Legacy First Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3 of the Legacy Series

by Ryan Attard

  Envy nodded slightly, its massive form shifting in the ocean. "You make your ancestors proud, Warlock."

  "I'm a wizard," I shot back instinctively.

  "It matters not. What does matter is that I am now forever bound to do the very thing I despise most—become a tool for someone else."

  "Not if I can help it," said Locklania. She stepped away from Leviathan, far enough to reach the edge of the nearest tree, and summoned her power. She climbed on a thick branch, which slowly grew and lifted her upwards like a platform. The branch grew longer and longer, taking Locklania all the way up to Leviathan's head.

  Once up there, she reached out and grabbed onto his face, looking straight into one giant eye.

  "You have given me a home and a purpose," she said passionately. "I have grown strong because of you. And I will do anything in my power to help you."

  Okay this was just weird. I understand Stockholm Syndrome, but this? Come on! This was like a bizarre version of Beauty and the Beast. And that would make me the hunter douche bag who sleeps with the girl and kills the beast.

  Well, maybe it was time I rethought that last part.

  Demons don't send themselves into exile. Demons don't feel lonely. Demons don't show mercy, unless it suited their needs. I had no idea what the hell Leviathan was, but he sure was no demon. Maybe he was a creation all by himself—maybe that's why Envy picked him as a host. He was jealous of everyone else having another member of their species except for him.

  Now, let me look at this from another angle. This guy was fucking huge. He was so powerful he had created an entire universe all by himself. Even if I went full power, using every last morsel of energy my powers gave me, it would be just enough not to get killed off in the first five seconds. This dude was so out of my league, it wasn't even funny. So if I could avoid fighting him, I was gladly going to take that option.

  Besides, if Locklania could change the original host, Leviathan, on a fundamental level, the Sin would have nothing to latch onto and it would just disappear. And then the big fish dude could take his universe somewhere else and not crash into mine. No Sin, no need to fight. Then these two can go off into the sunset or whatever.

  "All right then," I said cheerfully. "How's about you two get cracking on that purging-"

  Fire flashed into life, burning the branch lifting Locklania, and reduced it to ash in a matter of seconds. There was a moment of stunned disbelief as gravity claimed her. She didn't even scream—she didn't have time to.

  I saw a dark figure zoom past me, sending up a cloud of sand in its wake. Ash colored feathered wings flared and Raphael stopped abruptly, pinning Locklania by the neck against his chest using his forearm as a vice. The angel had changed. He was always rugged but now fire emerged from him, raging out of control. He pressed a screaming Locklania against him, burning her alive.

  His fiery eyes met mine.

  "Pathetic creature," he said holding the woman away from him by the neck.

  Then with a sharp twist, he snapped her neck and let her go. I watched, stunned, as she dropped, her neck at weird lopsided angle and most of her body charred black due to the flames.

  "Nothing shall interfere in my duty," the angel declared. "Only I can purge this evil abomination from the universe."

  He held his hand up, palm towards the sky. A giant fire lance, the size of Leviathan's head, formed above Raphael's outstretched hand. He grabbed it, swung backwards and threw it with all his might at the monster.

  "Now, in the name of Heaven, perish!"

  Chapter 32

  I flicked my sword upwards, sending a stream of energy, and intercepting the fire lance. Raphael's spell was sent astray into the clouds and exploded into a brilliant orange sun.

  "Stay out of this, human," the angel roared.

  "Fuck you," I yelled back. "Why did you kill her? We're trying to destroy the Sin without killing the host. Isn't that better?"

  "Blasphemy," Raphael spat in my direction. "Both Sin and demon host shall perish before the righteous flames of Heaven. As shall the human traitor who sided with them."

  A blast of power smashed into me and sent me spinning. I crashed into the ground face first and barely avoided his second attack, as the angel called upon fire again and sent another lance.

  Leviathan's giant head spread jaws so large they could have clamped down on the Empire State building and wrapped them around Raphael.

  I reached out, sending shadows forwards along my arm. A dark hand formed at the extension of my own left one, stretching forwards like a cartoon. I felt myself grabbing Leviathan's head and the pull hoisted me up towards the monster. Halfway through, while I was still in mid-air, I swung my sword, sending another streak of energy. My attack hit Raphael, knocking him backwards just enough to save him from becoming monster chow.

  "Snap out of it, man," I cried as I landed on Leviathan's neck and grabbed the giant frill to keep myself from slipping. "Don't kill this guy. You are the good guy here. Don't throw away the sacrifices you have made."

  "No," roared Leviathan. "He must pay for what he has done to the Witch." I couldn't blame him for wanting revenge. Hell, if someone so much as scratched a member of my family I would hunt them down like dogs.

  But there was a delicate balance at stake here. Leviathan was in charge of a plane that was crashing into Earth. The moment he lost control and the Sin of Envy was left to reign alone, I could kiss my universe goodbye. So whatever the cost, Leviathan had to remain in control and not give in.

  The monster shook its neck, trying to throw me off. At the same time, one of those giant tentacles coiled back and then shot forwards. I slipped off his neck and leapt forwards, trying to intercept the tentacle from impaling the angel—who was no longer there.

  Instead, Raphael appeared next to me and delivered a kick that sent me plummeting down a million miles. I smashed into the sand below, and felt every bone in my body break. A regular person would be turned to jelly but my shadowy powers kept me not only intact but also conscious.

  But I was out of commission while my body healed. I saw the angel wielding a flaming sword, slicing through the tentacle. With a burst of power, Raphael began growing in size, going from his usual bulky self to a titan about forty feet tall. The dismembered tentacle began falling, casting an infinite shadow over me. I felt myself being thrown to one side—my powers were acting on their own again—and completely avoided being crushed a second time. Not only that but my powers enhanced my muscles, allowing me to vault over the appendage, run along it and leap again, grabbing onto Leviathan once more. With one hoist I launched myself upwards, climbing the monster to get to the angel on top of it.

  Raphael's giant fire sword fell in a strike aimed at Leviathan's neck. I found myself in the sword's trajectory and poured all of my magic into Djinn. The azure blade exploded to a blade twenty times its size, almost matching Raphael's. I didn't have enough swing to counter such a massive weapon, since I was still a tiny dude fighting a battle amongst giants.

  But I could stick Djinn's giant energy blade in between Raphael's own weapon and Leviathan's neck. For the second time in less than five minutes I saved the fish monster's life.

  Raphael let out a furious scream and pulled back his sword for a second strike; exactly what I wanted. As he pulled, I flicked my own sword, sending his swing astray, and ran along Leviathan, once again using my powers to enhance my leap. Shooting myself forwards in mid-air I lifted my own engorged blade. Raphael just stood there, watching the azure sword descend on his face.

  But Leviathan had other plans.

  A massive hand swiped into us, catching both me and the giant angel in one swoop. The two of us were sent crashing down into the beach with enough force to crack the ground we stood on.

  I blacked out for exactly three seconds. When my senses came back, pain shot all over my body and I felt exhausted enough to sleep for a decade. It all made sense. The giant energy swords, the shadows, the Super Man crap: that was high level magic and as
draining as a gold digger with a rich man's wallet. And yet I felt the power still there. Djinn had returned to normal, but the shadows still clung around me, unwilling to part with their host.

  Besides me was Raphael, once again regular-sized, his ash-colored wings torn and askew. He was groaning in pain, something that told me he was in as much agony as I was, and which made me smile in petty glee.

  "Not the kind of threesome I'm into," I moaned.

  He snapped his head towards me and attempted to turn—but not before I threw myself at him and smashed my elbow on his face. Angels may have a crapload of powers but I guessed their basic self-defense skills were shoddy. Why bother with Kung Fu and all that stuff when you can conjure a giant fire sword?

  This guy was now fighting on my turf and I was the best. I had to be or else I'd have been dead a long time ago.

  Raphael raised his hand, covering his face against any other possible elbow strikes and fire gathered in his other hand. I intercepted the inevitable blast, using the shadows to absorb and contain the explosion. We were literally interlocked against each other and if that spell went off properly, my guts would be spread all over the ocean. But now I could tell that Raphael was running out of juice and that meant I had a small window of opportunity to ground and pound the living crap out of this asshole.

  The sky darkened once more as Leviathan's massive hand came thrusting down, like a foot stomping on a spider.

  I braced myself for some major pain and felt Raphael charging up yet another fire blast. I grabbed his hand and thrust my shadows against it, as the spell went off. The blast sent both myself and the angel flying in opposite directions, just in time for me to see the hand crash down on the space we had occupied a second ago. I felt the air shift with the sheer force of the blow and I was thrown further back. Raphael had an easier time managing his trajectory. I guess wings were useful in that regard. He spun in the air, landed with a fire lance in his hands and threw the weapon with such force it broke the sound barrier.

  The fire lance tore through Levaithan's forearm and impaled it to the ground, leaving the monster in a lopsided and vulnerable position. The angel conjured another, even larger, fire lance, and rose higher in the sky. I bolted toward Leviathan, leaping over his pinned hand and running along his forearm. All the while I channeled magic into Djinn, charging the blade with azure energy and enlarging it. The fire lance loomed near. I swung, cleaving the spell in half.

  Leviathan roared and reared upwards. He wrenched his hand free, throwing it up—with me on top of it.

  I went flying straight into the angel, who was in mid-swing. His arms were raised above him, body exposed, and could barely register what had happened before I smashed into him, sword first, impaling him from end to end. I didn't even have time to crack a joke about me shish-kebabing an angel; Leviathan's jaws came crashing down on us.

  I threw the angel away and channeled power into the shadows surrounding my body. Leviathan's jaws closed from up and down, and I had to use all of my power to wedge myself in between them, keeping them open.

  "Hey," I screamed desperately. "Not cool, man. I was trying to save you."

  "I need no saving from you, Wizard," came Leviathan's rumble.

  "You're right. Let's talk about it," I yelled back.

  "The angel must pay, Wizard," he said, still trying to clamp down on me. "And if you interfere, I shall end you as well."

  "Locklania wouldn't want this," I cried.

  Suddenly the jaws stopped pushing down, but still kept their position.

  "She wanted to live in peace too," I continued. "She wouldn't want to see her precious island spirit become some sort of rampaging monster. She forgave you for killing all her friends. Don't mess that up by becoming the killer you swore never to be again." I gave a final strain of effort against his giant maw. "She's not here to forgive you again. If you mess up, there's no one to say it's okay."

  "The angel must pay!" But I could tell his conviction was broken. Whatever Leviathan was, he loved his island and Locklania more than he loved destruction.

  And that was the part that had convinced me this guy was not a demon. Demons don't love. Leviathan was his own species—perhaps the only one ever made—and that meant that something was askew with the whole system of Sins and demons. We thought only demons were compatible with Sins and that's why we allowed angels to help us out. It evened the odds.

  But Leviathan did not fall in any category.

  "And he will," I roared back. "But not like this. If you give in, she'll have died for nothing. She wanted this island to go on existing and living, and if you give in to the Sin inside you, you are stomping on that desire. Is that what you want? Is the great Leviathan no different that the rampaging monster depicted in the legends?"

  The jaws snapped open and I was suddenly spat out. A tentacle broke my fall to the ground and brought me to eye level with the monster.

  "What do you propose, Wizard?"

  "I have a plan," I said, gingerly standing up on his appendage. "I will take down Raphael. Believe me, I got every reason to. But not like this. Not at the cost of your sanity."

  Leviathan let out a rumble. "What must I do?"

  "Leave," I said. "Just leave and live on. I'll take care of Feather Face over there."

  Leviathan fell silent and for a moment the only sounds heard were the slapping of waves and the wind flapping against my coat.

  "Why?" he asked. "Why must I put my faith in you?"

  I actually burst out laughing. This was just too weird. I mean, this guy got seriously mind-fucked by Heaven, years before the Earth took its first spin and now here I am, trying to get this guy to let me fight his battle for him.

  "How the hell should I know, man?" I shrugged. "But here's what I do know. That angel is the one behaving like a bad guy, not you. I know all about mixed perspectives and grey areas. My job is to stop monsters from destroying things that are precious to people, and from what I can tell, that fucker is the one in need of some serious ass-kicking, not you."

  Leviathan's eyes shifted slightly, gazing at the place where Locklania's charred corpse lay and then looked back at me.

  "Never did I think I would trust anyone again, much less weak and volatile creatures such as humans." He reached out with his hands and enclosed his fingers around Locklania, and a good chunk of the ground she was on. "Now I find myself trusting two."

  He set me down on the ground and lowered his head, while the remainder of his body began sinking back into the ocean.

  "But perhaps some humans are worthy of trust."

  Then he did the strangest thing yet. His giant snout came very close, close enough to touch. I felt this overwhelming need to reach out and pat the scaly fish monster on the head. As my right hand landed on Leviathan's face, I felt my powers flare up. It was as if the shadow power of my curse was taking a deep breath and exhaling in relief. I felt an intimate connection with the land—no, with Leviathan himself. The real Leviathan, the builder of this island and the pocket dimension it resided in, not the Sin that was slowly encroaching on it.

  I felt powerful, more powerful than I had ever felt in my entire life. Powerful enough to destroy everything that threatened me—including a celestial being from Heaven.

  And then, just like that, Leviathan retreated back into the ocean and began disappearing altogether. In just a few seconds, he had melted back into the abyss and the only evidence that remained of his ever being there was the wrecked ground, the aftermath of a clash between two titans.

  Raphael stood up, panting and tired. Fire danced around his body, once again alit with power. I stood my ground and lifted Djinn, readying myself for battle.

  "All right, Flames of Glory," I said with my usual snark. "It's just you and me now."

  Chapter 33

  Raphael wasn't happy at all. Fire exploded from his hands as he brought them together.

  "You have interfered in Heaven's affairs for the last time, human."

  The fire became
a bow and arrow, which he pulled back and fired. The flaming arrow was a thick lance of fire that could have incinerated me to a crisp.

  But I stood my ground and held my hand out. My fingers tightened around the fire, absorbing it into my shadows. With a flick of my wrist I then hurled the projectile away.

  "That the best you got?" I challenged. "I thought angels were better than this. Or maybe it's you that's weak."

  "I shall make you burn eternally in a pit of fire," he roared as he threw a fire ball at me.

  "Wow, easy there," I said, dodging out of the way. "Your wings are looking a little grey. Is someone's anger issues causing him to Fall?"

  "Speak not of that which you do not comprehend!" he screamed.

  I ducked beneath another blast, rolled and ran, closing the distance between us. When I got close enough, I swung Djinn, sending out a beam of energy. He reeled backwards but recovered quickly, charging up more fire. Before he could release it, I was right under his face. I swung my forehead forwards, smacking him in the nose and sent him tumbling to the ground.

  "You're just another dick with anger issues and too much power." I lifted my sword into a fighting stance. "Different species, same problem. What's there to comprehend?"

  Raphael stood up, calmly dusted himself off and cracked his neck. His wings flared and magic roared around him with a wave of sheer power.

  "You are no concern of mine, human," he said with cold murder in his voice. "My purpose is to destroy the Sin of Envy and everything concerning it. And if it chooses to hide like the coward it is, I shall have to flush it out." He looked at the forest and smiled. "I shall destroy the things most precious to it." Then he looked at me. "This is your final warning, human. Go home and stay out of this. Otherwise, the consequences will be fatal."

  His wings spread wide open and gave a single flap, sending a violent gust of wind my way. A flash of light later and Raphael disappeared.

  I just stood there like an idiot, preparing to fight an enemy that was no longer there. "Hey what the fuck!" I yelled. "Come back here!"