by Tenaya Jayne
Syrus blinked a few times at her, reading her eyes and body language. “I guess you’re ready. Let’s go.”
X held Tesla in an intimate embrace as she sank her fangs into his neck. He shuddered and pulled her tighter, his eyes rolling back into his head at the amazing sensation. She still felt unsteady to him. She needed more rest to recover, but there was no time left. This was the only strength he could give her.
She pulled her mouth away and rested her head on his shoulder, sighing. “Thank you.”
“We’ve got to go now.”
Just as he said it, a new sound broke through the constant rumbling in the sky, a high-pitched shattering, like glass breaking. She jumped at the sound, her eyes rounding. She shoved away from him and quickly pulled on her combat boots and strapped her two, short, lightning swords on her hips. X took off his gloves so his palm stones were exposed. He slung his bow and quiver across his body and picked up his axe.
She reached to open her bedroom door, but he pulled her back and kissed her quickly.
“I love you, Tesla.”
“I love you, too.”
Forest banged on the door. “Tesla! We have to go now!”
They came out. Rahaxeris was still there. He looked at her intensely for a moment. There was so much he wanted to say plain in his eyes. Instead, he just bowed his head in a quick jerking motion.
“Finish this,” he spoke only to Tesla. Then he opened a portal and left.
She glanced at her parents and pulled the air open to the Heart. The four of them went through it together.
The flames of the Heart were surging, stretching high over the tops of the crystal trees. As soon as their feet landed on the ground, the Heart spoke.
Tesla and X, come to me. Don’t be afraid, come stand in the flames, the three of us will make the triangle. Hurry. Come be my prism.
X took her hand, and they walked into the manifestation. Both of them gasped and held on to each other as the flames engulfed them. The ground was solid under their feet, but it felt like they were falling in the down-rush of a waterfall. The blood lock crumbled to pieces in front of their eyes. The tesseract breaking and turning black.
Tesla’s vision blurred white around X. The tie in their hands glowed bright and hot.
Send out the guardians and ghosts, the Heart ordered X.
The flames wrapped around his hands, and they lit up blue. A shockwave went out from his hands, the dead called and spread out evenly among all the people. They all left him, except Fluffy. Fluffy stood close to the flames, beside Forest and Syrus.
Time to make a lightning storm, Princess. The Heart said. Let it loose, and I’ll enhance it tenfold.
All she had to do was think about the fire in the sky and the bastard who was behind it, and the pressure rose in her. The flames swirled around her whole body like a coiling snake, pressing on her. She didn’t understand or have the time to contemplate what was happening in her. It was glory and it was terror. She opened up, and then she broke apart all the way down to her cells. She couldn’t feel the confines of her body anymore, except in her hand, in her tie to X.
Don’t be afraid, Tesla. Just hold on to X. I’m going to take the stain he’s been carrying and mix it with your power, then I will send it out, the Heart said.
She couldn’t answer. She couldn’t move. She was hardly there, no longer a person, but a hurricane.
X’s hands were her anchor and they were solid. He would never let go.
Forest and Syrus stood outside the circle of crystal trees, their weapons at the ready, protecting their child. They glanced at one another apprehensively from time to time. The shockwave of the dead had been startling, but it had passed them, and only X’s pet monster thing remained with them. It paced, breathing heavily, as though impatient to kill something. Forest stared at it; she couldn’t help herself. The core of it looked solid, but its edges blurred like black smoke. She felt sorry for it. At one time, it had been a person.
“Thank you for your help,” Forest said.
The monster stopped pacing and turned its glowing red eyes on her. “Are you speaking to me?”
“Yes.”
It blinked a few times and looked awkward. “Umm…I serve X. He’s promised me a new future.”
“I understand. Thank you anyway.”
It looked nonplused for a second. “You’re welcome. Whatever is going on here is more interesting than the place I came from at least.”
More shattering filled their ears, and the veins of fire spread into a wave. A blanket of fire covered the whole sky, moving down, with the wizards behind it. The enemy had arrived.
Forest and Syrus moved closer to each other as three wizards approached them. Fluffy slunk in front of them as the wizards began to throw spells. The light and energy absorbed into his smoky chest. One wizard struck the ground; fire ran toward them like a group of snakes. They spread out, and split into more, coming at them from all directions. There were too many for Fluffy to take out on his own.
One fire snake ran up Forest’s leg. It felt like being stabbed over and over fast, like a sewing machine needle, covered in poison. She cut it in half with her sword, but that only split it into two. She looked for Syrus to help, but he had his hands full as two of the three wizards were trying to tag team him.
The snakes slithered up her body. Then Fluffy grabbed her, his black clawed hands ran over her, fizzling the snakes into nothing.
“Thanks,” she managed.
She tried to help Syrus, but the third wizard was suddenly right in her space. Fluffy was shielding Syrus.
The wizard, young and handsome, smiled at her, his hands burning. “Surrender.”
She went invisible, rolled to the side, and came up behind him, stabbing him straight through with her sword. His power grabbed the blade, impaling him, and began to pull it from her hand. Growling, she kicked him in the back of the knee and jerked her sword back out of him. He staggered and made to turn around. He didn’t quite make it as Forest’s sword cut his head clean off his body. Hissing and sparks rose off his body and head. She kicked his head like a soccer ball as hard as she could before turning his body over and cutting his heart out of his chest. Only it wasn’t a heart at all. It was a smooth hard weight, the color of steel.
She looked over at Syrus and Fluffy. They were both fine. One of the two wizards was down, and the last one was effectively evading Syrus’ strikes and attempts to grab him. That was until Fluffy came up behind him and passed right through the wizard. He screamed, his eyes going flat, his skin turning grey, and he fell.
Fluffy looked over at Forest and rushed to her, taking the wizard’s heart from her hand. “Not good for you to touch like that. His soul is in here.”
“So what do we do with it?” Syrus asked.
“Get the other two,” Forest said. “We’ll give them to the Heart.”
Syrus collected the other wizard’s souls and handed them to Fluffy. As he approached the Heart, the flames were suddenly covered in lightning. He stopped and turned back to Forest and Syrus.
“I’m not getting any closer to that power. It’s transforming.” He put the souls into his black chest. “I’ll just hold on to them for now.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Both armies were unprepared for the other. The wizards were thin in numbers comparatively. There were heavy casualties for Regia in the beginning. Then the races found a rhythm for working together, and the tide began to turn. The presence of the guardians caused initial fear. Every werewolf was in beast form. Every elf was invisible, sliding through the fighting, stabbing the enemy in the back. The shifters changed shape constantly, causing confusion. The vampires were direct offense, using their speed and brutality, tearing out throats when they could get close enough. And the ogres moved behind the fighting, opening endless loop portals, grabbing wizards and throwing them in. It was total chaos, but Regia was holding its ground.
Journey drifted near the fighting, just close enough, while Redg
e guarded her. Reading the wizards was difficult, and at first she couldn’t do it. They didn’t have hearts. They were strange and cold inside. They were driven by an insatiable hunger for life and power. They absorbed the life of others, twisting it into their own. Each one was a beautiful shell, containing an aberrant soul, perverted by thousands of years of pure selfishness.
Journey hoped to draw from some faint goodness inside them, but she could find none. She sang, trying to hypnotize them with images of the only thing they all feared…their own deaths. As soon as she broke through their consciousness, they stopped fighting and were killed quickly. Or so it seemed. No one took the time Forest had to cut out their hearts. They left the fallen wizards on the ground and moved on.
Rahaxeris led Kyhael in battle. He called on all of his years of stretching his abilities beyond what they ever should have been and confronted the wizards approaching the city, the dead as a shield in front, and the people behind him. He took a deep breath as their spells hit the bellis stone walls. So what if they were wizards? He was a sorcerer in his own right, and he would show them something they had never seen before.
He held the bomb cube Tesla had brought from Polyhedron in one hand. She’d turned it into a weapon ten times more powerful than it had been originally. And now he thought, if she were here, what would she do? A black stone hung around his neck. It was the most powerful stone he’d ever created. It held a thread of his essence inside it, a fragment of everything he knew and everything he was.
Rahaxeris took it off and fed it to the cube through its fluid exterior skin. The cube shivered and changed color from red to black. He reached down and opened a portal in the ground, sending the cube through it. The juggernaut bomb settled outside the city walls.
The sound of the explosion broke the eardrums of everyone in the vicinity. The ground was blasted open, a deep crack ran around the outside of Kyhael like an empty mote. The wizards that fell into it were torn to tiny pieces up by the grinding gears of magic deep inside the ground. Half of those attacking Kyhael died in its teeth. The other half quickly used their own magic to make bridges to cross safely.
The beautiful walls of Kyhael broke to rubble under the onslaught as the remaining force flooded into the city. Everyone fought valiantly, but as soon as they breached the walls, Rahaxeris could see many Regians were about to die.
The creamy colored bellis stone streets ran red with blood.
At the base of the Obsidian Mountain, Netriet faced the largest guardian there. “You!” she pointed at it. “Walk directly in front of me.”
It nodded and took its place. She marched fearlessly up to the closest wizard, his spells bouncing off the guardian. She reached right through the dead thing and choked the wizard with her robotic arm. His head hung half off his neck when she let go. She turned her attention to the next one.
Merick had his own guardian in tow, but he used a different technique than Netriet’s. Armed with a cache of throwing stars, he dipped each one in the dead before throwing them. The dead’s essence, wrapped around the stars, sank into the bodies of the wizards Merick stabbed.
Along with the masters and a smattering of others from every race, Netriet and Merick held the line at the mountain, where most of the children were hidden.
Sabra led the people at the Lair with a frightening example of a beast mother’s fury protecting her young. Shreve had her back at all times, and as skilled and knowledgeable as he was about the wizards, having spent his childhood with them, it was Sabra’s savagery that invoked fear in the attacking force. And those she led adopted her example. Some of the wizards actually ran from the Lair.
It looked like an easy victory at the Lair, especially when Journey arrived.
All over Regia, the wizards were falling fast…but just when it seemed as though victory was in sight, those who had fallen began to rise again, their bodies rebuilding themselves, and now they knew what Regia’s forces had to offer and how to get around it.
The flames of the Heart pushed out over the crystal trees. Forest and Syrus had to move out farther, but it didn’t stop. The manifestation was no longer confined. It began to spread through the wood like a real fire. Lightning laced through every lick of flame. In moments, the whole wood was engulfed in flames.
“We’ve got to get out of here!” Syrus yelled.
“I’m not leaving my daughter!”
Burning branches began falling around them.
“Come here,” he said.
Forest ran to him. He held up his hands, and a dome of electricity formed over them, holding out the flames. Fluffy paced outside the dome.
“Are you all right?” Forest asked him.
The monster nodded.
Tesla’s storm was complete. It filled the Heart. The stain turned her lightning black. X held her around the waist, keeping her from flying apart. His vison was blurry, but he could see that Tesla was no longer conscious. She was awake, but the girl he loved was not there. He held onto a weapon.
It’s ready, the Heart said.
Under the ground, the Heart of the world inhaled, holding its power. Then it exhaled. The storm covered the entire world. In the air, and underground. Clouds walled over the sky, shutting out the sun. It was a perfect storm, and Tesla was both the eye and the epicenter. It was the beginning of the end of the battle. Regians were immune from the storm. Lightning strikes, filled with the power and malice of the evil stain, struck the wizards from overhead and reached up from the ground and wrapped around their feet.
The wizards stopped attacking and tried to shield themselves from the storm, but it was no use. In a few minutes, every wizard fell.
Your turn again, X, the Heart said.
Tesla was limp in his arms, now fully unconscious.
It’s all right, lay her down. I need your hands.
X was reluctant to let go, but he laid her down gently. The white flames held her up off the ground.
“What must I do?” he asked.
Call the dead to you. Not one wizard soul must be left in its body. I will do to you as I did to Tesla. I will enhance your ability. Together, we’ll get it done.
X closed his eyes, his hands waking up.
Good. Now place your hands flat on the ground.
He did. The Heart grabbed hold of him and held his hands fast. The power rammed through his palms and shot out again under the ground like a shockwave. Blue light snaked up from the ground under the bodies of the wizards. It reached inside and pulled their souls out. X braced himself and gritted his teeth as they came rushing to him. It felt like trying to holding back the ocean.
All the young, beautiful bodies of the wizards turned white and crumbled in on themselves, leaving a sick smell behind.
X knew the second the last soul came to him. The Heart let go of his hands, and he stood up.
“I don’t want to keep them. How do I get rid of all of them?”
The flames wrapped like ribbons around his hands again. I’ll take them. I always meant to. I will burn them up. Nothing will remain of them. The race of wizards is no more. I will take the guardians as well. You don’t need to be burdened with them.
“But I made them a promise.”
Have no fear. I will separate them and send them on to the next place. I’ll leave the ghosts you brought from that other world for you to deal with.
Another rushing went through his hands, and when he looked back down at the stones, they were almost empty.
Take Tesla out of here. It’s going to get really hot as I kill the wizard’s souls.
He picked her up, but before he could step out of the manifestation, the Heart said, Thank you, X. I am in your debt. Whatever you want, if it is in my power, I will give it to you.
He looked down at Tesla. She was still unconscious. He knew what he wanted, but he wouldn’t ask without her consent.
“Can I have some time to decide?”
Of course.
X stepped out of the flames.
Forest and
Syrus rushed toward them with Fluffy behind them.
“She’s all right,” he said quickly, seeing the worry on their faces. “She’s just unconscious.”
Syrus took her from his arms. He didn’t want to let go, but he wasn’t going to argue. X looked up and around at the fire-ravaged woods. The three of them exchanged hopeful glances.
“Is it over?” Forest asked.
“The Heart has taken their souls and is burning them up.”
“What about the ones you held?” Forest asked Fluffy.
“Gone. They were sucked out of me a moment ago.”
“If it’s not over, then it’s almost over,” Syrus said, smiling. “And guess what? We won.” He shifted Tesla in his arms. “Let’s take her home.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tesla…Tesla…
She woke with a start in the dark of her bedroom, Lachlan’s voice in her head. Her head swam as she sat up. X was passed out in the chair in the corner, his head slumped against his chest. She slid silently out of bed and crept toward him. His weapons, stones, and gloves were lying on the floor next to his feet. One of the stones was clear but the other swirled with black. She picked up the black one and strapped it to her left hand.
“It’s not over,” she whispered to X, too quiet for him to hear. “I have to go…I love you.”
Quietly, she put her boots back on and strapped her lightning swords around her waist. This was the last time, she told herself, that she would sneak out in the middle of the night. Taking a deep breath, she tore the air open.
She’d never felt so alert as she landed in the Everpath. She’d never felt so strong, so alive, and in control of her power. Far down the hall, her eyes settled on the door to Mordian. She lifted her hand and touched the stone. The darkness inside rose up to meet her fingertip, then blackness rushed into the space next to her.