“Fool, I created the cloud. Do you really think it can hurt me?”
Rather than responding, Ziary sent a blending of venta and ember magic into the cloud, causing it to pulse with energy. Thunder crashed and red lightning ran through it, casting a crimson glow on the battle and hitting Ziary’s sword. For a moment, the energy swirled around the blade. Realization dawned on Andera’s face, and as Ziary pointed at Andera, the demon turned. Power shot out of Ziary’s sword, but Andera cupped both hands together and lifted them, catching the lightning and forming it into a ball. Jez struck. Andera’s tail lashed out for his wrist, but he was ready for that and turned his blade, redirecting it and slicing a long gash down the demon’s tail. Andera howled in pain. The lightning in his hand spread out in all directions, hitting Jez and Ziary in addition to Andera himself. Jez’s wings locked up, and he plummeted.
The ground rushed up at him, and he threw his power at it, forcing his way through the oily sickness. The earth of the abyss was too different, and his power struggled against it. He couldn’t pass through it or transform it into mud as he had so often done in the mortal world. Instead, he broke it apart, crushing it into fine sand. It cushioned his fall, though not enough to stop him from breaking bones. He struggled to his feet, but Andera, had already recovered, though he wasn’t in much better condition that Jez. Cracks ran across his skin and red light leaked out. One of the demon’s wings had withered. His right horn had snapped completely off but half remained of his left. Smoke rose from his body, and he leaned heavily on one leg, but that didn’t stop him from placing a sword at Jez’s neck.
“You did better than I thought you would.” His voice was broken and fire billowed from his mouth with every word. “You’re too late. It’s already been set in motion.”
Jez smiled as he caught sight of Lina with her hand extended, violet light shining from her eyes. Andera threw back his head and screamed. Obsidian skin flaked off and fiery blood fell away from his body, giving occasional glimpses of a molten skeleton. Jez struggled to his feet. His sword felt heavy in his hands, but he lifted it, intending to end the threat of Andera once and for all.
Lina screamed. A circle of yellow light had sprung up around her. Above, the sky rumbled as lightning danced from one cloud to another. The air itself was charged with power. Jez was running before he realized he’d moved, drawing on Luntayary to ignore his broken bones. The clouds spewed a bolt of red lightning just as Jez jumped in the way. It hit him, driving him to the ground on top of Lina as she was pulled out of the abyss. The power ran through him and into her, though weaker for having traversed his body. Reality itself tore, opening a hole not limited to the rules set when this place was created. Andera, in his full power and unrestricted by human flesh, dove in after him as the hole reached for the mortal realm.
CHAPTER 35
The working tearing into reality had been intended to burn through a human body and use its remaining power to rip into the mortal world, but Jez’s body, when transformed, was much more resilient. The power stretched out and then stopped, leaving Jez Between and forming a hole between that and the abyss.
A terrible realization washed over him. This was worse than if he had done nothing. The original working would have carried Sharim to Enki. There was a slim hope that a being of such power appearing would attract the attention of the pharim lords. Andera was hurt and the power of the pharim high lords had been restored when he fled into the abyss. If he were detected soon, he might still be defeated without shattering the world, but now, he could go anywhere. Far from the pharim lords, he could recover before he made his move. He might still be defeated, but the ensuing battle could well leave no one alive in its wake.
Andera’s dark presence passed by Jez, and without knowing exactly how, he latched on. Between shifted, the fogs becoming dark clouds. Jez was hit by a gust of wind that sent him spinning. At first, he thought it was Andera, but the wind was too unfocused. Rain drops so cold they were nearly ice pelted his face and had completely soaked him in the space of a few breaths. This wasn’t the result of a working. Andera had brought them into the world in the midst of a storm.
Thunder crashed so loud that Jez felt the air vibrate against his skin. Lightning blinded him. He tried to steady his flight, but in the unpredictable wind and without being able to see, it was all but impossible. Suddenly, the wind shifted direction. Jez’s vision cleared just in time to see Andera’s blade racing for his face.
Jez cried out, reaching into the water and using it to push himself aside. The demon’s weapon passed so close to him that its heat burned his face. Jez managed to right himself in the air. Andera floated before him, in the full horror of what he was. Water steamed as it hit him, but he was a creature of destruction, and he drew strength from the storm winds. The skin that had flaked off grew back. In short order, Andera would be back to full strength. Jez charged, pulling water from the storm and wrapping it around his sword and drawing power from it.
Andera moved aside and grabbed Jez’s wrist. He twisted, and the crystal sword came free. Andera’s smile showed his three rows of teeth.
“All your efforts have come to this. You didn’t stop me. You didn’t even slow me down.” He laughed. “You made my victory more complete. If you had just let Lina die, the hole would’ve led to Rumar. We would’ve lost many in trying to establish a foothold in your world, but now, we don’t even have to do that. Because of you, the hole leads to Between, and from there, we can go anywhere. You’ve as much as delivered the world into my hands.”
Jez threw his free hand forward, sending out a binding of pure sapphire light. It slammed into Andera’s chest and did nothing. The demon laughed.
“You still don’t understand. You never stood a chance against me.” He held up his sword of liquid flame and gave him an evil grin. “Now, Jezreel, now it ends.”
He drove his sword toward Jez’s chest. Jez cried out, once again reaching for the water in the storm, even as he flapped his wings. There was no chance of avoiding the blow, not when it was this close, but he did manage to rise half a foot. The burning blade went into his stomach.
Pain erupted in every inch of his body as the demonic fire ran through his veins. He had never imagined that such agony could exist. Even the burning of flesh brought on by his transformations never felt like this. He couldn't even move, much less fight. The world began to fade away. He’d delayed his own destruction, Luntayary’s destruction, for a few seconds, at best.
But perhaps we can take him with us.
Luntayary?
You are on the edge of death, Jezreel. Your mind has retreated into itself, into the place where I reside.
Can you help me?
If you release me.
But if I do that... Jez’s mind would be pushed away. He would be little more than a pinprick in the vast ocean that was Luntayary’s mind. For all intents and purposes, he would cease to be. I’ll die.
You will die anyway. We may be able to ensure that Andera does not survive. Please, release me. Give me a chance to strike one last time.
The pain was fading now, and with it, his awareness of the world. Luntayary was right. They were about to die. Manakel’s words rang in his memory.
When you run out of options, you must attack.
Jez opened the door in his mind.
Luntayary rushed forward, wasting no time. Just like the swords of the pharim, Andera’s weapon was a part of him as was the power burning through Jez’s veins. For those few seconds, they were linked, and Luntayary seized on that link, taking them where pharim could walk and all others struggled to go. Between.
They were only in the vast emptiness for a second before materializing in front of the fog cloud that had been Jez’s manor in Randak. With one last effort of will, Luntayary seized Sharim and forced him back. They fell together, straddling the border between the mortal realm and the half Between grounds of the manor. Besis had worried that the manor would go floating off into Between and leave him trapp
ed inside, but that hadn’t been the worst thing that could happen. Not by far.
Fear painted the demon’s face as he realized what was about to happen, but Luntayary hadn’t given him a chance to react. They both screamed as Luntayary cut the bonds holding the manor to the mortal world. Stone cracked as the part within the grounds separated forever into Between, along with the top half of Andera’s body. Jez actually saw the demon die. Then, he knew nothing at all.
CHAPTER 36
Jez was standing when he woke, and somehow, that didn’t seem odd. Silver towers glittered all around him, but it was nothing like the blocky buildings men had built. This was all flowing curves and intricate designs. Some of the spires twisted around each other in impossible formations that should have fallen under their own weight. A great shining wall ran around the collection of towers, and Jez didn’t know how, but he was sure that the wall would defy any human measurements. It was a hundred yards long. It was a thousand miles. It stretched the length of the world. No mortal had ever seen its like. Above, pharim, true pharim, not the fallen afur, soared through the sky.
“The Keep of the Hosts.”
His voice couldn’t even be called a whisper.
“It is once again open to us,” Sariel said, appearing beside him. “And to you.”
“I’m still here,” Jez said as he looked down at himself. He wore the flawless robes of a Shadowguard, and for the first time he realized that these weren’t mere fabric. This was protection magic given form.
Sariel nodded. “Andera died an instant before you did, and when he expired, the working he had placed on you failed, and your essence retreated to the Keep of the Hosts.”
Jez gaped. “No, that’s not what I mean.” He took a deep breath. “Am I dead?”
“Your body is.” The voice came from Jez’s own mouth, though he didn’t say it. “Your mind is a part of me, and I find it a curious thing. I have been part of you for so long that it is odd for the situation to be reversed.”
Jez looked at the buildings of the Keep, far more magnificent than anything ever built in the mortal world. Even so, he didn’t relish his fate as a mere piece of Luntayary.
“Can he remain?” the voice of Luntayary asked.
“Remain?” Sariel asked.
“Jezreel. Can his mind be splintered off from mine and he be allowed to live?”
Sariel cocked his head. “Luntayary, you are Jezreel, and he is you. You are the same. You have never been separate.”
“Can we be?”
Sariel started to shake his head but then stopped. He turned to Leziel, who Jez would’ve sworn hadn’t been there a second ago. The lord of secrets kept his face hooded, and his shadowed features could no more be seen by pharim eyes than those of a mortal. Leziel spoke softly.
“Such a thing is not impossible. All the memories, all the things which are Jezreel, can be removed. They form a complete mind by themselves, if only that of a mortal. If Aphlel will lend his aid?” The lord of healing, who also had appeared from nowhere, nodded once, and Leziel went on. “A new body can be crafted for him. He will never again be able to transform, of course, though much of his native power would remain. You would be similarly reduced, Luntayary.”
“By the strength of one mortal mage. I think it is a price worth paying. Jezreel has done enough.”
“As you say, though I cannot say what would happen when he finally dies. Mortal death has always been beyond our knowledge.”
“Let it come as it may,” Luntayary said. “Whatever happens after death, he has earned his chance at life, assuming that is what you wish, Jezreel.”
CHAPTER 37
Jez woke in a healing tent. Balud stood over him wearing a shocked expression. His eyes widened when he saw Jez.
“Remarkable. I would’ve never thought something like this was possible, but you’re completely healthy.”
Jez breathed heavily for several seconds. “What happened? How did I get here?”
Balud raised an eyebrow. “That is a remarkably good question. You just appeared in this bed.”
Jez nodded. Experimentally, he reached toward Luntayary. He didn’t need to transform, but he just wanted to see if the power was still there. He found nothing and laughed. Balud stared at him.
“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to explain what’s so funny.”
Out of breath, Jez shook his head. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
The tent flap rustled and Besis sighed. “You may as well come in.”
Jez sat up from the sick bed, feeling strong. He looked down at himself, shocked to find himself in a human body. Lina ran into the tent and barreled into him, holding him tight. Once again, Jez found himself laughing. As soon as she let him, he stood only to be swept up in a great bear hug by Osmund. Jez laughed and returned the embrace.
“How are you here? I thought you’d be trapped forever.”
Osmund shrugged. “You left a big gaping hole in reality.”
“But that led Between.”
Osmund rubbed his head. “I know. I wouldn’t want to do that again. It was all I could do just to get here. It closed right after I got through.” He smiled. “I guess that was when you killed Andera.”
Jez turned to Lina. “How about you?”
Lina shivered. “That lightning burned me pretty bad. Master Besis said you’d caught the worst of it or I wouldn’t have survived. I was there when Master Fina destroyed Enki. What about you? I thought you were dead.”
Jez grinned. “Not anymore.”
Jez and his friends talked long into the night planning. Many of the demons and possessed soldiers had fled into the countryside, and dealing with that would probably take years. Rumar had been destroyed as had many of the nearby towns and villages. Even with mages to aid, it would be a long time before the capital obtained the splendor it had once possessed.
The Carceri academy, of course, had to be rebuilt as well, though now that Jez and his friends had been granted the rank of mage, they were under no obligation to return, and they wouldn’t, not right away. Randak had suffered damage of its own in the past year, and there a still a big gaping hole where the manor had once stood. Jez had no idea how to go about repairing that, though Lina had some ideas. Still that would keep them busy for a long time. They would return eventually, though. The Academy was too important to all of them to leave it alone forever, and the masters said they would welcome their help. It might take a lifetime or more to get everything done, but it would happen eventually. As the sun rose, Jez and his friends got into a coach and started east, back toward Randak. Jez found himself smiling.
“What is it?” Lina asked.
“We’re going to rebuild a world. I’m just a little in awe of that.”
She nestled in close to him. “We can worry about that tomorrow. For today, I’m just glad we’re alive.”
“Me too,” Osmund said. “Jez?”
“Yes?”
“When we jumped into the abyss?”
“Yes?”
Osmund grinned. “That was a terrible plan.”
The three of them erupted in laughter.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gama Ray Martinez lives near Salt Lake City, Utah. He moved there solely because he likes mountains. He collects weapons in case he ever needs to supply a medieval battalion, and he greatly resents when work or other real life things get in the way of writing. Find him at http://gamarayburst.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/gamarayburst.
Shadeslayer (Pharim War Book 7) Page 16