Had she been trying to tell me that she was pregnant? It seemed impossible, and yet I knew it for truth. We had only spent one night together before I had gone off to kill her grandfather, but I had had a strange sense of fear when I looked at her that night. No, it was more than possible. Suddenly it all made sense and everything clicked into place. She had been trying to get me to stay with her, but I had refused because I hadn’t known why. I had been so obsessed with rescuing my sister that I hadn’t listened. I wondered if I had taken the time to listen if anything would have changed. Would I have still raced off to rescue my sister? Or would I have gone with Renee?
Now she was with Victor. How had that happened? He must have come for her in the early days of the war. We hadn’t heard anything about Victor in military reports – he had all but disappeared off the planet. At the time I was grateful for this fact as it meant we wouldn’t have to deal with him just yet and I would have time to recover my strength before the showdown.
Gabriel was almost spent, but I needed more information from him. Where? When? How? I poured more power into Gabriel’s body, which his Mana greedily devoured, increasing the pattern of sickness tenfold. The Mana literally raced through his veins doing its deadly work, but with more power the process of eventual decay would be delayed.
“Where is Renee, Gabriel?” I hissed. “Where?”
“I don’t… know,” Gabriel whispered. “We… escaped…”
Escaped?
“Victor was… hiding us,” Gabriel gasped. “Kept us safe from the war. He collected those worthy to continue his new order.”
So that was it. He was rebuilding the order in secret. Selecting only the mages he thought were worthy of being included, and he had done so right under our very noses. The pattern would repeat. The world at large would think our kind exterminated – dead and buried. And all the while we would be among them. Give it ten, maybe twenty, maybe even a hundred years. We would arise again – some fool idiot would attempt to overthrow Victor, and this war would repeat. It needed to be stopped before the cycle could continue.
“Renee wanted to keep her son away from Victor,” Gabriel continued. “I helped. We fled and saw what the world had become after Victor had sheltered us.”
“Where is she now, Gabriel?”
“I don’t know,” Gabriel coughed. “And...I don’t think I’d tell you if I did. You’re just like him.”
“Where is Renee?” I repeated, ignoring his insult and throwing a compulsion behind my words.
Gabriel’s eyes widened as the Mana entered into his mind to make him compliant. The effect must have only lasted for seconds, but it was enough. Gabriel grasped at his pocket and pulled out a very badly beaten mobile phone. His hands were shaking so much he had trouble forcing it into my hand. The mobile network was still functional in parts of the world. He was giving me a way of contacting Renee. I was sure that should I open this phone I would find a contact card for Renee in this small electronic device. I grunted and placed the phone into my pocket. I couldn’t focus on that right then. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to speak to Renee; I simply wanted to ensure that she was all right. My hand trailed down to the phone in my pocket as the urge to use it almost overcame me. It wasn’t until I glanced down at Gabriel and realised that the Mana I had used for the compulsion thread had been absorbed and reassigned to keep the pattern of mitosis going.
Wait…. What? I glanced again. The Mana in Gabriel’s body had absorbed my Mana as a new source of power. His own system had subverted the external Mana and made it its own. Could it do that with all types of Mana? I raised my hand and summoned Mana Nova. Sure enough, as I brought the deadly fire towards Gabriel’s body, the flame spluttered and halted as its power source was consumed. What had I discovered? I didn’t need anyone to answer that for me. I already knew damned well what I had discovered. I had discovered a way to bring Victor down. I could use his own strength against him. Infect him with this sorcery and his own powers would be consumed by the effect to keep him alive. The spells granting him longevity and regeneration would be consumed by my sorcery and he would be finally vulnerable. I could kill him. I could end this. It was ironic – all I needed to do to kill Victor was to attempt to heal him.
A hundred variables went through my mind. This looked possible, but I needed to test it and for that I would need to return to Poland. If this was right, then I could finally end Karl’s existence as he had wanted. That would be my test – if it worked on Karl, then it would work on Victor. Gabriel glared balefully at me as I began to plan my experiments in my head.
“Rest easy, old friend,” I murmured. “You’ve just given me the final piece I need to destroy Victor.”
Gabriel coughed and attempted to grasp my shoulder, but he was too weak. All his energy was being consumed by the spell effect.
“Don’t…hurt her…” he gasped as the light left his eyes.
I could bring him back with another infusion of power, but there didn’t seem to be much point. It would only prolong the inevitable. Let the poor man’s suffering end. I watched with fascination as his body quickly succumbed to necrosis and his very matter was consumed by the spell.
“Goodbye old friend,” I whispered to the pile of ash that was all that remained of his body.
CHAPTER SEVEN
A cloud of dust and ash washed over me as the bullets buzzed past my head like mosquitos. With a grunt I pushed myself forward, feeling the tell-tale pinpricks of discomfort that indicated that I’d been hit. I shrugged it off as I pushed forward. Loud explosions rocketed behind me as my last position turned into a large crater.
It didn’t take me long to see the cause of the attack: a large tank rolled into view. A painful concussion of force and blinding light took me and I was propelled backwards as the tank’s next shot hit me squarely in the chest. The impact sent me sprawling and I hit the building behind me with the force of a tank blast. My body slammed through the concrete wall as if it were made of polystyrene, sending chunks of metal and shrapnel flying in all directions. It only took me several seconds to recover as I used my powers to right myself and send the tank sprawling. A burst of equally concussive force burst from my fingers directed it cascading down the road like a paper cup caught in the wind.
A shiver of excitement crept over me; there was something here, something that was a danger. I could feel it with senses honed from years of battle. It wasn’t the tank - that barely even registered as a threat to me. My premonition served me well as I leapt out of the way seconds before the façade of the building was brought smashing down. I didn’t see who had done it, but I had felt the rise of their power and I caught a glimpse of a Mana thread from above. I looked upwards into the cityscape of buildings surrounding me. They were nothing more than empty husks now – the lives that once gave them meaning were long gone and I could already see signs of nature beginning to reclaim what was hers. It was subtle: a crack of broken concrete with a small sprout of grass growing through it. The grass seemed out of place in this concrete wasteland - the colour was all wrong against the grey of this war-torn world. The vibrancy of it hurt my eyes. I gritted my fists as I thought about lashing out; I could destroy that blade of grass just as easily as I had destroyed the tank, but I knew that in the end it didn’t matter, another would simply rise in its place. No matter how I struggled I would not be able to overcome this basic rule of nature. I was foolish to even try.
I saw my enemy at once, in the reflection in the glass of the building in front of me. I could see them silhouetted in shadow as they leapt from the building above me and onto the one in front. They were powerful, but I wasn’t afraid. After all, it didn’t matter if I fell either, another would rise to take my place. I propelled myself up the side of the building, my Mana gouging into the sheer glass as if it were no stronger than butter, as I rose to face this threat in fury.
I launched into the air, high above my foe. I looked down at the city below me: the damage didn’t seem as bad from up here. The
city looked almost vibrant once again – there were signs of life everywhere. Unable to see the individual blades of grass, I simply saw the green of the many blades and it wasn’t as painful as before. I now understood their place as part of the system, and it was a system that would survive long after I fell. It would continue no matter my small efforts to thwart it.
I spun in a lazy arc and landed behind my foe, who hadn’t turned to face me yet. I could see the power radiating from them like waves of the ocean against the rocks. Their shield was blurring their shape, making it impossible for me to see who it was. With a shout, the figure turned and swept a host of threads at me, seeking to knock me from the rooftop. I leapt again into the air, my hands darting to block the threads that sought to entangle me. As I launched my threads in defence, I watched with grim satisfaction as they blocked those of my opponents. But I couldn’t get the advantage. More and more threads were brought against me – too many for me to dodge. I wrenched my arm away as a thread wrapped itself around my forearm and pulled me towards the ground. The sizzling noise of the thread snapping against my shield was all I could hear as I tumbled down. Several more threads latched onto me, pulling me down, faster and faster. I could see the rooftop rising to meet me with grim certainty, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I threw everything I had into my shield in an attempt to survive the fall, but it was too late. I hit the rooftop and fell through it as if it were nothing. The threads disengaged into a haze of pain and darkness as I was hurled down into the central core of the building.
I felt each concrete floor as I consecutively broke through each level. My foe was on me as we broke through the centre of the building, their threads lashing at my shield seeking to bring it down. In the dust and debris I couldn’t see my foe clearly, but I could see their eyes. The stranger’s eyes were alien on their face. Pale blue eyes pierced into me accusingly as they sought to end my life. Although I could see nothing more than two pin points of blue in a sea of Mana, I could see the rage and the anger behind those eyes and I knew with certainty that I was responsible for that anger.
Concrete slabs and piles of debris followed us down as we broke through the building. I wasn’t fighting anymore, there wasn’t much point - I knew when my end was near. I was outclassed – my foe was more powerful than me and it was right that they should take me. With an explosion of pain, my shield shattered around me and I landed on the final floor with a crater of debris and destruction spread out around me. How I had survived I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to survive for long. With the clinical precision that comes with study of Necromancy, I could see the damage to my body was irrecoverable – I was dying. Death doesn’t always come as an enemy and I had long made my peace with my defeat.
My enemy landed over me, the haze of their shield burning as they leaned in to face me. I could see the blue of their eyes with burning intensity as they peered down at me. As my eyes adjusted to the light of the mana field, I could finally make out the details of the face behind the shield.
I smiled in silence as I saw my own face in my defeat. There was no doubt I was the one who had defeated me. My opponent lowered their shield, and I saw with stark clarity the lines of power that kept me standing on my foe. It was me. It was what I had become. I saw the arrogance on my broken face, the power of lust, and just how far I had fallen. I saw myself as the thing I had always feared I would become.
The figure took two steps forward and its face took on a cruel expression. I wondered briefly how many of my kind had seen this face as their final seconds ticked by? I saw the fury and enjoyment rise on the figure’s face as he summoned his power to end my life. I knew that joy. I knew what he was experiencing as he completed his dominion over me.
Unwilling to watch his face, my head lolled to the side and I stared in horror at a shard of mirrored glass that had fallen from the ceiling during our descent. The reflection in the mirror was as I had remembered myself – young, carefree. Who I should have been. It was torture that this had been taken from me. Especially now that I should be reminded of it in my final moments.
I opened my mouth to scream, but before I could make a sound, the sudden noise of a Mana thread brought my head snapping around. My foe was spinning backwards as a thread launched at them from behind me. The threads overpowered my foe with such a display of power that it was blinding. Thread impacted with thread and eventually with shield as the newcomer overpowered my foe and forced them to flee. I didn’t see where he went and my eyes were growing dark. In the distance I heard a staggered shriek and an explosion of Mana that sounded like a shield breaking. And then there was nothing; my vision was fading fast as the darkness set in and I thought I would be forever lost in that darkness. It was terrifying – I gazed into the abyss and saw that all I had been, all that I ever would be was nothing. In that one terrible moment I knew what I had been and all my works for what they were. If I could have, I would have wept, but I was too far gone for even that. Just when I thought the darkness would consume me, a face burst into my vision like a blinding light. Blue eyes pierced into me as a face as familiar as my own stared down at me. In that face I could see the stern gaze of my father and the compassion of my mother. A single tear rolled down the face and I would have done anything to halt its path. They pushed the hair from my face and stared down at me in love. I knew that face. It wasn’t my face, but it was of me. I had never met him but I knew him. He was my son.
My son lifted me gently and brought me to a place where it was safe. He hadn’t saved me from death - no I was too far gone for that, but he had taken me somewhere where I could die in peace – a place where there was no shame in defeat and no stigma of weakness. As I looked into my son’s eyes, it suddenly wasn’t scary any longer. Everything would be all right. I was finally safe.
“You need to let it all go.” Ghostly words whispered throughout my mind as I let myself drift off into that darkness.
I awoke with a start.
It took me a few seconds to realise where I was. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but I was too tired to immediately teleport back to the camp. I couldn’t have slept for more than a few hours at most. I glanced briefly at Gabriel’s remains and Glave’s body, which still lay in the corner. With a shaking hand I brushed my hair from my face and immediately stopped as I glanced at my hand. The details of my dream had seemed so clear at the time, but with each precious second that passed I was losing them. Already I could see the image of my son’s face blurring and fading from my memory.
I am not a believer in a higher power. I can fathom no greater power than mine – but in that instant I understood. There were a million explanations for my dream, rational explanations that would explain away the mystery of what I had just seen. I don’t believe in a god, but I know a system when I see one. I can see a higher power in the design of evolution and I can see the divine in the passing of strength from father to son. In the end, I hadn’t experienced the divine. I merely had a dream, but I knew it was more than that. It was a sign of things to come and what I would need to do.
I don’t understand how I knew this, but I knew it as surely as if I had been spoken to from on high. I needed to change – what I was doing was wrong. The killing of my kind needed to stop. We weren’t an aberrant of the human race, we were part of it and to think of ourselves as separate was foolish. Were we the next stage of evolution? Who knows? Was our kind the future of our species? I didn’t know. I didn’t care. The anger and the pain I had felt had gone and it felt as if an iron collar had been removed from around my throat. All the deaths I had used as justification were immediately revealed for what they were. It was nothing more than an attempt by a weak man to justify the violence he needed to appease the ghosts of his past. But it wasn’t like that anymore. In that one moment I was free and unshackled. I was able to see myself for what I truly was, and I smiled. I wasn’t as broken as I had once thought. There was a path back, I knew it. I just had to find it. It was possible to come back from this. It was
possible that I could reclaim what I had lost. At first, I had sought it for selfish reasons, for me, for my glory. That wasn’t the path. That wasn’t my destiny. I would recover myself, because I had no choice. I had a son. It wasn’t about me any longer.
* * * * * *
I returned to the camp alone. I had much to think about. The camp was quiet when I returned, but I hadn’t expected that my encounter with Gabriel would have changed much. We had fought on the other side of the city – far outside the range of their scouts and sentry posts. They would have had no idea what had just happened.
Now that Glave was gone, I guess it fell to me to solely protect the camp, but the idea left a sour taste in my mouth. For the first time in a long time I began to make plans that didn’t involve combat – perhaps it was time to cash out. Simply run away and find somewhere safe to hide this whole thing out as Renee had originally wanted me to.
A shiver went through my body as I immediately rejected the idea. I had a son. I couldn’t leave the world in this state for him. No, there was still more I needed to do. Victor couldn’t be allowed dominion of this world – his new order would need to be destroyed before it could become a threat. My son would be powerful. The mixture of bloodlines between my own and his own would be highly prized by Victor. He would not allow such a prize freedom. He would attempt to do to my son what he had tried to do to me, and what he had done to my sister. He would turn him into a weapon. My son deserved better. Familiar urges rose from within my chest as my thoughts turned to the protection of another. I had felt this way before and it hadn’t exactly worked out way I had planned. I resolved that this time would be different.
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