No further threads appeared. Victor must have assumed I had been consumed in the blast. He would probably send in a scry thread in a few seconds to assure that the deed was done. I had only gained moments at most, but I was going to make the best use of them.
As a wave of dust and debris passed across my shield, I propelled upwards into the night sky. I watched with satisfaction as little pinpricks of Mana flared up across the cityscape. Victor had realised his mistake. He had just given away the position of his drones. There were only about fourteen left.
I sent several volleys of flame down into the city, as I slowed down. I watched with pleasure as several Mana Nova threads fizzled and failed as their owners were consumed in fire. Only a dozen left. I waited until they were almost on me as my body succumbed to gravity, and then teleported directly down,. Unable to turn at the speed they had been travelling, they were unable to stop me. I travelled across the city as would a vengeful god, tearing each vessel from its post like a rag doll in my grasp. I tore them to pieces until there were only three left. They were starting to respond quicker in the face of their destruction. The last one I destroyed had almost managed to elude me by throwing itself from the building. That manoeuvre hadn’t saved it. I had pulled him from his descent and destroyed him, leaving his body to finish its fall. I could almost see the look on Victor’s face as he felt his connection to each of his vessels fail and go black. I couldn’t imagine what that must have felt like. Dear god, I hoped it hurt.
Without the drones powering the Mana Nova threads, the conflagration of death that had followed me had lessened. Without the sheer number of drones Victor had before, they weren’t going to be a threat to the same degree. My guess was confirmed when I saw the remaining drones slowly rise in unison from behind a building as Victor changed tactics.
Each drone was now protected by an impressive shield. I threw myself to the side as three threads arced from the drones and sought me out. They smashed the rooftop where I had been standing. It wasn’t Mana Nova, but it was still dangerous. I soon realised why they weren’t using Mana Nova; through his connection to the vessels, Victor couldn’t exert the same level of control as a normal mage could over his own body. We unconsciously used spatial awareness to know where the shield should finish and the Mana Nova thread should start, otherwise we’d be constantly tearing our own shields to pieces. Victor had no such awareness from wherever he was hiding and thus had to make allowances. I would make these allowances cost him.
I teleported behind one of the drones and sliced through his shield in seconds. Just because they weren’t going to use Mana Nova didn’t mean that I couldn’t. My thread tore through its shield as if it was made of butter and the drone’s head fell cleanly from its shoulders. With an arc of my wrist I sent my thread tearing through the centre drone and would have taken out the third had it not suddenly launched a Mana Nova thread of its own to protect itself, destroying its own shield in the process. It all happened so quickly that I surmised Victor must have withdrawn from the middle drone in an attempt to protect the third. It seemed that its body was already falling before I had killed it, and the third drone was reacting with a speed that was almost human.
Almost human, but not quite.
I circled around, keeping a Mana Nova thread between us. The drone’s eyes held no emotion as they gazed upon me. I vaguely wondered who they had been. Had they been corpses that Victor had pulled from the street, or had he known them? Reanimation took some time; Victor had been preparing for this for a long time, since he had known I would be coming for him. He had known ever since our battle in Poland?
I instinctively deflected the Mana Nova strike levelled at me. It was child’s play; the thing before me was so very, very slow - nowhere near the level of a master mage.
I threw myself at the thing in fury, and it couldn’t react anywhere near quickly enough. Its Mana Nova thread tore into the floor and gouged a large chunk of masonry from the rooftop. The impact of me hitting the drone sent us both tumbling down from the rooftop and onto one of the buildings below.
I grasped the thing’s face with my fists through two shields and brought my face towards it.
“This won’t work, Victor!” I snarled as we fell. “You’re going to have to face me. You can’t hide behind your minions! You’re going to have to come and finish the job yourself!”
The building below us was a car park, I could make out the shapes of three or four cars on its rooftop as we tumbled down towards it. The impact of our bodies hitting the roof caused a large explosion of dust and debris. The concrete beneath us cracked and crumbled, and I felt the shield protecting the thing beneath me fail. A large shelf of concrete broke off as the roof gave way and fell down onto the level below. Two cars fell into the gap created by our landing, the second shrieking as the car alarm went off. The drone’s body was probably liquefied inside from the impact, but what would kill a normal human won’t necessarily kill a drone. I knew that Victor was still in there.
“You are going to have to face me,” I whispered one last time at the drone before I sent a Mana Nova thread through its head to ensure the connection was severed. With a casual flick of my wrist I sent the thread lancing into the car behind me and ending the infernal alarm.
NOW
Victor hasn’t responded yet, but a team of soldiers has just stormed onto the roof. I’m going to send them back down the hard way. Victor is grasping at straws. He’s now counting on humans to kill me. Foolish. Let him send his soldiers; with every second I am recovering more of my strength for this, my last battle. I am ready.
I reach down and caress the mobile phone in my pocket. It’s my ace in the hole, my insurance in case everything goes badly. It’s still intact. From my other pocket I withdraw the voice recorder Emily Perry had given me. This seems like the last chance I’ll have to use it.
“I’m not sure when I became the villain of my story,” I whisper, tearing a soldier from the rooftop and sending him tumbling below. “But I’m now quite certain that this is exactly what I’ve become.”
The sound of gunfire interrupts me as another soldier rushes onto the roof. I sweep the gun from his hand and break his neck. I can hear the fighting below intensifying as more soldiers converge on this position.
A loud explosion rocks the rooftop I’m standing, from a tank shell hitting the side of the building. A cocktail of shrapnel, concrete and dust is raining down on me. I casually reach out and crush the tank into a twisted wreck. Crushing the reinforced steel on the armoured tank doesn’t take much effort.
The dying sounds of the downed weapon of war echoes throughout the city. It’s a fitting warning to those who might still be in the area – stay away, keep away! Nothing awaits them here but death. The warning had probably come a little too late, in a few minutes it would be too late anyway.
I glance at my watch again and for a second time contemplate turning my phone on. No, it’s still too early for that. I bring the voice recorder back to my lips.
“My name is Devon Wills,” I whisper, feeling the weight behind the words, “and I am a mage.”
I continue pouring my words into this small device, which may not even survive the upcoming battle. I should perhaps send it away to ensure its survival - it will contain my last words and my only reasons for what I have done. Or perhaps it’s better to leave it to fate: if it is meant to be found – it will be.
“Understand I don’t say these things to defend my actions, nor to extol what virtues I do possess,” I murmur. “I did what I did simply because I had no choice and will not try to justify my actions to you. It is not for you to judge me – that is for my peers alone to do and I no longer have peers amongst the likes of you and your kind.”
I bite off the last words - the air around me is turning into flame. They used a grenade. I emerge unscathed and finish the foolish soldier who had attempted to thwart my words. They’ve just paid for their crime – dearly.
My words pour from me like a river
as I explain my reasons and my past into the small electronic device. I’m doing everything Emily Perry had begged me to do. I explain why this war happened. I don’t shirk my responsibility or attempt to defend my reasons. I take the blame. This future is my fault. All my actions attempting to prevent it have brought me to this single point. I can only hope things aren’t too far gone to come back.
A small trail of blood runs across my eyes from a cut on my forehead. I don’t remember feeling it happen, but it was probably from when my shield had been weakened as I fell down the stairs in the shopping centre. I ignore the wound and keep talking. I’m not sure who I imagine will recover this device. It’s possible I’m not talking to anyone in particular, but screaming my story into the twilight night for only the wind and the gods to hear. I tell the machine everything, every mistake, every hope that was never realised, every failed goal and every depravity I had succumbed to.
“And so we come to the end. It is fitting that my ending takes place where I began,” I whisper finally. It’s been some time since the last batch of soldiers. Have they finally given up? I caress the phone in my pocket for the fourth time since I began my story. How long have I been up here, talking into this damned box? Ten minutes? Twenty? All I know is that Victor should have come for me by now. He’s late.
“Victor!” I call out, using the Mana to amplify my voice. “Come out and finish this. It is time!”
My voice will have been heard across every inch of this city. He will have heard me, but more so, he will have felt the Mana surge across the city. A shockwave caused by my Mana passes over familiar buildings, now smouldering rubble, and across the beloved landmarks of my childhood now falling into ruins.
A loud explosion preceding a teleport spell brings me spinning around to face my old master. He is here. I steady my nerves and grip my fingers into fists. I casually clip the loose battery on my mobile phone into place and close the lid. I flick the phone on, never once taking my eyes from my adversary. The familiar electronic jingle notifies me that it has finished loading. I drop it into the rubble beneath me as I step forward and look at my upcoming death squarely in the eyes. I will not flinch in the face of it, I am ready.
Victor physically looks much different to how he had when I last saw him. He has been using the Mana to sustain him after all. He looks smaller, weaker, somehow diminished. Is it because I’m finally seeing him as he was, rather than the man he has become? Is it only now that I am standing face to face with him on this blasted rooftop that I recognise his humanity?
I turn to face him with a small gesture of welcome. I will obey the courtesies in this. After all, there’s no need to be rude. One of us will not be walking away from this confrontation, and I’m still not sure it will be me.
“You have come far, my apprentice,” Victor said sadly. “Of all my students, you are the one of whom I am most proud.”
“I don’t want your admiration,” I scoff savagely, but I’m lying. I do want it. I crave it with every word that leaves the man’s lips. He’s a murderer and a monster and still I crave his respect. I have done everything I can to destroy him and still I want his endorsement. I hate myself right now. I hate myself for wanting it so badly. I won’t let such a desire show on my face, but it is clear between us. There can be no lies between us. Not here, not now.
“Victor,” I murmur, my voice breaking, “you know what must happen now.”
Victor nods as if we are chatting of things far removed from the battlefield. I imagine we are still master and student, and he is explaining some concept of Mana I had somehow missed.
“Your son could have been truly great with my guidance,” he murmurs. My heart turns to stone. Victor smiles, I know he sees his words taking their effect across my face. Any humanity left in me has surely dissipated now. Did he say those words on purpose? Victor has known me like no other teacher; he has seen inside my mind and he know what buttons to press. A smile escapes his lips. In this place I will not be manipulated. I will not be coerced. This has happened because I willed it. Everyone who died because of me demanded it. I will not allow his games to distract me.
“Are you ready then?” Victor whispers. “Do you wish to learn your final lesson?”
I grit my teeth and let the power rise within me. Victor has kept his shield powered while speaking. He respects me that much at least. He’s not going to underestimate me.
“There is only one problem,” the old man continues. “I have no more lessons to give.”
“I have a lesson for you,” I reply darkly, my voice cracking.
“What lesson is that?” His voice is harsh.
“I’m going to show you how to die!” I state. It’s not a threat, I didn’t say it in anger. It’s a simple promise. a foretelling of things to come.
“Come then,” he intones, drawing forth his Mana Nova to defend himself.
In this battle there will be no tricks, no subtle distractions, and no other sources of attack. We have exhausted all such options. We’ve come to what it was always going to be: two men standing on a rooftop who could not live in the same world as each other any longer.
Victor is no faster than me, and no more powerful. I have finally caught up with him in sheer strength and control. Victor is older and has more experience with Mana, but I’m younger and have more vitality. I also have resources that the old man lacks. Our relative strengths had made us equals. It was possible that I could win this fight on my own merits, but I would no longer allow my arrogance to affect the outcome of this battle. Should he overpower me and take me, my son will suffer for it and that is a price too great for me to pay.
Fighting Victor is hard; he’s a foe I have never defeated. I loop a thread around Victor’s and send his attack swinging wide. I move in close; Victor doesn’t cope when his opponents are too close. But we’re in a small car park and there isn’t much room. Anyway, Victor thinks that the outcome of this fight isn’t going to be determined by space but by power.
Victor is wrong.
I smile as I dart in closer, letting Victor’s thread go wide. He raises his arm in fury as I spin towards him, almost colliding with him. His shield immediately strengthens, but he needn’t worry. My thread dissolves as I ready my powers for another, more insidious purpose. He could bring his thread back at any moment. His eyes narrow as he sees his opportunity.
Time seems to be slowing down; I have to act! I create a small particle in the palm of my hand and approach my enemy. Victor’s face is turning from fear to concern then amazement as he sees the thread that will end his life. He knows what I’m doing, and now that I’ve completed the final thread and ignited the construct, I can see he also understands why.
He responds with a Mana Nova thread arcing round towards my head. It will shear through my shield in seconds and remove my head in another. I stagger as my shield and mobility constructs collapse, and mere seconds later Victor’s thread strikes me.
Victor surveys the work I’ve completed on myself. I had discovered this techniques by accident and although I hadn’t known it at the time, it would be my salvation. I had used to it keep my friend at death’s door while I interrogated him. The process had consumed him, leaving nothing but ash in its wake. It was a death sentence, and I have delivered it onto myself. I shudder as the Mana within me burns. It feels like fire coursing through my veins. Before my eyes, the damage to my legs heals as the magic pulses through me like wildfire.
Staggering forward, I latch onto Victor’s shielded form, my Mana-soaked fists passing easily through his shield as its power is converted to sustain my regeneration. I smile brokenly as the old man’s strength is added to my own. The spells that power the old man’s regeneration are consumed by the fey sickness I cast upon myself. My limbs don’t seem to work properly and I have pulsating waves of heat and cold passing across me. My whole body seems numb and vital at the same time. There is no pain, but I know it will come soon enough.
A bout of nausea takes me as the wave of magic
passes through me. Quicker and quicker the magic surges until I feel nothing but the Mana. My head rolls back as the world spins in my vision. My fists on Victor’s shoulders are the only thing keeping me standing.
With a gasp I fall to my knees, taking Victor down with me. I can see from the Mana signature on the old man’s chest that he is experiencing the same as me. His powers are being drained as the parasitic Mana construct within me consumes everything available, including the old man’s regenerative construct.
“You have killed us both!” Victor gasps as the realisation overtakes him. He struggles, but as his regenerative powers fail him so does his stolen youth. I can see him aging before my eyes, the years he has lived finally taking their toll on his face.
I pull the old man close, and my construct passes from me to Victor like a virus, spilling into his own chest as it recognises damaged flesh that needs repair. I have done it! I’ve destroyed the magic sustaining him and replaced it with my own.
Infecting him has only started the process. I now need to inflict catastrophic damage to his body – enough damage to overpower the healing process beyond its ability to repair. There is still a possibility that we could survive this, but I have already assured our destruction. It is already done, but in this moment of weakness I will do anything to take it back. I might survive this, just as Victor might. It is a faint hope, the dying wish of a weak and desperate man. It is fortunate that the decision isn’t in my hands.
I glance down at the mobile phone half buried in the rubble. It is such a small object, with a single blue blinking light on its screen. It is such an insignificant thing, and I had been sure that Victor wouldn’t have realised its importance. At first it had been nothing more than a backup plan. But looking into the blinking light, I now know it could never have been any other way. There was rightness to this.
Far above, so far above where I can’t see it, a fighter jet is homing in on the GPS signal provided by my phone. It’s going to deliver a payload that will destroy the block. I can’t see it, not yet, but I know it’s coming.
Mage Emergence Page 31