by Ryan Attard
Tenzin roared and turned his body sideways, his right hand straight and pointing at Crowley, with the other pointing at the opposite direction. The dragon deva rose to the clouds and descended upon Crowley with a roar that shook the earth. Crowley let out an ecstatic scream and intercepted the deva with both hands.
The resulting explosion could have rivaled a nuke.
I stabbed Djinn into the ground, burying it to the hilt, and braced myself. Debris went flying and the blast slammed against my body, pushing me away. I clung to my handhold and hoped that the entire plane wouldn’t be destroyed.
The dragon deva’s roar reverberated throughout the plane. The vibration blew away the debris.
There was no crater or overturned earth. Tenzin stood rooted in the same spot, still displaying his calm demeanor. But he wasn’t standing proud. The toll of slinging around heavyweight power like that must have caught up with him. A billow of dust rose where Crowley once stood, and my senses felt nothing.
No deva, no Crowley.
The spell must have vaporized him.
Tenzin looked at me, and I gave him a thumbs-up. He returned the gesture.
“I want one of those,” I called out with a smile as I dug out the sword. Tenzin’s usual smile returned, and once again the man I knew had returned.
Crowley was gone forever, Tenzin was back, and I couldn’t be happier. I felt like we had finally won. It had taken me sixteen years to figure out the evil plot and defeat the bad guys, but it was all over now. I could return home and see Gil again. I could introduce her to Tenzin. Heck, maybe we’d be a happy family like I always wanted.
Only difference would be that Tenzin wasn’t an evil sociopath.
The Asian man was about to say something in return, but Crowley, his skin burned black and his body covered in blood, burst forward towards him. He drove something small and shiny into the old man’s gut. Tenzin could have avoided that with his eyes closed, but the strain was too much for him. I understood just how injured he was when Crowley drove his fist into his face. Tenzin hunched over and intercepted a second strike aimed for his face. He twisted, smashing his forehead into Crowley’s nose, breaking it, and kept spinning. Crowley’s arm snapped as he was sent flying into the air.
“Tenzin,” I screamed. “Use the snake.”
Tenzin’s aura flared and I expected to see the familiar brilliant white cobra. He extracted a penknife from his gut and blood streamed out, soaking his clothes.
But the snake deva never showed.
“I cannot use it,” he said as he fell to his knees. I ran to his side. My mind began to panic, and I searched for something, anything, to help Tenzin.
“Why not?” I asked.
He looked at me, a twinkle in his eyes. “It is not God’s will,” he said with a tone of simplicity. His aura flared with enough force to throw me backwards. “Erik, please back away from me.” His voice had an air of finality to it that scared me. “Please stay back and do not interfere, whatever you see.”
“What?” My voice was high-pitched, and a tear trickled down my cheek. Tenzin smiled, his eyes full of love and benevolence. I found myself scrambling backwards, as if some invisible force was controlling me.
“Alastair Crowley.”
Tenzin’s voice was back to ethereal deity mode. Crowley stood, clutching his nose as blood streamed out from between his fingers. “You are the vilest of beings. You chase after innocents for nefarious ends, you trample upon the Ryugyu Temple’s most sacred ground, and you wounded a vessel of the great Kami-sama. Your very nature is twisted and malevolent, and I shall bring upon you divine justice.”
The Buddha of light formed around Tenzin. It appeared more solid than usual, and was composed of a golden aura, corporeal enough to compress the vegetation beneath it. Blood from Tenzin’s wound mixed with the apparition, slowly darkening it. I saw Tenzin clenching his teeth, but the deity’s will was stronger. The Buddha grew darker and darker, until it seemed a solid gold statue encompassed Tenzin. It grew in size, towering over both Tenzin and Crowley. The sheer power of it was enough to dwarf anything I’d met before.
Forget the devas. This thing was more powerful than all of them put together. Tenzin’s voice, a specter of its former self, loomed across the landscape, agitating the very fabric of the universe.
“Amida Buddha.”
The phantasm shifted, becoming tall and elongated. Tenzin clasped his hands together in prayer and blood gushed steadily from the wound. Whatever magic he was using wasn’t doing anything to keep him alive.
The tall statue had no gender. It had the chiseled grace of a female, beautiful and gentle, yet its expression was hard and savage, brimming with masculine rage. It wore a circlet across its forehead like a crown. Its arms, disproportionately long, were spread open, palms facing outwards. A second pair of arms grew, mimicking the same pose as the first pair. A third pair emerged, as did a fourth and fifth. Arms sprouted out in pairs and at an increased rate, until I lost count. The statue’s arms piled on top of each other until they formed a circle of arms around it, like an oversized halo.
I remembered this one. Tenzin had spoken about it once. He said it was the deity of war, but also of peace and justice - the God of a Thousand Arms.
“SENJU KANNON!”
At the declaration of Kannon’s name, Tenzin spread his arms, palms facing outwards, like the Crucifixion. The deity behind him radiated light and power.
And not just any power or magic. This was eons beyond magic. This was the power to snuff out entire solar systems and reshape galaxies.
This was the power of a true god.
39
There was no warning of attack.
Tenzin shot his hand forward, and the apparition of Senju Kannon slammed one of its gigantic hands on top of Crowley, swatting him like a fly. The arm disappeared and reappeared in its original position. Crowley swayed drunkenly, but was otherwise unharmed. Tenzin slipped into a stance and executed another move. The phantasm slapped five of its arms down. Tenzin continued his sequence, prompting the statue to rain down a series of punches on Crowley, who was now on his knees. Tenzin was relentless in his motions, going from one sequence into another with familiar ease. It took me a couple of move sets to recognize his movements, mostly because a giant god with a thousand arms was slamming down blows on Crowley, but there was something familiar about them. Heck, I’d spent weeks practicing those same move sets. Tenzin was performing the same sequence he had taught me in order to control my power.
Damn, who knew it was actually a sequence to channel the power of a freaking god? Maybe someday I’d have a totally awesome deity pummeling the bad guys for me.
As the sequence grew more intense, Kannon’s expression darkened. Its many hands punched and slapped at Crowley, each big enough to flatten an SUV. The abjurer found the courage to dodge the gargantuan limbs and moved closer to Tenzin, thinking that if he got close enough he’d be safe from Kannon. But the god karate chopped the ground, halting his movements by forming a fence with its arms around Tenzin. It flicked Crowley into the air and caught him with a different pair of arms. The god squeezed, crushing Crowley. I heard bone snap and Crowley screaming in pain. I saw his magic take effect, automatically decaying the opposing magic. Kannon’s hands became less solid until they disappeared completely. Crowley dropped down in a slump and watched helplessly as a giant golden fist shot at him.
But Crowley’s magic was automatic, that’s why his body was the way it was. That’s probably why it was so powerful – he constantly emitted abjuration magic, affecting the area surrounding him.
Kannon’s fist made contact and threw him aside, but not before decaying, going from a solid golden mass to a nearly invisible mirage of light. As soon as Crowley was sent flying and his area of effect no longer included the arm, Kannon’s hand was restored to normal.
Both combatants seemed to have reached their limits. Crowley was a mess — most of his gray-blue skin was charred and burned with black patches
oozing blood. His right arm hung uselessly by his side, already swollen in two different places. He could barely stand straight. His ragged breath made me suspect a couple of broken ribs.
Tenzin looked like he was about to croak any second now. His body had somehow shrunk so that every bone popped from beneath paper-thin skin. Even his tan had lost its exotic appearance. His eyes were hollow, and his hair hung white and lifeless over his shoulders. His stab wound had expanded into a gash. The proud warrior monk had become a puppet for Senju Kannon as it sucked every last drop of vitality from him. I could tell that he wanted to die, that he needed to die.
But his god wouldn’t allow him to rest in peace until it executed its vengeance upon Crowley.
I was never one for belief in God. I mean, you’d think that having seen magic and all those wonderful and crazy things that I would believe in the big G, but truth be told, my view of the world was through the eyes of a wizard. I saw magic and power, not belief. The idea of a benevolent and omnipotent deity was ludicrous to me, given my psychotic father, my desecrated mother, and a lifestyle that would make any sane person walk off a cliff.
But that all changed when I met Tenzin. Sure, he talked a lot about God and being kind, and I did feel that serenity he felt for a while, but he’d became much more to me. Tenzin was my surrogate father, one who actually loved me and nourished me into becoming a half-decent person. He had become the person I aspired to be, and if one day I grew up to be even half the man he was, I’d consider myself blessed.
And then, I watched him like that – half dead as the god he dedicated his life to serving sucked off every last morsel of life he had. I watched as God prolonged his suffering, using one of the kindest and most loving people in this world as a battery.
And all this for vengeance against someone who was truly evil - someone I had brought into his life.
I was never one for belief, but at that very moment, as I watched Senju Kannon pummel Crowley, slowly killing both men at once – at that moment, that was God. Maybe Kannon was the God, or maybe he was a portion of god, or a deva or an aspect, or whatever, but he was God in some form or another.
And God was killing the man I grew to respect and even love. The man I considered my father.
But what could I do? What could a boy, a handicapped wizard, do against a god? I could scream, I could attack, I could do anything… but it would be all in vain. The truth was that I was too weak, too insignificant, for God to notice me.
So, I stood there feeling hollow as the battle progressed. I sensed it was reaching a climax and didn’t want it to end. I knew what would happen when it ended. And I knew that a part of me would die, too.
Senju Kannon unleashed a barrage of hits, each of its arms swatting at Crowley. The abjurer was on the verge of death, hanging by a thread, just like Tenzin. That’s when Kannon began gathering energy.
The arms disappeared into the god’s torso, charging up for one final attack. At that moment, Tenzin’s head turned to look at me. The phantasm mimicked his movements. His eyes met mine and he smiled, life and love returning to his expression. I felt a phantasmal hand, like the one Kannon had, wrap around my body — a shield. Tenzin’s right arm blackened and withered away, and I understood. He sacrificed his own limb to conjure up one of Senju Kannon’s hands.
Only a deva can protect from another deva. By that same reasoning, only a god can protect against another god. The last thing I saw was his smile, and for a second, I actually thought that everything would be all right.
Then, Senju Kannon exploded.
The dragon deva was nothing compared to this.
From behind my shield, I saw a blinding light before everything went dark. I saw the pocket universe dying as it crumbled into bits, and I felt the energy that made this place so alive rapidly fading away. Kannon’s blast affected the magic running along the plane on a dimensional level, rupturing it forever. The entire pocket universe folded on itself and the world ended.
***
I woke up in a dimly lit place, looking up at a familiar ceiling. I had stared at it so many nights when I couldn’t sleep. The warehouse hadn’t changed at all. I stood and noticed two things. One, that the large, spray-painted symbols on the wall were gone.
The other was Tenzin lying next to me in a pool of blood. His arm was missing, leaving a dark patch at the stump on his shoulder.
“Tenzin.” My cry reverberated throughout the warehouse. The old man cracked his eyes open. I knelt beside him and cradled his head. “Tenzin, please. Come on, get up.”
His remaining hand gripped mine with surprising strength. “No, Erik.” His voice was barely a whisper. “It is my time.”
I felt tears run down my cheek. Something was squeezing hard against my chest. “Don’t say that. You’re gonna be fine.”
Tenzin chuckled. “Yes, I will be. I will soon pass over to the other world, where I will truly be at peace.” I opened my mouth to argue, but he squeezed my hand again. “My rucksack, Erik. I have something to give you.”
I had gotten so used to following his orders that I found myself reaching over him. The ancient rucksack was right next to him. I hauled it over and placed his hand on it. He fumbled with a side pocket and extracted a small, rectangular piece of wood with kanji chiseled on one side. He pressed it into my hand.
“My mentor made this for me before I left on my journey,” he said. “It’s a lucky charm. I want you to have it.”
More tears splashed onto our hands and the charm between them.
“Erik,” continued Tenzin. “I will always be with you, always. Accept who you are, Erik, and see the wonderful man that I see in you. Never forget the lessons I have shared with you. Keep my memory alive by living by my creed. Be kind and benevolent. Love, and release yourself from hatred. Always be just. I have faith in you, Erik. I always did. You will become an excellent man, one I would have been proud to call my son.”
He burst into a fit of coughs and settled back down with a rasping sigh. “It seems that my time has come. I have no regrets, Erik. I will leave everything to you. I love you.”
His smile never faded — not even after I felt his essence leave his body and realized that he was truly dead.
I don’t know how long I cried and screamed. I don’t know how many times I cursed God and the entire universe for his death. At one point, I snatched up my weapon and scoured the warehouse for Crowley. I would cut him to pieces. He will never rest in peace, not if I had anything to do with it.
Anger, sadness, sheer frustration – they all flooded through me like a river. I felt the familiar power take effect again, encasing me in thin, black shadows.
I hated that power, too – if it weren’t for that goddamned curse, Crowley would have never taken an interest in me and Tenzin wouldn’t have had to die. I screamed in sheer pain and the power responded, sending tendrils of destruction everywhere. Then I realized that I might have damaged Tenzin’s body and rushed back to his side. I must have cried for hours, yet the darkness still clung to me. No matter, I didn’t care about it.
All that mattered was that Tenzin was dead.
The lucky charm was still in my hand. I wouldn’t have picked it up, had it not been for my enhanced sense – the faintest pulses of energy came from the wood, exactly like Tenzin’s, as if a part of him had been embedded inside the talisman.
“I will always be with you,” he had said.
Perhaps this was how. This little spark of power was his way of reminding me that he was always there with me. Within the talisman, I felt a connection to a different world, a small fraction of the pocket universe. Senju Kannon had destroyed everything, but Tenzin had managed to save a little of it.
An inheritance, I thought. Tenzin had left me a legacy in his teachings and in his gift. The least I could do was honor his last request of me.
The shadows still clung to me. I dropped Djinn gently and caressed them with my free hand. They felt light and silky, like a warm pocket of air. It felt right �
� true and real. These shadows, this power I grew to fear and despise, were as much a part of me as the blood in my veins. And so, I accepted it. I was cursed and I had this ability. It was a part of me and I would live with it for the rest of my life.
And strangely enough, I was okay with that. The tightening around my head and chest loosened. The last time I felt this free was years ago, before the fight with the phoenix, when all of this crap started. I felt light and free – I felt at peace.
I understood what I had to do. I flipped the talisman over so that its back side, still smooth and intact, faced up. I placed my right index finger on it and channeled my magic. The shadows converged into my finger and disappeared. I felt the familiar agony but it didn’t cripple me like before. I felt pain, but pushed it at the back of my head like an afterthought and focused on my spell. It was a small and simple act of magic, but I poured my heart and soul into it. When I removed my finger, a kanji was burned intricately into the wooden talisman. It was the first word Tenzin had ever taught me, and I felt it described his very essence.
Serenity.
I pocketed the talisman and bent over. My lips touched Tenzin’s forehead, and I muttered a prayer, the same one he muttered over me before I ran away to distract the nue.
“For good luck,” he had said.
“For good luck,” I whispered. I picked up Djinn and placed the tip on his chest. Tears welled up again and a lump clogged in my throat. But I steeled myself. Energy flowed from me into the body, setting it ablaze. I turned to walk away, leaving behind Tenzin and the warehouse, but not the memories.
I would never forget this. I had to deal with my demons, I had to let go of my hatred, and I saw only one way to do that. I had to eliminate the source – I had to find Crowley and finish him off, once and for all. Not just for me, but also for Tenzin, Gil, Mom, and every other life he had ruined.