“All hell broke loose when Marcus failed to return from bringing Victor to justice.”
“I killed him,” I whispered. “He killed my sister.”
May’s eyebrows rose, but she continued with her story. “We had a dozen contenders for the position, and political infighting turned into very real fighting. It was chaos – dozens of us were killed in the first few days. It was a massacre.”
I had been fighting for survival in a surgical facility at the time after my brush in with Victor. And since I had already been declared an outcast at that point, I avoided the worst of it by simply not being there.
“Killian Voll seemed like the most obvious contender for the position,” May continued. “He seemed the most powerful amongst those who remained – so I signed up with him. At first things seemed to be getting back under control and then it got worse – way worse.” May sighed. “It all came to a head when one of our order approached a small European nation, doesn’t matter which one, and offered his services with a small border dispute they were having with a much larger power. I think it was an attempt to carve out a little kingdom for himself out of Europe. It didn’t exactly go as planned.”
“Land war in Europe,” I murmured. I’d seen the news footage. Just like in the First World War, the larger powers were brought into play, leading to an escalation of arms and eventually a world war. It was unlikely to have happened a third time – but that was exactly what happened. “Killian was furious at first and immediately ordered the death of the renegade, but by then it was too late. Others of our kind joined him and turned on Killian. He had no choice but to join the Soviets to attempt to establish order, and once that happened he lost control real fast.”
“He should never have had it in the first place,” I commented wryly.
“There was no one else,” May replied angrily. “Everyone else in a position to claim had been killed or discredited.”
In one fell swoop we had managed to kill or remove all of our most powerful leaders, leaving a vacuum in the most important positions of power. Our kind isn’t exactly well known for our laid back and peaceful nature – of course we turned on each other. I wasn’t one to point fingers though – I was the one most responsible for it. I had been responsible for discrediting Victor and I had killed Marcus.
“Killian did the only thing he could – he went public,” May whispered. “I advised him against it. He thought he could bring this whole thing to a head – but he couldn’t. It just made it worse. Eventually we found ourselves fighting two wars: one conventional that we didn’t want to be in, and the other a political war amongst our kind that we needed to resolve quickly. The problem was, we were winning and in those conditions it’s hard to rationalise pulling back.
“Things got worse, once the States got involved,” May murmured. “Unlike the last two World Wars, they got involved almost immediately. They thought they could enter the war, clean it up and get out quickly. They just didn’t understand what they were dealing with.”
“They still don’t.” I shrugged.
“They must have been surprised when troops invaded their home soil. Killian hadn’t wanted to do it, but by that stage it was too far gone. The only other alternative was to turn on his own troops – so he went along with it. At this point everyone thought that the only prize left on the table was world domination and an end to the political instability of the 21st century.”
I nodded. “It might have been better had the Second World War continued to its logical conclusion. The States and the Soviet Union weren’t allies and everyone knew it. Did you know that Churchill wanted to re-arm the Nazis and launch a war against the Soviet Union immediately after the Second World War? I wonder if he perhaps saw all this coming.”
May shook her head. “I don’t think anyone saw us coming – they were too secure in their nuclear power to think that this could happen. I can’t remember who resorted to nukes first – but it hadn’t worked out the way they had hoped for either side.”
I snorted. “I’ll say.”
“I last saw Killian about three weeks ago,” May continued. “He knew things were falling apart – he had overextended himself deep into enemy territory and something was killing us. At first he thought it was enemy mages, but it was happening too far behind our lines for it to be the enemy. It was happening too quickly and there was nothing he could do about it. Unfortunately he was being forced to fight a conventional war in unconventional ways.”
“I felt the same way.”
“Hell, we’d lost the conventional war about a year ago.” May shrugged. “And we knew it, but of course it was too late to do anything about it. That’s when Victor found me. Gabriel saved me, pulled me straight out of the fight. Victor had cornered me in Philadelphia and there was nothing I could do about it. He was just too strong. Everything I tried, he countered. It was a nightmare. Gabriel got me out of there. I owed him.”
A tear formed in the corner of May’s eyes as she said his name. I didn’t know what to say; the woman’s tears were making me uncomfortable. I wasn’t used to seeing her like this. In a strange way, her previous complaint about me being broken also applied to her. She had always seemed so strong and self-possessed. It was strange to see her so unsure of herself.
“So, what about you?” May grunted. “What the hell are you doing out here in this wasteland?”
“I didn’t exactly have a long-term plan.” I gestured towards Justin. “I needed to get somewhere off the grid. I didn’t think anyone would be able to trace me here.” I smiled wryly.
“You’re lucky it was me and not Victor,” May interjected.
I rubbed my bruised throat. “Yeah, I feel real lucky.”
“Victor would have killed you,” May whispered softly. “The only reason he hasn’t come after you yet is that he doesn’t know you’re alive. Gabriel was trying to get enough of us together to stand against him.”
That made sense; Gabriel was obviously working behind the scenes to try to diffuse the war sufficiently so that some of our kind would survive. In hindsight it was obvious that he’d recruited Kristoff, although I had no hard evidence of this fact. Kristoff had claimed he’d joined the wrong side – I’d assumed at the time that he was referring to Voll. But what if he was referring to Gabriel?
“I can deal with Victor,” I stated.
“What? Like you did before?” May scoffed.
“No.” I smiled. “I can now counter his powers. I’ve already defeated him once. If it wasn’t for his regeneration he’d have already fallen.”
“Are you sure?” May seemed hopeful.
“Yes,” I replied. I hoped I sounded more confident than I felt.
“You’re planning on facing him. When?”
“I don’t know.” I rubbed the bridge of my nose. My plans hadn’t been finalised, and finding Justin had been a huge complication. “I hadn’t expected to find the boy. He needed to be taken somewhere safe.”
May glanced between me and the boy quickly. “I know somewhere safe. Gabriel’s base – there are enough of us there to keep us relatively safe, especially if you take care of Victor.”
“Renee?”
May looked uncomfortable and nodded.
“My son?” my words were a faint whisper.
May nodded.
“Don’t tell Renee you found me. It’s better that I remain dead for now.”
I glanced at the small woman in front of me. How far could I trust her? I trusted her enough to think that she wouldn’t cause harm to Justin, and that was all that was important at the moment. I had some doubt that she would honour her promise to me about Renee, but she’d make a far better teacher for Justin than I. Without the boy I was free to return to Poland and finish my studies, which would hopefully allow me to unlock the necessary power to finally defeat my former master.
“Take the boy,” I grunted.
“You could come with us,” May whispered, but I could see in her heart that she didn’t believe it any mo
re than I did.
“Strange offer – from someone who has vowed to kill me.” I grinned wryly.
May didn’t answer. Neither of us liked the reminder that I’d been responsible for her husband’s death. He’d been my friend, maybe not at the end, but I still thought of him as such.
“You know I can’t,” I replied.
“I know.”
This disrupt effect would only last a few more hours at most. I would be able to teleport in the morning. I didn’t want May to tell me where she was going, and she seemed more comfortable with me not knowing anyway. Although I had tried to sound sure of myself earlier, I think we both knew I was probably going to my death. I didn’t bother to say goodbye to the boy.
He and May saw me off when I went to leave the next morning. I saw in Justin’s eyes that he knew what was happening and why I was going. He would be better hands with May, in that I was now certain.
“If you’re going, you should probably take this.” May passed Gabriel’s phone back to me.
“No, where I’m going I don’t want to be tracked.”
“Take the battery out,” May advised. “It can still be tracked if it has power.”
“No,” I replied firmly. I didn’t want the damn phone. The temptation to use it would be too much. I placed the phone in her hands and closed her fingers over it.
“Devon,” May whispered. “Good luck. I was wrong about you.”
I smiled as I turned away. “No. No you weren’t.”
CHAPTER NINE
With the usual tell-tale explosion of sound I teleported back to the secret compound under the Tatras mountains in Poland. With a flick of my fingers I sent up a Mana flare to provide light to the complex. The generators that had once powered the compound had long since fallen into disrepair, and although I could have salvaged them and brought them back online, I didn’t need to. I could provide all the warmth and light I needed with my magic.
As usual, my arrival wasn’t greeted with much notice from the compound’s inhabitants – both of them were dead. As I stared at Randall’s weathered and pale face, I was confirmed in my decision not to bring the boy here. He didn’t need to see this. Using my sorcery to take control of Randall, I sent him to prepare the room I would need for what was going to come next. Then I headed down into the cells.
Karl was in his usual place in his cell, staring off into space. It normally took several seconds before he responded to my presence. He seemed to disappear into his mind often. I didn’t judge him too harshly though – he had occupied this room for almost seventy years. I knocked courteously on the open cell door and waited. I could be here some time.
“You have returned,” Karl responded almost immediately. I jumped; he had responded far too quickly.
I glanced into the cell to see an unusual sight. Karl’s withered body was literally swarming with Mana particles. I took a step back. This was curious, I hadn’t expected this. When I had realised that the majority of his Mana was being used to maintain his body, I’d asked him to try to use the power for minor telekinesis. This act may have stimulated something and caused his power to increase.
Judging from his Mana aura, he wasn’t powerful by any sense of the word, but it had happened so quickly – if he continued gaining in strength he would become formidable.
“You see what you have done?” Karl whispered tonelessly, taking a step towards me. His eyes bored into me with judgment as I took another step back away from the cell.
“Unintended,” I gasped as the man bore down on me, but he cut me off before I could finish.
“Fix it!” he hissed. “The hunger is almost overwhelming. I can’t focus. I can’t think. It dominates me!”
“You need to use the Mana,” I began, but was again cut off.
“No!” he snarled. His fingers wrapped around my lapels. His anger had given him strength and I could almost feel him pull me forward. Previously Karl had barely been able to lift his own arms – his regenerative powers had increased tenfold. If given enough time, it might restore his youth and vitality. It would be interesting to see what happened.
“You promised to kill me,” Karl whispered into my ear as he brought his fetid face closer to mine. “You have brought no others with you to experiment on, so you must be returning to fulfil your promise.”
“I have,” I murmured. I attempted to extricate myself from the wight’s grasp. He let me go immediately.
“When?” he pressed.
“I have some tests,” I replied firmly. Killing Karl would serve me nothing if I didn’t understand how the technique could be used to bring down my former master.
Karl sighed. “There are always tests. Perform your tests – then do as you promised. Just be quick.”
I took a step back from the man as I attempted to surmise what difference his new state would bring into the equation. Would the fact that his body was actively healing itself affect what I was about to do? I didn’t know, and Karl wasn’t going to give me the time to test the effect properly.
I nodded briefly at Karl and gestured down the corridor. I’d often wondered if the man had any fears walking down this hall during these moments. He knew he was going to be experimented on, just had he had during his days when the camp had been a Nazi scientific base. Surely there must be some old memories lurking within that dusty mind that this experience triggered? If so, he didn’t seem to show it. He walked with his usual small-stepped shuffle down the corridor without any visible signs of distress or alarm.
Randall met us at the door to the operating surgery. As per my instructions, the place had been scrubbed clean. Karl walked straight past Randall and sat on the table with an audible grunt. This was new too. Previously Randall had to assist the man onto the table.
I wished I could see how far Karl’s regeneration would take him.
I sighed and moved to the head of the table. I placed my hand upon the man’s withered shoulder. It felt like touching distressed leather, wrinkly and desiccated. Under this flesh I could feel the familiar pulse of his Mana signature. It took me several moments of concentration to locate the thread responsible for his regeneration.
I had examined it before, but previously it had been weak and difficult to observe. Now it was strong and I could see how Victor had done it. It was a stroke of genius; I could see how the thread had been built and how it was being maintained. I could also see why Victor had considered it a failure. It was taking far too much power for such a small effect. Karl had never been the most powerful of our kind, and the thread had nullified his powers for over half a century until my own mistake had caused an escalation of the Mana within the man. The thread, now with access to more power, was thriving. Using a Mana technique I’d found within Victor’s spell books, it began working on his body at a cellular level. The technique was flawed in that it only regenerated existing cells rather than create new ones, but given enough power it might be successful in its endeavour. There didn’t seem to be a way to disrupt the effect permanently as it renewed itself almost immediately when the thread was broken. The whole process needed to be taken down intact rather than in pieces. But that wasn’t possible – the amount of energy required was enormous and I hadn’t been able to generate enough power.
True to form – I hadn’t considered other options, I had instead sought a way to increase my power. There was a metaphor in that ideal for my kind. We didn’t look for other options; we simply attempted to overpower our way through our obstacles.
There was another option that I’d discovered when I had used the effect on Gabriel. I could circumvent this process towards another end - not stopping it, but accelerating it, twisting it and making it my own. It was devilishly simple in its application. If you can’t beat it, then change it. All I had to do was to attempt to heal the man on the gurney before me.
I breathed out as I squeezed my fingers into the man’s flesh. In another man this would have been uncomfortable, but Karl’s nerves had been dead for years – he would feel
nothing. Surprisingly, he shivered when I began to summon the Mana.
As I twisted the frequency of the Mana into the fey abomination I had discovered, the Mana across his flesh rushed to the infected area, only to be consumed into the process that I was creating.
I gritted my teeth as I poured more energy into Karl’s shoulder; I could see the disruption spreading across his chest and down his left arm, but I was fighting for every inch of it. This wasn’t the same experience as before; Gabriel’s Mana signature had embraced the magic, Karl’s was actively fighting me. Perhaps this was to be expected; after all, the same Mana had kept him alive for over half a century. With a small exhalation I increased the output of power into the man. I drew upon what reserves I had and threw them into the process. Karl began twitching on the gurney as I continued my work.
The twitches turned into stuttered gasps that grew stronger as the power consumed him. I closed my eyes and concentrated on what I was doing. It was difficult; I was trying to end a spell effect that had existed for far longer than I had been alive. Mana isn’t sentient and doesn’t have a conscious will, but for all intents and purposes it may as well be.
“Stop!” Karl screamed suddenly, his voice turning hoarse with anguish as the spell effect overtook him.
I ignored him - this was what he wanted. It would soon be over.
“Stop it!” he screamed again.
I immediately opened my eyes to glance down at my patient. My hand pressed against his shoulder was soaked with blood. The flesh under my fist had broken beneath my claw-like grasp. His skin should have been too leathery for that, but now it appeared pink and new. I saw the effect ripple across the man’s flesh and the veins in his body began to pulsate as blood pumped through them again. The flesh around the veins took on a slightly blue tinge and then turned from the weathered grey shade of dead skin to a healthy pink hue.
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