by G. Bailey
He looks half-delirious as he watches me, uncomprehending. “Alaric…did this,” he mutters, sounding like he doesn’t quite believe it. “Friends for years. Colleagues even longer… Why?”
“Don’t worry about that,” I reply, finally managing to tug the top of his button-down aside so I can get a better look at his injury. “Mads and I took care of him.”
“You…took care of him…” He actually smiles up at me then, looking a little wistful. “Knew you would come through, Karma…”
“You know me,” I reply, my voice trembling a little. “I always come through.”
The sound of the by-now familiar groaning makes me raise my head, only to narrowly dodge the incoming swipe of one of the plant zombie’s razor-sharp branches. Setting my jaw, I extend my hand and unleash a fresh burst of green lightning, striking it head-on and sending it tumbling away. “Got to…get to Neritous,” Seth goes on, trying futilely to move. “Stop him. Leave me.”
“No way,” I reply, gently pushing his hands back down. “Don’t move, Seth. You’re going to be fine. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“Have to,” he insists. “Where’s Killian? Tell him what happened…”
Mads, who has just finished taking care of another attacking goddess, rushes over and kneels beside me, her expression twisting with horror as she takes in the extent of Seth’s injuries. “Shit,” she hisses. “Karma, this looks bad.”
“I know,” I reply, barely holding onto my composure. “We need a healing charm! Or a potion, or something! What did mum give us? There has to be something…”
“They were all offensive,” my friend replies, blue eyes wide.
“That’s impossible,” I snap, tearing a strip off Seth’s shirt and placing it on his chest to help stop the bleeding. He groans in pain. “Sorry,” I tell him.
“Karma,” Mads begins, “I don’t think—”
“I’m not leaving him,” I hiss, rounding on her, and I must look half-crazed, since she pulls back a little.
“The battle is still going on!” she protests. “Neritous could be anywhere by now! You’re going to get killed if you stay here!”
“So be it,” I reply grimly. If keeping Seth alive means sacrificing myself, I’ll gladly do it; too many people have already lost their lives because of me. At least this would even the score.
“I’m not going to let that happen,” Mads retorts, putting a hand on my arm. “We have to finish this!”
Seth sucks in another breath, and I glance back down at him. “Not…going to let that happen, either,” he rasps. “Can’t let it be all for nothing, Karma.”
I can feel tears welling up in my eyes, clouding my vision as I stare desperately down at the justice twin. Why did he have to trust that bastard Alaric? “I can’t,” I plead with him softly. “I can’t let you die.”
“Gonna…be fine,” he replies, giving me a small smile, but I can see that there’s blood on his teeth, and that means internal bleeding. “Would just…get in your way, anyhow.”
“That’s not true,” I say, fully crying by now but unable to stop. “I need you! I need all of you!”
“Keep Killian safe,” Seth pleads, grabbing hold of one of my hands and giving it a weak squeeze. “Make sure he and Storm—” But a fresh wave of hacking takes him then, and when he coughs, I can see a spray of blood droplets spatter his immaculate white shirt. I feel like I could scream, the world seeming to melt away around me. He’s dying. Seth is dying, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
He’s dying because of Neritous.
“Karma.” Mads’s voice sounds far away. “We have to finish this. Now, more than ever.” She glances up and unleashes a new lightning bolt at a couple of approaching gods, giving them pause long enough for one of Kit’s portals to appear beneath them and swallow them up. I don’t even have time to feel gratitude towards the goblin, so intense is my fear and grief. I meet her eyes, my own swimming with tears, and she pulls me close, pressing her forehead to mine. “We can’t let him win. Not now.”
“Go!” Seth implores, giving me a weak shove with his hand. Torn, I glance from him to my best friend; deep down, I know they’re right. Now’s the best chance we’ll ever have to stop Neritous, and the longer I stay here with Seth, the less likely getting to him will be. All around us, the battle rages on, louder and more intense than ever, and I can feel a lump in my throat when I realise just how hopeless the situation is.
Mads bites her lip, following my gaze around the square, and finally says, “Look, you’re stronger than me anyway. You’ve got the best odds of all of us. But maybe… Maybe I can stay here with him. Keep him safe.”
I stare at her for a moment. “You would…?”
“Yes,” she replies without missing a beat, giving me a firm nod. “I can be more use here, anyway. I still don’t have full control of my powers.”
Swallowing hard, I force myself to nod, grabbing her by the shirt and looking her in the eyes. “Keep him alive,” I instruct her. “Do whatever it takes.”
“I’ll try,” Mads promises, shifting to sit on the ground next to Seth. “Nothing’s getting past me,” she adds with a grim smile before giving me a hard shove. “Now go! We’re running out of time!”
I move to stand, and then steal a last glance down at Seth; his eyes look glassy, and his breathing is shallow. Hesitating for just a beat, I lean forward and press a kiss to his forehead before dragging myself up and looking around. We can’t have been down for more than a couple minutes, but it feels like hours have passed, and my body feels heavy. Enemy gods and plant monsters fill the area, and it’s clear that our numbers are depleting more quickly. While that should make me afraid, instead, I’m flooded with a sense of anger so powerful that it almost knocks me off my feet. The same conviction that I found when I was giving Hugo’s eulogy comes rushing back to me all at once, and suddenly, just like that, I find my footing. My steps no longer feel heavy as I begin to move forward, grabbing onto that pure, unbridled rage and letting it all out.
I might scream, but I’m not even aware of myself as green lightning begins to pour out of me. A couple gods approach, and I fling an enormous bolt at them without even thinking about it, not even stopping. More plant monsters go down as I unleash more magic, my hair standing on end from the raw power, and in that moment it’s like I’ve lost myself. I am a killing machine as I walk through the battlefield, the world reduced to a ringing in my ears as the all-consuming need for vengeance—no, not vengeance, but justice—overpowers all rational thought. At some point, I begin to lift off the ground, the same way that I did when I attacked San Francisco, magic rushing out of me as enemies fall all around me. I’m so caught up in the adrenaline and anger that I don’t even notice the black-clad figure stepping out from behind a column.
It’s only when that awful, smug voice speaks that my concentration breaks. “So, here we are.”
The familiarity of it snaps me out of the trance, and I drop to the ground, the magic fading as surely as it came about. I can only stare, bloody and wide-eyed, as Neritous walks slowly towards me. The twins, Kjetli and Ivar, step out into the clearing to flank him on either side as they approach with an unnerving sense of calm.
“Neritous.” My voice barely sounds like my own.
He gives a disappointed sigh. “I should have known better than to expect you to leave well enough alone, Karma,” he says. “I won’t be making that mistake again.”
“Enough talk,” I snap. “Nothing you can say is going to change the fact that you’re a monster.”
“A monster?” He seems to take offense at that. “Don’t you see what we’re doing here, Karma? We’re changing the world! Look at what these powers have already accomplished!” He makes a sweeping gesture around at the carnage, at the empowered humans and plant monsters. He’s proud of himself, I realise, my mouth twisting into a snarl. “We’re making history here, Karma! No more living in secret from the humans! No more politics! Just a new worl
d order, made in our image.”
“That’s no world I want to live in,” I tell him, clenching my hands into fists at my sides.
“That’s a shame,” Neritous mutters. “Really, it is. Of all my children, you always showed the most potential.” In spite of the dig, Ivar and Kjetli don’t even react, just continue to stare me down unnervingly with their glowing green eyes.
“I’m going to kill you,” I tell him.
Neritous just laughs, shaking his head like it’s all some big joke. “You can certainly try.”
And that’s when all hell breaks loose. A combination of red and green lightning pours out of him, shooting across the square to me and badly singing my shoulder even as I try to get my hands up in defence. With a yell of pain, I fire back at him, and he barely dodges out of the way. The twins fan out to either side, arms outstretched, and then I’m lunging to the left, scrambling to get out of the way of their incoming magic.
I’ve always had a hard time using my powers on multiple opponents, and that was before being imbued with life magic, so maintaining my focus is proving to be a challenge. The fact that the twins are relentless in their assault, raining down rainbow lightning from all sides, doesn’t help matters either. I’m on the defensive, but it’s all I can do to avoid being blown up right here and now. Neritous, the smug bastard, is just standing there and watching, his arms crossed over his chest and a wry smirk on his face. He doesn’t mind having his kids do his dirty work for him—he’s only ever seen us as battle fodder, and I didn’t expect that to change now.
Lunging to the left to avoid one of Kjetli’s oncoming blasts, I stumble over an exposed root and fall to the ground with a shouted curse. It’s exactly the opening Ivar needs, and I realise belatedly that he’s closer than I thought he was. Keeping tabs on both brothers is proving to be more difficult than I was expecting. Letting out an incomprehensible snarl, the other brother leaps at me out of nowhere, and I’m unable to get up in time to avoid his attack. Adrenaline surging through me, I clamp my eyes closed and fling my hands into the air, bracing myself for the kill shot that I’m sure is coming…but a moment passes, and then two, and the scorching pain never arrives. Could I be dead already? Hardly daring to look, I crack open my eyes only to feel my mouth drop open in shock; a wall of green magic is suspended in the air in front of me, flickering and shifting subtly like a wave of water. Ivar’s magic continues to fire at it, dissipating in bursts of electricity every time a new bolt hits the magical barrier. In my panic, I must have summoned some kind of force field…
But the minute I start to think about what I’m doing, I can feel the barrier falter, weakening before disappearing completely. Not about to take another chance, I roll out of the way of Ivar’s magic and stumble to my feet, the blood rushing to my head and making me feel faint. I sprint to the left, trying to move in a zigzag pattern to keep the brothers on their toes, and it sort of works, until one of the roots jutting out of the concrete suddenly begins to move. I skid to a stop, taken aback, and watch with wide eyes as the root continues to wind back and forth like a giant snake, the bark groaning with the force of the magic powering it. Rubble is pushed to the side as more and more branches emerge from the ground, snaking up into the air to create a tangled thicket of trees, brambles, and leaves. I hesitate, briefly debating, and then try to skirt around it; at least this way I can put some distance between myself and the others and try to come up with a strategy. But even as I make a break for it, the wall continues to grow, forming a fast-moving blockade that keeps me from crossing the square.
Growling with frustration, I turn around to see Neritous with his hands outstretched, eyes half-lidded almost lazily, as if this is no more of a task than tying his shoes. “Come now, Karma,” he croons. “Where’s the sport in running away?”
“This is all a game to you, isn’t it?” I demand, unable to keep from taking the bait.
“That’s hardly fair,” Neritous fires back. “Especially considering the way you yourself viewed your job as recently as your last birthday.”
That cuts deep, but I allow it to fuel the anger in my chest, hurling a blast of life magic at Kjetli just as he comes tearing up alongside me. It topples him onto the ground, but Ivar lets loose a bolt of his own lightning, and this one knocks me off my feet. Again. I go down hard, my side connecting with a giant chunk of rubble that knocks the air out of me and sends waves of pain through my torso. Even just trying to stand up again hurts; I must have broken a rib. Hell, I’ll be lucky if that’s all I broke. Ivar is coming at me, and I raise my hand to hit him with my magic again, but my stomach drops when I realise how thin the lightning bolts have grown. It’s enough to keep him away, but just barely, and before I know it, he’s closing in. I struggle to stand up, my ribs protesting the whole time, trying to work up the energy for another attack, but I feel utterly drained, like all the life is going out of me. The surge of battle earlier is wearing off, and my powers weren’t going to hold out forever. I’m running on fumes, and there’s no way for me to take them all down when I can barely stand up.
Breathing hard, my whole body trembling, I square my shoulders—at least I can go down fighting—only to be interrupted by a gale-force wind that sweeps Ivar off his feet. Turning to look, I see Storm and Killian sprinting to get to me, their eyes wide with concern and their faces masks of grim protectiveness. Even Killian, with Seth down for the count, seems hellbent on reaching me, and my heart melts a little when I see the look on his face. “Guys—” I yell as they approach.
“Look out!” Killian yells, throwing a burst of his own golden lightning over my shoulder. Whirling back around, I see Kjetli drop to one knee, grunting with pain. Killian charges past me, his golden eyes flashing, and before I know it, he’s on top of Kjetli, blows and magic flying as the two men grapple with each other.
“Get Neritous,” Storm shouts at me. He’s already duking it out with Ivar, their magics colliding in a firework-like explosion from opposite sides of the square.
“But—” I begin.
“Go!” Storm insists. “We’ll cover you!”
I hesitate for a fraction of a second more and then nod firmly, shielding my eyes as I look for Neritous. I know better than to argue, and this is the best chance I’m going to have; I should have known the guys would come through in the clutch. “Enough games!” I shout, extending my arms and stepping forward into the middle of the square. Around me, the battle rages on. “Come out and face me, Neritous.” For a moment, there’s no response, and I wonder if he’s had a change of heart, but then he steps out from behind one of the overgrown trees, sauntering slowly towards me until we stand facing each other.
“I should have guessed you would have your boy toys do your dirty work for you,” Neritous observes.
Gritting my teeth together, I reply, “You mean like you’re doing?”
Neritous laughs, actually laughs, at that. “You really do have a sharp tongue, Karma Kismet,” he remarks. “It’s disappointing things have to end this way. We could have ruled the world together.”
“I’m happy to disappoint,” I retort and then unleash a fresh bolt of green lightning, hoping to catch him off guard. At this point, it’s all I can do since I feel utterly spent, and just staying upright seems to be taking all my energy.
Neritous flicks his hand almost lazily, contouring my magic with his own before unleashing a blast of life magic from his free hand. Sucking in a breath, I stumble to the left, barely able to keep my footing. Somehow, I’m able to get a new barrier up, shrugging off the bulk of Neritous’s power, but I can feel myself lagging, and one look at the force field tells me its already on its last legs. “Steady now, Karma,” Neritous says coldly. “Wouldn’t want you to overexert yourself.”
I can feel my knees buckle, and the world starts to close in around me. Neritous bears down on the wall, causing it to shimmer before dissolving completely and leaving me vulnerable. But I’m running on empty, and my body feels like it’s barely working anymor
e; even with concentration, I can hardly summon the smallest of sparks around my fingers.
Neritous comes to stand over me, his hand outstretched. “I’ll make this quick, Karma,” he promises, and red magic begins to gather in his hand.
This is it. Come on, come on, I think. Do something! But there’s nothing to do; our power levels are matched, and he’s got the upper hand. He has everything that I do…
Except.
The solution comes to me so suddenly it nearly makes me gasp. It’s so simple, and yet I’ve been overlooking it this whole time in favour of damage and destruction. How could I have forgotten my longest-lived advantage?
Digging deep, I shut my eyes and grab for that nearly-forgotten magic, those powers that I once took for granted, and allow them to consume me with a last, desperate prayer. Neritous’s lightning comes down on me all at once, with enough power to leave me a smouldering crater…but it doesn’t hurt me, absorbed by my old powers.
For all our similarities, I have karma on my side.
Neritous seems to realise what’s happening a second later, his eyes going wide as he backpedals, but it’s too late, and in an instant, his magic is rebounding, trapping him in a vortex of red lightning. It’s not loud enough to drown out his screams as he burns, reduced to a charred corpse in the middle of the square. What I’m not expecting, however, is the surge of green magic that emerges from his corpse, which seems to gather in the air for a moment before streaming back into me, seeking me out like a beacon and revitalising me. I can feel my strength coming back as the powers I gave to him return to me, filling me up with a desperately-needed second wind.
I open my eyes, and just like that, it’s over, the fight coming to a screeching halt as the others realise their leader is dead. Storm and Killian have taken out the brothers, and they race over to me, eyes wide, as I stare down at Neritous’s smoking body. “You did it,” Storm says, disbelieving, but my mind is already on other things.