to counter, but the Brothers had a different plan.

  Drake and Darius stood on either side of my friends, their power enveloping them. Vincent and Tiki looked ready to attack, but they were still like skin-covered statues. Rayna’s green eyes were lit up with surprise and her mouth hung partially open. The Brothers were demigods with thousands of years to develop their power. That magic had swallowed my friends, holding them hostage in time and space to await their fate.

  “Do we need to have a replay?” Drake asked.

  “Let them go.”

  “Whether or not you take responsibility for it, Willy is dead. You do not have to be the reason they die too.”

  Blood stained Darius’s face and his anger hadn’t faded. “Let’s kill the ones we don’t need. He obviously didn’t learn his lesson with the mutt.”

  “No
!” Drake yelled, and the anger on Darius’s face was stolen by surprise. “We will handle this civilly, if possible. Let the girl decide.”

  The power in the room shifted and Rayna’s body fell forward. She landed on her hands, catching the rest of her body. She looked scared at first, then confused, and finally, angry.

  “You’re going to pay for that,” she said. Her knuckles were white, squeezing the handle of her whip. With a faint movement, the entire weapon uncoiled, the silver claw on the end rattling against the floor.

  “You’re a smart girl,” Drake said. “You know there’s nothing you of all people can do.”

  Rayna looked over her shoulder at me and I shook my head. She didn’t seem to like my response and she pulled her arm back, readying the whip.

  “Do you wish these friends dead as well then? Was William not enough?” Drake acknowledged Tiki and Vincent, and Rayna’s arm somewhat relaxed. “You have a choice, Rayna. Come with us with no further incident, and they will live to see another day. If you cooperate, you too can survive all of this.”

  Rayna stared at Drake for a long moment before her arm relaxed further, but her grip hadn’t lessened. “I really hope I get to be there when Chase kills you.”

  “I’m afraid that day will never come. Even with the power of a hundred broken souls, Chase is nothing more than a demigod, just like us.”

  “And if I don’t come, you kill them, and then what? You can’t kill Chase, but what about me? How valuable am I to you?” Rayna dropped her whip, reaching down to her thigh and pulling out a small, silver blade. She laid it flat against her arm, a single brow arching. “Do you know what happens when I’m cut with silver? Who am I kidding, of course you do. You know all about me, don’t you?”

  “Stop!” Drake said. Panic lit up both the Brothers’ eyes, but they immediately subdued it. “Stop, or we will stop you. You’ve seen it is in our power to do so. You will cooperate, or they will die and I will carry you out of here myself.”

  “Are you fast enough to stop the bleeding?” Rayna rotated the blade, the sharp edge pressing against her arm. “Do you have the magic to heal me?”

  “Rayna don’t!” I shouted.

  Drake searched her face. “This is happening, Rayna, whether either of you want it to. I’d prefer to do it with minimal casualties, if at all possible.”

  Rayna’s hand trembled. Light glinted off the blade and flashed around the room like a disco ball. A glass wall had built up in her eyes and the trembling became a full-out shaking. She and Drake were locked in a stare and my stomach twisted into a knot. This wasn’t going to happen. I closed my eyes, channeling the new powers inside me. I pushed it outward and a portal spawned in the hallway. The light from the front entrance vanished, swallowed by the magic.

  Drake’s gaze didn’t waver from Rayna’s, but Darius looked confused. “You are inexperienced with your abilities, boy. A portal behind us is hardly going to help you escape. There is no escape.”

  My elements pulsed, teasing the edges of my fingers. Rayna lifted the blade partially from her arm, the shaking had turned violent and tears rolled down her face.

  “I’m not trying to escape,” I said. I stepped up beside Rayna, reached out and pulled the blade from her hand. “That portal isn’t for me, it’s for you.”

  My movements were a blur, even to me. The room morphed around me into a haze of gray. I snapped my arm and the silver blade moved end over end toward Darius’s head. His eyes opened wide and both the Brothers’ magic shot out to deflect it, but that wasn’t where his power needed to be.

  The air element rocked the room, gusts of white magic blazing forward in a steel force of unmatched energy. It moved in a direct line, blasting into both the Brothers. Their bodies were torn off their feet and thrown back.

  The look of surprise was no longer masked. It distorted both their faces as they flailed through the air, and then they were gone, sucked through the portal. My element receded and I closed the portal, my heart roaring in my chest like an untamed beast. Tiki and Vincent fell to the ground, the tail end of a roar being released from Vincent’s lips. Black veins rippled beneath his skin, and they were both on their feet ready to fight.

  “Where’d they go?” Vincent asked. “What happened?”

  The words were captured in my throat and now I was the one shaking. With both eyes fixed on the glass doorway, panic emerged through my body. Riley would be back any moment.

  “They’re gone. I don’t know where or for how long. We need to go!” I shouted.

  “Chase, what did you do?” Rayna asked.

  “I bought us a few seconds, nothing more.” I rushed toward Marcus. With a swipe of my dagger the ropes around him fell. Blood dripped from his mouth and his face was swollen, but he would be okay. He had to be.

  “What are we going to do, where are we going to go?” Rayna asked, cutting the rope around his feet.

  “Anywhere. We need to keep you away from them.”

  Vincent and Tiki did as I instructed and each wrapped Marcus’s arms around their necks, lifting him from the chair.

  “But the Brothers can find you anywhere you go,” Rayna said.

  “Which is why I’m not coming with you.”

  “Chase—”

  The glass doors to the warehouse shattered, the aluminum frames unhinging from the wall and hitting the concrete with a rattle. Riley stood in the doorway, his magic flailing around him like tentacles.

  “What have you gone and done, son?” The veins that rippled beneath his flesh seemed alive. A creature lived inside his body, dying to tear through his skin.

  “Tiki,” I whispered. “Get them out of here. Now.”

  My power folded on the air and I opened a new portal. Tiki and Vincent carried Marcus with ease, jumping through the portal. Rayna didn’t move, her hand touching my back. “Come with us.”

  I shook my head. I couldn’t. I couldn’t be the reason they took her. “Please, Rayna, for the sake of winning this fight, go.”

  She glanced back toward the entrance and her eyes opened wide. She ducked a black arm of power that swung through the room. It smashed into me and hammered me against the wall.

  “Go!” I said, gasping for air.

  Rayna didn’t hesitate this time. She ran toward the portal and dove into the black abyss. I pulled the magic back and the portal shimmered before consuming itself.

  Riley stormed down the hallway, and each time his power flexed, he winced. It was hurting him. Maybe this was the end. Maybe this was the opportunity I needed to defeat him.

  Another black arm came toward me, but I responded. Shattered concrete floated up to my arm as I channeled the earth element. Chunk after chunk of rock hugged me, creating a stony armor around both my arms. When Riley’s power neared, I charged at it, both fists reaching out to make contact. Green energy blasted between us, and the force deflected his attack, but I still felt the result of his power. Shocks of pain moved up my arms like tiny blades cutting the muscle beneath my skin. The concrete around my limbs shattered, and a gray cloud of dust rained over me.

  “You’re a fool, son. You always have been. I had hoped you would come around, but I see now that you are determined to live your final days as my prisoner.”

  “I’m not the one who destroyed everything he ever knew. I didn’t kill the people who once stood beside me…who trusted me. Now you know the truth of what the Brothers were doing and yet you’re still moving forward. All for the idea of being remembered. I’m not the one being foolish.”

  Riley’s magic floated behind him and he sidestepped into the room. We both were fixated on the other, moving in a circle like lions about to pounce.

  “If the other gods are destroyed, Ithreal will be a single ruler and nobody would dare rival him. You know nothing of the power I feel. In his true form, Ithreal will be unmatched. My plans may have changed, yet the goal remains the same. There will be no more war. All will be in Ithreal’s name.”

  “Listen to you!” I sc
reamed, power bubbling beneath the surface of my skin. “You know your mind has been tampered with. These are not your own thoughts. This is the doing of the Brothers’ magic. The father I knew was honorable. He fought for what was right, but he didn’t murder to achieve it.”

  Riley laughed and although I should’ve been accustomed to the rough noise, it still seemed wrong. He no longer looked like the man I remembered, he looked like a demon. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was in there somewhere. Had the Brothers’ power completely destroyed him, or was there a glint of salvation and humanity left?

  Riley cut off my thoughts. I prepared for his tendrils to strike, but instead, a raging stream of fire scalded my body. I screamed as the pain intensified and reacted with water. It formed on the air and with a punch of energy, solidified. A wall of ice blocked the flame, but he didn’t stop. The heat was intense and in seconds, water seeped to the floor and the wall began to wither.

  I pushed more power into the ice, keeping it solid and preventing Riley from gaining any more ground. But I couldn’t stay on defense; I wouldn’t win that way. With my focus driving the ice shield in front of me, I tore the lightning element from my soul and reached around the elemental blockade. It arced between my fingers and then a shard of light flashed through the room. Bolts of power jutted left, then right before striking him. Riley’s eyes lit up like flashlights and soot blemished his skin. The lightning thrust him to the ground and his fire vanished. The black arms that floated from his body dissipated in the air like wafts of smoke, and his body shook against the floor as the last bit of electricity moved through him.

  I stepped out from behind the icy barrier and stalked forward. This was it, my moment. I could do this. Riley had taken my mother and my best friend. The man I remembered once upon a time was gone. This thing in front of me wasn’t my father anymore. He was a monster. I wouldn’t let the thought of what he once was prevent me from what had to be done.