by Ryan Attard
We dove into the water, descending downwards like a torpedo, slicing through waves, water pressure and an unfortunate Abyss Wurm that happened to be passing by. We emerged from the Wurm's gut and kept going, reaching that distortion in space and time which created a small vortex in the ocean.
And just as we entered the portal and crossed into Chaos space, Raphael exploded, unleashing all that energy into nothingness.
Chapter 35
I saw the explosion happen in slow motion, right on the precipice between two worlds.
Raphael blew up right next to me, with my grip still tight around him. Chaos space, however, has a whole new set of physics, all to itself. The explosion didn't vaporize me. Instead it sent me hurtling through the other side of the portal and into the real world.
My world.
The portal had once again materialized inside Lake Michigan and a good chunk of that explosive energy made it back. And in our world, explosions are explosions—they make shit go boom in a million different directions and that's the end of the story.
I watched as the water around me parted into a tsunami, waves rising like a second sky. It was twilight and suddenly I found myself in the middle of a water funnel. I was spat to the top and into a cascading wave as the waters crashed back together. The torrential forces pulled and pushed me all over the place. All around me was darkness and cold. I couldn't breathe, nor move.
Suddenly I felt myself being shot forwards. I felt my body heavy and burdened, no longer enhanced by the potent magic that clung to me on the island. Momentum carried me about a hundred feet away from shore and my body actually skidded across the waves like a pebble.
Luckily I crashed into the beach by Lakefront Trail. And I say luckily because I knew I did not have the strength to swim, and would have surely drowned to the bottom of the lake. My head cracked against the hard, solid ground and I was left with my head literally in the sand. I turned very slowly and threw up to the side, then lay on my back breathing fresh sea air and the occasional grain of sand.
And then the pain started.
All that magic I had used, even subconsciously, on the island, still had the same price. I couldn't pay the price there, because of the fundamental laws of that place. But here on dear home, sweet home, that price had to be paid. And so when my curse power timed out, I was faced with a massively overdue bill.
Pain and exhaustion crept over every nerve ending, every bone, every cell in my body. I didn't even have enough energy to writhe in pain, or moan in agony. I just stood there, barely able to breathe, until I felt myself blacking out.
It felt as if decades had passed before I felt familiar hands on my head.
"Hold on, brother," I heard Gil say.
Magic filled the air and my pain dulled. White light and mist engulfed the both of us and my body systematically began regaining use. I heard Gil mutter the body parts she was healing under her breath, starting with my head and working her way down, as if following some diagram from a textbook.
I spasmed a couple of times and Amaymon kneeled on my chest, a big goofy grin on his face.
"I thought you were gonna walk on water," he said. "I was totally waiting for your Jesus act."
I groaned. "I prefer Criss Angel. He's got his own network show."
"The irony of a real wizard trying to imitate a TV magician."
"Yeah, that's great," I wheezed. "Do you mind getting off of me?"
He let out a devious laugh and looked up. "He's over here," he yelled, as his body weight eased off of mine.
I sat up and immediately was assaulted by a flurry of arms and red hair. Behind Abi I saw Jack rubbing his eyes with his finger and smiling like an idiot. Amaymon clapped him on the shoulder.
"You were missed around here," the demon said, looking at me. "I wonder if I'll get a welcoming parade like yours if I were to show up from another dimension."
Before I could reply, I felt Abi release me from her death grip. "Where were you?" she partially yelled in my face. "What happened? You were gone for hours! What the hell happened to you?"
"Can I get up first?" I asked. "I have sand where sand should not be."
We stood up and I dusted myself off. "I was trapped in the pocket dimension," I explained. "Which by the way, is not exactly a pocket dimension and more like Leviathan's lair."
"I don't get the reference," said Amaymon.
"It's not a reference. The actual Leviathan made a dimension of his own and—wait did you say I was gone for couple of hours?" I asked Abi.
She nodded.
"I was gone for two weeks," I said.
We stared at each other before simultaneously looking at Amaymon quizzically. Even Gil and Jack were giving him inquisitive looks. And Amaymon, being Amaymon, couldn't just give us a straight answer.
"Well, my friends," he said in his best Morgan Freeman impression. "Space and time work differently in throughout the multiverse. What would only appear as a few hours in our plane could be equivalent to weeks in another. Such is the nature of things."
"That is actually a really good impression," Abi whispered.
"I know, right?" I replied.
At that precise moment I felt an aggressive intrusion in my head, like a psychic lightning bolt. I was stunned on the spot, unable to move or see anything, until suddenly my mind was filled with images and Leviathan's mental projection filled my head.
"Wizard, Erik,” he said. "I must require of you a favor, an exchange for the power I bestowed upon you."
I'm listening.
"Protect those that need protection. Carry on what I started. I shall give the island to the Earth, but you shall decide what to do with that gift."
What? You can't do that, you'll break the plane.
"The island is more than its rocks and trees, Wizard. I shall give it all to you. And you must protect what needs to be protected—at any cost. In return, I shall promise you the same."
As he said that, I saw the island for what it was. I was watching the creation of the pocket dimension, with Leviathan slowly adding creatures to it. He understood the need for a perfectly symbiotic ecosystem, and mirrored Earth in the design of his own home. I saw the different monsters, the inhabitants. I saw the island's history pass before me in a flash and suddenly understood what Leviathan meant.
"Erik." Gil was shaking my shoulder. "Erik, are you all right?"
I shook my head a little, forcing myself back to the present. "I'm fine," I said.
But she was no longer looking at me.
Instead her attention was focused elsewhere—specifically, the spot I was spat out of.
The portal expanded and hundreds of creatures were thrown from Leviathan's island to the Chicago bay. The portal expanded to cover the land as well, as in less than three seconds I could see all the new pals I had made on the island, walking right here on my home turf.
"Ah crap," I muttered.
Amaymon slapped my shoulder. "You brought back a whole bunch of ugly-ass monsters and not one hot chick? Man, I am so disappointed in you."
Gil immediately sprang into action and began firing off orders to her team. And when Gil's people go into action, not a lot of the victims tend to come out in one piece.
"Whoa, hold on there," I said running after her.
She spun.
"Hear me out," I said. Now everyone was looking at me. "The giant centipede things and the fish people are bad news. There are some scorpion things running around. Watch out because they're poisonous but not much of a threat. The black unicorns are bad news, but you can barbecue the white ones. They're really good. And if you see the trees moving, you can just ignore them."
"What?" Gil asked incredulously.
I ignored her. "But most importantly, don't hurt the ones that look human, okay?"
"What the hell are you talking about, Erik?" she insisted.
I grabbed her shoulders. "They are called Vensir and they are just like us. Well, they all look like elves, but my point is they're civilized,
decent folk."
She frowned. "Are you sure of what you're saying?"
I smiled. "Oh yeah. More than I want to be. Just take my word for it. Hold them and calm them down. Tell them I'll deal with them once I come back," I said before turning and began walking back towards the water.
Gil grabbed the sleeve of my coat. "Where are you going?"
I looked around to see four faces of apprehension and worry all directed at me.
"I'm going back," I said. Gil and Abi launched into a verbal tirade, while Jack looked at me quizzically and Amaymon yelled out insults. They were all talking at once, and none of it was along the lines of 'yeah Erik, that's a good idea.'
I held my hand up, silencing them.
"You see that, right?" I asked, pointing at the portal. "That's partly my fault. Raphael, the angel, and I duked it out. He's the real bad guy in this story, not the Sin. Envy is actually Leviathan, and the guy just wants to be left in peace."
"What?" Gil yelled. "Demons are demons."
"No," I replied a little too harshly. "Leviathan is not a demon. Demons don't take care of stranded women, or build societies, or feel guilty enough to cast themselves away in exile for fear of the destruction they might cause."
I glanced at Amaymon, who shrugged.
"We made a wrong assumption, Gil," I continued. "Not all Sins are demons and this guy was wronged." I took a pause to breathe and calm myself down. "Raphael went on a rampage and tried to blow himself up. He succeeded but I carried him through the portal and into Chaos space. That's why the pocket dimension is destabilizing."
"So what now?" Amaymon asked.
"I go back," I said looking him directly in the eye. "I must protect what needs to be protected. And in this case, that means destroying the crumbling plane. Even if it means I have to kill Leviathan. Even if I have to die with it."
I turned around and walked away. Soon I heard multiple footsteps behind me and saw Abi, Jack and Amaymon catching up to me.
"You really didn't think we'd let you have all the fun, did you?" Amaymon said nonchalantly.
"We're coming with you," Abi said. "Your sister will coordinate from here and we'll back you up."
"It's too dangerous," I countered.
"And you are both wounded and tired," she shot back.
"Yeah, Erik," added Jack. "We'll back you up. That's what a team does."
I gave them a quick look. There was no convincing them now. "Fine. But you stay close to Amaymon and make sure to come back in one piece."
The demon gave me a comical scowl.
"How come I get to be the babysitter?" he said, before suddenly halting his pace.
We followed his gaze and all of us froze on the spot.
Emerging from the water and covered in sand was Raphael. The angel looked like a zombie that had just been run over by an eighteen wheeler. His wings were disjointed stumps and most of his body was covered in black scars. His limbs were torn off, leaving only a mound of flesh that was hissing every time the tide washed over it.
He looked up, saw us and a groan escaped the hole in his face where his mouth once resided.
"Oh look, a roach," Amaymon said, raising his foot. "Shall I stomp it?"
Before he could take a single step, light exploded out of nowhere and a pair of angels materialized. They grabbed Raphael and roughly held him down, burying his face in the sand. Raphael screamed incoherently.
"Enough."
Jehudiel descended from the skies, regal and majestic as always. When Raphael saw him, he doubled his screaming. Jehudiel gave him a look of disgust, pity and rage all at once.
"Be gone," he said flicking his wrist. Light sucked away the angels and their captive, leaving us alone with the archangel.
"Are you gonna stand in my way?" I challenged. We were almost face to face now. Bear in mind, this guy could just wipe me out of existence and make the world forget I ever lived with just a thought. If he yawned loud enough he could extinguish a species or two. And yet here I was being a tough guy in front of him.
Jehudiel looked downwards and took a few steps back. He descended into a deep bow.
"No, Erik Ashendale," he said softly. The usual rumble of power was gone from his voice and he managed to sound meek. "I am going to sincerely apologize for whatever trouble Raphael caused you."
"Are you fucking with me right now?" Jehudiel looked up but I was still losing my shit. "He terrorized a park full of people, he killed a witch in cold blood because she might have been able to remove Envy from its host and then he proceeded to systematically murder the island's population.”
I stopped, just long enough to breathe and form coherent sentences.
"And now, because he blew himself up, two worlds are colliding and I am forced to kill the fucking victim of this clusterfuck, just so that at least one plane is saved. And you think you can just bow and say sorry and that's it? We kiss and make up and I have to go fight a war you're supposed to be fighting in the first place?"
I thrust a finger at Amaymon, Jack and Abi. "Tell me, Jehudiel. Tell me why I have to fight the Sin of Envy with them as my backup instead of a Virtue?"
The angel looked as if he was about to cry. "I am so sorry. Please forgive my hubris."
I honestly wanted to just yell 'go fuck yourself' but I held back. If there's one thing I had learnt on my adventure it was that you had to give people a second chance. Sometimes people screwed up and sometimes they were put in a situation where every option is bad no matter how you swing it. So maybe, just maybe, I could find it in my heart to forgive a nearly-in-tears all-powerful celestial being.
"I'll deal with this later," I said. "I know we have to work together and I know that this was an exception. The Sins are bad news and you guys got the answer. I know that. But whatever trust we had you're gonna have to regain. Oh, and next time we do as I say. No questions. On this plane I run the show."
Jehudiel nodded. "I understand. Thank you for your forgiveness."
I began walking towards the portal but stopped and turned. "You could have just told me to live with it. Why is a guy as powerful as you trying to get on my good side?"
He smiled. "Because real strength is found when one admits to their transgressions and works hard to rectify the situation. Believe it or not, my friend, nothing in this world can force someone to forgive. That is something that can only be given."
"Spoken like a true Virtue," I replied.
"Thank you." He took to the air. "I shall use my power to help your sister stabilize the rift. That should buy you enough time to do what you must."
And just like that he was gone.
I glanced at my team. "All right guys. Grab on."
"How are we getting there?" Abi asked.
Amaymon grinned. "Like he said, everybody grab on to each other and brace yourselves."
"Hey what are you-"
Before she could finish her sentence, Amaymon stomped on the ground and the earth beneath our feet grew like a giant sprout, lifting us towards the portal.
Chapter 36
We emerged on the island's beach.
Instinctually I looked around for murderous fish men. Beaches on this island were not happy places.
But instead of the expansive and never-ending landscape of water and the vast forests that had canvassed the island, there was a void. The once lush and voluminous island had now been shrunken to the small patch of beach we were standing on. The sky was so close it was almost reachable. The ocean water shook and rocked, slowly disappearing into the nothingness that encroached.
I remembered these signs clearly. When Tenzin's pocket dimension had collapsed it was just like this—a world slowly fading away, like a drop of water evaporating under the sun.
This was a dying world, and even as the last remnants of life fought to keep the void from claiming it, the battle had already been decided.
The rocks and mortar whizzed by at perilous speeds as the space they occupied shifted to a different place. Vines grew and twiste
d, growing rapidly from seedlings and withering away in a matter of seconds. The sky went from dark to light and back to a grey-colored confusion of lightning, sunlight and swirling clouds. Pieces of wood, rock and stone that were not there an instant before would appear beneath our feet, forcing the four of us to rush towards a clear patch of sand.
Amaymon summoned rocks but the unstable space was messing with his Earth magic. Jack immediately brought out his inner Colossus, covering himself from head to toe in a metallic skin. Abi spun her own channel, Sun Wo Kung, this time in the shape of a golden staff, knocking objects away from her and using the weapon as leverage to help her vault over things she couldn't swat away.
I stood there watching them. It was a miracle nothing crushed or impaled me. But I just couldn't not see this.
These were my students. Okay granted, Jack had learnt most of his stuff on his own by trial and error, and Abi was not exactly the most responsive of students but these were my Padawans and now I was watching them take care of themselves in a dangerous situation.
Just a few weeks—I mean, days—ago, Abi and I had had a huge fight because I had wanted to take her off real missions. I had felt she wasn't ready. Perhaps I needed to reconsider that decision. If anyone deserved a second chance, it was these guys, and they didn't come any weirder than a demon, an ex-thug and a sassy chick who botched her first attempts at the job.
Whatever mistakes they may have made before, they had earned the right to be here, fighting for what they believed was right.
"Erik, we can't hold out for long," Jack cried as he sliced a wild vine with a blade he formed on his forearm. I nodded and looked out into the beach.
"Stay back here," I said, walking ahead of them. They huddled together, protecting one another.
As I made my way forwards, I shrugged out of my coat and let it drop on the sand. I cleared my mind of all thoughts, focusing only on breathing and being in the present. I couldn't afford to second guess myself now.
The ocean rumbled and magic exploded all around me. I would never cease to be impressed with such power. Magic came from the ground I stood on, and rained down with every wave. It permeated the very air I sucked in.