by Beth Hodgson
As soon as he slowed down, the usual speed of his movements returned, reversing the time spell, and his ice shard continued to form.
Derek yelled in frustration at his time magic being countered, struggling to summon more blue magic once again, but he was unsuccessful. Off in the distance, Kyle saw a gifted woman with a deep skin tone and big reflective jewelry, basking in an immense burning sapphire light, whirling streams of blue magic circling her. Derek saw her too and realized that his magic couldn’t counter this woman’s power, no matter how much he tried to counter her. But Derek was hellbent on having his way.
With Kyle’s ice shard completely formed, he hurled it at the prince. It struck Derek’s shoulder, breaking his concentration. Derek snarled in response, grabbing the shard and yanking it out of his shoulder. Part of the tip broke, and a chunk of his tunic tore off.
Derek’s eyes burned with hatred as he narrowed them on Kyle. With a flash, Derek appeared right in front of Kyle, his hand glowing blue-violet. He bashed Kyle violently with a force so strong it knocked the wind out of Kyle’s lungs, causing Kyle to spin aimlessly through the air.
Kyle lost focus on his red winds, causing him to fall as Derek disappeared, flashing blue into the dark sky. A split second later, Kyle felt another gifted’s winds surround him. Looking around, a redheaded woman hovered to the side of him, nodding as her magic flowed around him. Kyle nodded in thanks as the woman flew off toward an aerial cyborg. It was just what he needed to regain focus, and he gathered his winds to find Derek.
Flying back up to where they’d fought, he spotted Derek on the royal platform, giving orders to the guards, intermittently grasping his wounded shoulder.
Kyle gritted his teeth, then charged. Derek spun around, caught off guard. Kyle flashed, becoming invisible, then cast an illusion in his place, sending it toward Derek at the same speed.
Derek disappeared just as Kyle’s image was about to make contact. When Derek reappeared, Kyle came from behind, cinching the King in a choke hold.
“Two can play at your disappearing game,” Kyle grunted as he reappeared, keeping his arm wrapped around the King’s muscular neck. The act of squeezing Derek gave him some satisfaction, especially while thinking of what he did to Emerald. Damn did Derek ever deserve to die.
Derek struggled back and forth under his grasp, grabbing at his arms to get him to release him. Derek was much stronger than Kyle had pegged him, even with his maimed shoulder, but Kyle was not going to let go, whatever the cost. But he had to do something fast, because he was starting to get tired.
Calling upon his red-violet magic, Kyle jumped into Derek’s consciousness, hoping to control Derek and get him to stop fighting. An incredibly strong black power met him, a force so overwhelming that it shook him to his core. The power was shielding anyone and anything from getting into the depths of Derek’s mind.
This has to be Ikaria’s spell.
The darkness of the magic threatened to overwhelm him. The King was under the influence of the witch’s spell. Derek was too far gone in the darkness, and there was no way of breaking into his mind.
Reentering his own body, Kyle regained his awareness. He still had Derek in a choke hold, and both men were flopping back and forth. What Kyle hadn’t noticed until now was that the staff had been dropped onto the platform, kicked away by their tumble. One of the cyborgs eyed it and picked it up.
Looking over at the staff, Kyle knew he had to let Derek go. He couldn’t let the staff get into the wrong hands. Kyle rolled his body toward the staff, kicking it away from the cyborg. But he didn’t let Derek go; Derek rolled with Kyle as they neared the staff.
Derek flopped himself over, forcing Kyle onto his back. Then Derek turned to face Kyle and wrapped his hands around his neck.
His air supply cut off, Kyle began to gasp. Through his peripheral vision, he saw delicate hands pick up the staff. Unable to break free, Kyle began to suffocate.
Deep down, Kyle could hear the call of his inner fire.
Flames burst from his body, raging from his wrath. His body began searing Derek’s hands and arms with an intense heat.
“Stop, Derek!” screamed Emerald.
Derek whipped his face in her direction, and his flesh began to smoke. He continued his hold on Kyle. “Never! You are mine! I won’t stop until he is dead!” screamed Derek. His face poured with sweat from the heat, the flesh of his arms melting, a putrid smell soaking the air.
“She doesn’t want you! One way or another, someone is going to die, and it’s sure as hell not going to be me!” Kyle roared hoarsely as Derek’s grip tightened. Derek’s flesh continued to burn in the flames.
“NO!” Derek screamed. Then he turned and looked at Emerald. Her face twisted in disgust, then disappointment. “I can’t let you go…” Derek said softly, almost in a light sob.
Emerald stood above them, her soft, wavy locks of hair flowing in the wind. “I will never love you, Derek,” she said, her voice strengthened with finality. “Take a look at what you have become! You are not the Derek I once knew!”
Finally, when Kyle thought he was about to take one of his last breaths, Derek loosened his grip. Kyle coughed hard and rolled over, catching his breath. Derek slunk down next to him, his face red with pain and covered in sweat and tears.
A black flash appeared before them, then a strong current forced everyone except Derek back. He lay there cradling his melted flesh.
Through the black swirls, Ikaria glared at Kyle, death on her mind, then she looked back at Derek. She flung her hand toward him, and energy swirled around Derek’s flesh, partially healing his melted hand and arm. It wasn’t fully restored, but it was enough for Derek to slide away from Kyle and rest his back upon a large planter on the platform. There he remained, breathing heavily.
“What do you think you are doing to His Majesty?” she said in an accusing tone to Kyle, then glanced over at Emerald. “I see you are not wearing your lovely crown. A travesty,” she remarked coldly.
“You have no power over me! Never again!” Emerald yelled as she gripped the staff.
Ikaria laughed. “Oh? Is that so, Queen?”
Kyle ran toward Emerald, reaching out to hold the staff with her.
“Now!” Kyle yelled. “Summon your powers, Em!”
Ikaria looked over at him, her black eyes flashing, locking his body in place before he got a chance to touch the staff, her magic weighing him down like a ton of bricks. She cackled as black magic flew around her, whipping her hair wildly. She threw her hands out to both sides, her eyes black.
Emerald tumbled to the ground, her eyes drained of life. Just like when she had the circlet on.
He was too late. Just a fucking second too late to complete the Spectrum of Magic. And seeing Emerald compromised once again made him rage. Rage with hatred for the sorceress.
“You bitch!” Kyle cursed at the sorceress. Angrily, he called forth his own red-violet magic. It ran through him, freeing his mind and allowing his body to move.
The staff was lit with an intense, deep-green light. Emerald sat up and began draining life, sucking away all the life-force from the future gifted. Screams erupted. Some of the gifted crashed into the platforms; others began to plummet to Arcadia’s depths.
“You see, you can’t have her. She is mine. I was just loaning her to Derek. Pure destruction, this one is.” Ikaria laughed. “She’s coming with me to the future.”
Roaring, Kyle began to cast his flames, creating a fire wall around them, then hurled all of the conjured fire toward the sorceress. Ikaria waved a finger, and the flames died instantly.
“Em!” Kyle yelled.
Emerald didn’t respond. Her empty shell continued to rip the life-force of the future gifted, funneling it back into her, Ikaria, and the remaining cyborgs.
Ikaria threw her head back, laughing wickedly. The sound echoed off the turrets and into the sky. “I see you have been recruited by Auron,” she said to him nonchalantly, looking at the staff in Emerald�
��s hand. “How pathetic. The fool doesn’t know when to stop. It’s too bad, really. His own weapon is used against him. It will be his downfall.”
Then Geeta appeared in front of Kyle, shielded by the brightest yellow magic he had ever seen. She summoned a vortex, swirling it around the sorceress, compressing Ikaria’s body. Tighter and tighter the magic wound, trying to squeeze the sorceress into oblivion. Kyle reached for ice from within his soul, shooting it into the vortex, hoping it to shred Ikaria while the vortex spun around the witch.
Instead, Ikaria kept laughing. Her black eyes sparkled, and the vortex stopped instantly. With a wide sweep of her hands over her head, she called down the storms from the skies, disappearing into them.
Geeta and Kyle looked around quickly, then kept moving, hoping that the sorceress wouldn’t be behind them. Through the darkness of the clouds, Kyle saw a bright yellow light with a man at the center of it. It was the same gifted man he’d seen on his makeshift ice bridge at the beginning of the battle. The man’s eyes glowed pure gold as he cast a transparent shield, his elegant white robes flowing around him.
Through the storm, black rains whipped around them while the wind and lightning raged. Kyle could no longer see Geeta or the yellow-gifted man, only the storm clouds.
A scream broke through the gusty wind.
Geeta’s scream.
Kyle ran toward the sound and found Geeta bleeding on the platform, a blade through her heart.
“Geeta!” Kyle screamed, rushing over to her, falling to his knees.
The blade in Geeta’s heart looked like a cyborg blade. She needed healing, healing way beyond her capabilities.
“The gifted cyborg…” she said, gasping for air.
Kyle suddenly felt a sharp jab at his side, and the wound exploded in pain. Grunting, Kyle whirled around, trying to spot the cyborg.
Drew was not hiding. He made himself known, his orange eyes peering out through the storm. Blades grew from his hands, replacing the lost blade that had been stuck in Geeta. His body pulsated bright orange as he began to multiply himself.
In response, Kyle gathered the lightning from the storm clouds, funneling their energy. The lightning turned red, multiplying in intensity. Kyle released it, sending it shooting out to the copies of the cyborg. The images that were touched by lightning faded as others came toward him.
A woman appeared through the storm, her unkempt short hair flying in her face as her hands held on to her glasses steadily. She looked around frantically, searching.
“Drew?” she called out.
The copies continued to come toward him. With each copy, he rolled, dodged, and shot them away by force.
“Drew! What are you doing?”
One of the images noticed the woman’s voice, then slowly the images faded away to one cyborg.
The woman ran over, extending her arms to embrace him. As she neared the robot, he methodically reached for her throat, then clutched it tight, holding her off the ground with her heeled shoes dangling in the air.
Right as he was about to squeeze the life out of her, she yelled, “Drew! It’s me. Telly!”
He paused, hesitating. Then he squeezed her throat again.
“Please, put me down!” the woman cried, struggling with her words, choking. “I know you can’t help it… you can’t override the gauntlet. Please… remember me! Remember… Gwen!”
Kyle angrily flung out his hands, gathering every bolt of lightning he could muster between the heavens and his soul, gathering it in the palms of his hands. A massive red ball of energy formed, crackling with lightning.
Shooting out his hands, Kyle released the ball of energy, and it completely enveloped the cyborg. Drew released his grip on the woman and shook violently, jolting over and over, convulsing from the overload. His circuits caught fire and his body smoked.
The woman screamed.
With no time to spare, Kyle bolted from the two of them, searching for Emerald and Ikaria. There was too much damn fog and clouds to see where they’d gone.
Holding out his hands, Kyle calmed the atmosphere until the clouds and fog dissipated. As the fog subsided, Kyle saw Ikaria and Emerald near the portal. It looked like they were about to enter.
Fuck no! Kyle thought. Not on my life!
Kyle saw Emerald still casting her draining magic on the future gifted. One by one, more gifted wilted away like dying flower petals.
Closing his eyes, Kyle called upon the full violet force within him, pleading with the magic to shoot him across the platform.
The magic responded with a hurling force, and his body landed in front of Emerald.
“Em!”
The green light of the staff shone on her pale face, her eyes glowing. With an outstretched hand, she began sucking the life-force out of him.
“Em, please, for God’s sake, wake up!”
Emerald’s magic tore through him, much more powerful than the last time. Her power ripped right into his soul, sending excruciating pain surging through him. Kyle stumbled, snarling to get ahold of himself. But with Emerald using the staff, it made it near impossible.
Fighting hard not to think of the pain, Kyle instead focused on transferring his consciousness into her mind.
As soon as he entered Emerald’s mind, he felt Ikaria’s consciousness. She had a strong hold on Emerald. The power was too great, just like with Derek, and he exited immediately.
Ikaria shot him a look of contempt as she grunted, reinforcing her power over Emerald. Emerald flung her head back, screaming in pain from the witch’s magic.
Pain ruptured in Kyle’s head, sending him into shock. Ikaria was in his mind. She’d caught him off guard, and there was no way to protect himself. He didn’t have protection magic like Geeta and Emerald.
With Ikaria in his mind and with Emerald draining his life-force, Kyle stumbled to the ground, feeling almost nothing left in his life-force. Emerald’s magic continued to surge through his body, ripping away his soul.
He was fading. Fading so fast that he could no longer feel his body.
Green magic swirled around him, showing him pictures of his life. Images flashed before his eyes—images of the wastelands when he was little. Him sitting on a desert rock, looking out into the vast barren lands. Riding his motorcycle as the hot winds blew through his bleached hair. The band members giving him shit while he played his music. And of course, Emerald. Her gentle touch, soft as a warm desert breeze.
Come back to me, Kyle… Come back to me, her voice whispered.
***
All Derek wanted to do was fade away into nothingness. His soul had been ripped from him, torn into pieces and thrown to Ikaria, who took his dignity, and Emerald, who already had his heart.
And now he was nothing.
It was all a lie. Everything Ikaria had told him was a lie. She didn’t really care if they got married or not. Ikaria had been planning on taking Emerald to the future this whole time and leaving him behind, alone. She was foul. Cruel. A disgusting human being. And she had made him into someone he wasn’t. He hated her.
But he hated himself more.
Derek flopped onto his belly, away from the planter that he’d been resting against, then began crawling with his maimed arms, slithering his way toward the edge of the platform. As he reached the metal railing, he saw the vast ocean of Arcadia’s buildings far below, eerily glowing within the morning fog.
It wouldn’t be hard to squeeze through the metal bars horizontally, to fling himself into the pits of Arcadia. He more than deserved it.
Derek pressed his face against the railing, breathing in.
He hated to admit that the bastard punk was right. He did deserve to die.
Derek hesitated, staring across the vast city. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the woman who had held his heart hostage.
Emerald.
She had one hand out, casting a dark-green magic at the people from the future, her other hand clutching the staff and funneling more power to her and the sorcer
ess.
And it all came back to Ikaria, controlling everyone and everything.
How had Derek let himself get so out of control? How did this even happen? He knew Ikaria had a deep hold on his mind, but he was the one who’d given in to his fantasies and let Ikaria control him in the first place. He wished he’d never come to Arcadia. Emerald hated him, and he loathed himself. They were married, and the two kingdoms were united, but it was under a darkness that was all his doing.
Derek turned away, looking back at the menacing city below. The colored fog, the falling gifted, and the cyborgs soaring through the skies. They could all go to hell for all he cared. That was where he was going.
He began to squeeze his muscular body through the lowest bar, his arms still badly burned. He let out a grunt while he exerted the last of his energy trying to shove his body through, his head hanging off the platform.
Two worn leather boots shuffled nearby, then stopped next to him. Derek look over to the brown boots but had a hard time seeing who it was with his head hanging over the platform. Squeezing his head back slightly, he cast his glance upward. The area was poorly lit, and all Derek saw was a shadow of a man’s face, illuminated by the magic from afar.
The shadowy man laid his hands on Derek, and Derek felt a brush of life through his body, his arms glowing deep green. Through the magic, Derek saw the man’s face illuminated with the green power. He had olive skin, forest-green hair, and glowing green eyes. He was another gifted with green magic, just like Emerald.
“If I were asked what you were doing, I would say that you wish to fall off the edge. Am I right?” the man asked in a thick accent. He looked at him with sympathy.
Derek didn’t say anything and nodded.
“We need more gifted to help stop this woman. Especially the one who the prophecy called for, the Ghost Man. He needs our help.”
With a look of contempt mixed with sadness, Derek turned away. “He doesn’t need my help.”
“Why is that?”
Derek shot him a look. “You have no idea what I have done. All of this”—Derek waved his healed arm, gesturing toward the battle—“is all because of me.”