by Clayton Wood
Its mouth opened in a silent scream, no sound able to escape Kyle’s gravity sphere.
The Chosen wove magic, blue light appearing at its shard. Again and again it wove, but it was no use; neither it or its shard could generate enough magic to neutralize the overwhelming power of Kyle’s gravity sphere. Flames licked greedily at its cloak, at its very flesh, consuming it rapidly.
And then crystal on the Chosen’s forehead flashed bright green...and the Chosen vanished.
Kyle blinked, cutting off the magic stream to his gravity sphere. A large section of the Spine of Grimore below him continued to burn, consuming the punk. Heat rose from the flames, the air rippling above the path. Kyle descended toward the edge of the flames closest to Kalibar, Ariana and Petra, his boots touching the ground. The others walked up behind him, staring at the fire.
Or rather, through it.
For there, standing at the other end of the huge swath of burning punk, was the Chosen, its forehead glowing like a miniature green sun.
How...
The Chosen faced them, its cloak in tatters. The flesh on its face was almost entirely gone, its charred skull and jawbone exposed. Its left eye had melted away, its right eye staring through the flames at them.
And then the punk exploded into dust, the wind on either side of the Spine of Grimore whisking it upward and away.
“Get behind me!” Kalibar ordered, pulling Ariana and Kyle back. The Chosen levitated forward toward them, its lone eye unblinking. Ariana ignored Kalibar, sprinting toward the Chosen. Petra followed, flying above the Spine, gravity shields appearing around her. Petra wove magic, rocks and boulders rising from the sides of the path around her, then shooting forward at the Chosen. Fireballs flew from Ariana, shooting right at the charred figure.
...who vanished again.
The rocks and fireballs flew through the spot where the Chosen had been.
“Guys!” Kyle shouted, staring behind him. There, hovering over the path, was the Chosen. He felt his blood go cold, the hair on the nape of his neck rising on end.
It can teleport!
Ariana skid to a halt, turning about and running back toward the Chosen. She leaped into the air, flying above Kyle and Kalibar’s heads, careening toward the cloaked figure.
Then her gravity shields vanished, and she burst into flames, shooting backward through the air and landing on the narrow path behind Kyle.
“Ariana!” Kyle cried. Ariana rolled on the ground, snuffing out the flames, then got to her feet. Petra shot through the air toward the Chosen, bolts of lightning shooting outward toward the Chosen...but struck its shields harmlessly. She stopped abruptly in mid-air, a gravity sphere appearing around her.
Then it began to shrink.
“Petra!” Kalibar cried. “Kyle, give me magic!” Kyle complied, streaming magic to the Grand Weaver. But the Chosen burst forward, slamming into Kalibar, shoving him across the narrow path...and into Ariana, who caught him. The sphere around Petra continued to shrink, shoving her head downward and forcing her into the fetal position in mid-air.
No!
Kyle clenched his fists, pulling magic into his mind’s eye and weaving rapidly. A powerful gravity field appeared around the Chosen, sucking inward. But the Chosen vanished again, appearing outside of the sphere...and the sphere around Petra continued to shrink.
The Chosen stared up at Petra, its shard glowing brightly, what remained of its lips curling into a smirk.
“You cannot defeat Me,” its voice boomed, guttural and raspy. “Without Ampir, you are nothing.”
“Run!” Kalibar shouted, rushing up to Kyle’s side. “I’ll save Petra. Go!” But Kyle shook his head.
“I’m not running,” he stated.
“Kyle...” Kalibar began, putting a hand on Kyle’s shoulder. Kyle pulled away.
“I said no,” he declared. He turned back toward the Chosen. “I’m done running.”
The Chosen lowered its gaze from Petra, staring at Kyle with its single eye, its smirk never faltering.
“How brave,” it declared. “Perhaps the Dead Man was right about you after all.” It cocked its head to one side. “You’ll make an excellent Chosen.”
“I’ll die first,” Kyle retorted. The Chosen chuckled.
“Naturally.”
Kyle felt Kalibar grab his shoulder again, felt himself being pulled backward. He resisted, staring at the Chosen. He felt a strange calmness come over him. His eyes went to the Chosen’s glowing shard, noting the faint blue light there, evidence of the Chosen’s magic. But no ray of light went to the shard. Sabin was controlling the Chosen from a distance, that much was clear...but whatever signals Sabin was sending to it couldn’t be magical in nature. That meant the signals had to be something else.
Electromagnetic.
It was the only possibility...a signal that could travel miles, and was invisible. Perhaps radio waves, or something similar. A special frequency that could send information to and from the Chosen.
“I think I’ll kill her first,” the Chosen declared, returning its gaze up to Petra. The sphere around her started to shrink again...but Kyle ignored him.
Radio waves were electromagnetic...just like light.
Like light.
Kyle smirked at the Chosen, pulling magic into his mind’s eye, weaving quickly. A tight knot pulsed there, and he threw it outward at the Chosen, attaching a weak magic stream.
The light around the Chosen warped.
“Kyle!” he heard Kalibar shout.
Kyle focused, streaming more magic to the invisibility pattern, watching as the light around the Chosen warped more and more powerfully. Then the Chosen vanished.
“What are you...”
Kyle poured even more magic into the stream, and the Chosen reappeared suddenly, the diamond-shaped crystal on its forehead glowing bright green.
Then it winked out.
The Chosen’s eye widened, its jaw dropping. The sphere around Petra vanished, and she fell toward the ground. Ariana caught her easily, lowering her to the ground.
“Time to die, asshole,” Kyle growled.
He wove again, pulling huge cords of magic into his mind’s eye and thrusting the pattern outward. A powerful gravity sphere appeared around the Chosen, sucking air violently into it. Kyle wove again, creating a gravity shield around Kalibar, Petra, and Ariana, protecting them from the powerful vacuum. The Chosen collapsed into the fetal position, hovering in the center of the sphere. Kyle continued the magic stream to his invisibility pattern, blocking Sabin from resuming control.
The Chosen resisted, raising its arms to the sides, the tattered arms of its cloak sliding up its forearms. Bone-white crystals were embedded in the black flesh of its forearms.
Kyle’s breath caught in his throat.
Rays of blue light shot outward from him, converging on the white crystals.
“Kyle!” Kalibar shouted.
Kyle stared at those blue rays, feeling his mind draining of magic. Ariana dropped like a rag-doll beside him.
“Petra, give me magic!” Kalibar shouted. Petra complied, and suddenly dozens of rocks lifted up into the air around them. They were immediately sucked inward by Kyle’s gravity sphere, converging on the Chosen. The blue rays entering its Void crystals dimmed instantly, the magical vacuum insulated by the depleted stone.
“Revive Ariana,” Kyle ordered. Petra nodded, kneeling down and streaming magic into Ariana’s forehead. Kyle pulled more magic into his mind’s eye, streaming it to Kalibar. “Finish that thing!”
And then Kyle saw the gravity shield around him vanish.
The Chosen burst forward through the gravity sphere, slamming headlong into Kyle. Pain exploded across Kyle’s chest and he felt himself flying backward through the air. He slammed back-first into the hard rock below, the air blasting from his lungs. He lost control of his magic streams, his vision blackening for a moment, stars floating in the periphery of his vision.
Then an ungodly green glow pierced the dar
kness.
Kyle’s vision returned, and he saw the Chosen standing over him, its shard shining brightly. It smirked.
“Impressive,” its raspy voice boomed.
And then it gripped Kyle’s face in one hand, slamming the back of his head into the ground.
* * *
“Kyle!” Kalibar shouted, watching in horror as the Chosen gripped his son’s face, slamming his head into the ground. Kyle’s arms jerked, then went still, his eyes rolling back into his skull. Kalibar rushed forward, but felt powerful hands grip him, shoving him backward.
“Run,” Ariana ordered, pushing Kalibar back down the Spine of Grimore, the way they’d come. “I’ll give you some time.”
“No,” Kalibar retorted. “He’ll kill you!” But Ariana shook her head.
“I'm already dead,” she stated firmly. She shoved him down the path, then turned around, running along the narrow Spine, straight for the Chosen.
“No!” Kalibar shouted, sprinting after her. He saw a wall of faint blue light appear before him, and he slammed into it, stumbling backward. “Ariana!”
“Let her go,” he heard Petra say, feeling her hand on his shoulder. He pulled away, shaking his head.
“I can't,” he retorted. “I won't!”
“She's gone,” Petra stated, her voice cold. “And it'll be for nothing if you don't come with me right now.”
Kalibar hesitated, turning back to see Ariana sprinting right at the Chosen. She roared, blue light flashing, a dozen gravity shields bursting into being around her. She charged right at the Chosen with incredible speed...
And then her gravity shields vanished.
The Chosen moved so quickly that it was a blur, its right arm shooting out and catching Ariana by the throat, stopping her cold. Her legs swung out in front of her, carried by her incredible momentum, until she was almost lying horizontal in the air. Then the Chosen swung its arm downward, pushing her straight into the rock below by the neck. She hit the ground with a sickening crunch.
“Ariana!” Kalibar screamed.
“Come on!” Petra shouted, gripping him by the shoulders and spinning him around forcibly. She pulled him back across the Spine, and he stumbled along after her, his eyes blurry with tears. His legs felt like rubber, threatening to give out from under him. Petra grunted, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him bodily forward. Kalibar looked back over his shoulder, seeing the Chosen standing there, some fifty feet away, staring down at Ariana's body. Her legs twitched, and then her arms came up, wrapping around the Chosen's dark forearm even as its hand clutched at her neck.
She gripped his dark arm, the muscles of her forearm rippling as she squeezed.
The Chosen smirked, blue light pulling from Ariana’s forehead into the Void crystals on its forearm. Her eyes widened, and she struggled against the Chosen's iron grip, flailing her legs helplessly. Her struggles became weaker, her legs barely moving, her eyes rolling up into the back of her skull.
And then she went limp.
“No!” Kalibar shouted, even as he was pulled away. He saw the Chosen pick Ariana up, again by the throat. Its forearm tensed, its fingers squeezing Ariana’s windpipe. Kalibar heard a sickening crunch.
And then the Chosen held her over the edge of the Spine, and let her go.
Ariana fell, striking the steeply-angled surface of the path’s edge, then plummeted into the sheer vertical drop beyond. A gust of mist shot upward around her falling body, engulfing her as it roared upward above the Spine, shooting high into the air.
“Oh god,” Kalibar gasped, his legs failing. He stumbled to the ground, landing on his hands and knees.
“Get up!” Petra shouted, hooking her arm under his armpits and yanking upward.
And then a gust of wind shot upward from her left, making her lurch to the right. She lost her footing, stumbling to the side, her foot slipping on the steep decline. She cried out, sliding downward toward the sheer drop mere inches away. Kalibar lunged for her, landing on his stomach on the hard rock, the air blasting from his lungs. He reached out desperately with one hand, grabbing Petra's ankle right before she slipped off the edge. He felt himself get yanked toward her, and dug his feet into the ground, reaching out with his other hand and gripping her leg with both hands.
“Let go,” Petra shouted, twisting around to glare at him.
“I won't,” Kalibar retorted. Then he grimaced. “The Chosen drained my magic,” he added. “I've got nothing left.”
“Well I do,” Petra countered.
Kalibar nodded grudgingly, letting go of her. She fell down the mountainside, vanishing into the mist below.
The Chosen ignored them, kneeling before Kyle’s motionless body. Kalibar hesitated, then got to his feet, striding up to the Chosen and stopping before it.
“Hello, Sabin,” he stated coldly. The Chosen glanced up at him with its lone eye.
“Kalibar,” it replied.
“Come to murder an old man and his son?” Kalibar asked, his tone casual. But his heart was hammering in his chest, and he knew very well that this Chosen could hear every beat.
“Just an old man,” the Chosen replied.
“So you can rule the Empire,” Kalibar stated. “The very Empire you destroyed.” The Chosen smirked.
“History is a tapestry of guesses and lies,” it retorted. “Your entire world is a myth.”
“What?”
“You talk about your Empire as if Man created it,” the Chosen stated.
“We did create it,” Kalibar countered. The Chosen chuckled in that deep, raspy voice.
“How ironic,” he mused. “You defend – to the death – a government that owes its entire existence to Me.”
Kalibar stared at the Chosen, his mind going blank. He took a step back.
“What?”
“Two hundred and thirty-eight years ago,” the Chosen declared. “My Chosen united the savages of your lands, by My will. And by My will, the Ancient Empire was recreated, brick by brick, stone by stone. Every building, every street, so that if a man were brought from the Ancient Empire to the new one, he would not notice the difference.”
“You're lying,” Kalibar retorted.
“Your entire system of government,” the Chosen continued. “Shaped by My hand. And in every generation, my Chosen have walked among you, hidden in plain sight, guiding the Empire under My command.”
“That's a lie!” Kalibar declared, clenching his fists. But he felt doubt creeping in, and the Chosen chuckled again.
“I admire you Kalibar,” it said. “Your dedication to your ideals is absolute. You are exactly the citizen I dreamed of creating, a man cast in the same mold as my mortal self.”
“You're lying,” Kalibar muttered, but even he didn't believe it now. That part of his mind, ever logical and calculating, ticked away at Sabin's claims, and they were all not only plausible, but likely.
“Mankind will never believe in a god they can see,” the Chosen stated, rising to its feet and reaching out to place a hand on Kalibar's chest. Kalibar tried to take a step back, but his body would not obey him, his muscles suddenly locked in a rigid state. “You are proof of that. You yourself believe in the Empire that I created, yet now that you see Me, you resist my vision.”
“I believe in mankind,” Kalibar retorted. “You don’t.”
The Chosen smiled, gripped the front of Kalibar's shirt with one hand, then lifting him off of the ground. He turned, letting Kalibar's feet dangle over the edge of the Spine.
“I believe in Me.”
Kalibar saw motion in the periphery of his vision, and glanced past the Chosen, seeing Kyle’s eyes flutter open. The boy rolled onto his side, his eyes locking on Kalibar’s.
I’m sorry, son.
Kyle grimaced, then reached into his pants pocket, retrieving a small black cylinder.
“Run,” he croaked.
“Kyle!” Kalibar shouted, his heart leaping into his throat. If Kyle activated the bomb, the boy was as good as dead.
“No, don’t!”
The Chosen turned to face Kyle, who slipped the cylinder back into his pocket.
“It will be more merciful if the boy doesn't witness your death,” it decided, swinging Kalibar back over the narrow Spine, then setting him down.
“What?” Kalibar blurted out. The Chosen strode away from him, toward Kyle, who was trying to rise to his feet. “No!”
But the Chosen ignored him, walking right up to Kyle and grabbing him by the jaw with one hand. Kyle gripped the Chosen's arm with both hands, his eyes widening in terror, muffled screams coming from behind the Chosen's dark hand. The Chosen swept one leg out behind Kyle's, tripping him and pushing him straight onto his back on the narrow ledge below.
“No!” Kalibar screamed. He tried to move, to run after them, but his muscles were still locked in position. He could only watch as the Chosen pressed Kyle into the ground, his hand still around the boy’s mouth and jaw. Then he saw the Chosen reach into its charred cloak, pulling out a long, tapered green crystal.
No!
The Chosen leaned over Kyle, bringing the pointed end of the green crystal to Kyle's forehead, and pressing it into his skin. Kyle thrashed underneath the cloaked man, gripping his dark forearm. Kalibar heard Kyle screaming, heard the primal terror in his voice.
“No!” Kalibar screamed, willing his body to move. He strained his muscles, sweat pouring down every inch of his skin, his heart nearly bounding out of his chest. But still, he couldn't move.
The Chosen pressed down, Kyle's skin indenting under the pressure, and the green crystal pierced the boy's flesh, sliding downward a quarter-inch before stopping. Kyle cried out, kicking the Chosen and slamming his fists into the man's face, but the Chosen didn't so much as blink.
“Kyle!” Kalibar shouted. “Kyle, do it now!” But Kyle kept flailing, screaming as the Chosen continued to press down on the crystal. There was a sudden, sickening crunch, and Kyle let out a horrible, piercing shriek that went straight to Kalibar's soul. Kalibar wailed, his eyes filling with tears, feeling more helpless than he'd ever felt in his life. His breath came in great gulps, and he steadied himself, slowing his breathing, then taking a deep breath in.