Soul of Power

by G David Walker

  Bothan nodded approvingly. “Good. At least now I can sleep easy, knowing you’ve learned an important lesson. ‘Tis a shame, really, that you won’t be able to put it to use, seein’ as your time is almost up.”

  Jason bit back his initial reaction. “Yeah, I know,” he said instead. “But before you do anything, do you think I could have a few moments alone to, you know, pray and stuff?”

  “I’ll be happy to give you time to say a few words, but I’ll not be leaving you alone. That wouldn’t be a good choice on my part, now would it?”

  Jason looked around the yard. He saw an overturned table a few steps away, with several scraps of parchment littering the ground. It looked like it might be big enough to conceal what he hoped to do.

  “Well then, would it be okay if I just went and kneeled behind that table? So I could at least feel like I had a little privacy?”

  “Aye. I’d allow that,” Bothan said. “But don’t take too long. I’ve got a world to reshape.”

  Bothan laughed, and Jason heard the two Altered chuckling along with him. He stood up and shuffled over to the table, deliberately allowing his feet to drag the ground. As he reached the table, he managed to kick one of the larger pieces of parchment behind it. Then he lowered himself to his knees. Time to send a message. But what do I say? He knew he didn’t have much time. He searched his thoughts, and then decided on his message. Now, something to write with. He looked around, and realized he would have to use his finger. The only “ink” readily available was covering him, seeping from dozens of cuts and scrapes. He dragged his finger across a patch of blood on his arm and hunched over, pretending to pray, as he smeared it on the paper. Two symbols. He hoped it would be enough. Calling up every bit of power he could, he managed to open a small portal, not even as big as his hand. He rolled up the parchment and sent a small prayer to whatever Supreme Being might be listening.

  Please let this work.

  Then he shoved the parchment into the portal.

  Message in a Portal

  “It really is a shame what he’s doing to you.”

  At the sound of Regor’s voice, Jason bailed off the bed and put up a shield, a burst of adrenaline temporarily overcoming the exhaustion of the last few days.

  “Wait! Wait!” Regor said, holding his hands up. “I’m not here to fight you.”

  “So what’s this? A social call? Try texting next time. Or maybe a Hallmark card.”

  “A hall what? Jason, I realize we’ve had our differences, but I assure you, right now you have nothing to fear from me.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  As Regor talked, Jason tried to figure out what motive could have brought the Altered to his room. It didn’t make sense. After all, it sure looked like Regor was already on the winning side. So why was he here?

  Although he tried to maintain his defense, it didn’t take long for his adrenaline rush to fade. His arms felt like lead and his legs were shaky, so, since he couldn’t really stand up to Regor in his current condition anyway, he released his shield and dropped back onto the bed. If Regor wanted to attack, he was too tired to stop him. But instead of attacking, Regor pulled out a chair, sat down, and dropped a bomb that completely scrambled Jason’s already sluggish thought processes.

  He pushed himself to a sitting position, trying to reconcile his past dealings with Regor with what had just come out of the Altered’s mouth. “I’m not sure I heard you right,” he said. “You want to what?”

  “I want to help you.”

  Jason stared at Regor as if the man had just sprouted antlers and recited the German alphabet backward. Why in the world, any world, would Regor want to help him? The Altered now sitting there grinning at him had been trying to kill him almost from the day he arrived. Why the sudden change? As he struggled with the idea of Regor helping him, he figured it out, the real reason for the Altered’s visit: Regor needed an ally against Bothan. Or, more likely, he needed someone to fight Bothan for him. That made much more sense considering what Jason knew about Regor’s self-serving nature.

  He almost burst out laughing when Regor complained about his ancestor. He didn’t mention that the same words Regor used to describe Bothan, Jason would have used to describe the Altered himself. Then Regor pointed out Jason’s inevitable fate, and completely killed Jason’s brief moment of amusement.

  “He’s going to kill you eventually, Jason. You know that, right?”

  Thanks for the reminder. As if he didn’t already know what Bothan would do if they couldn’t stop him. But, even with Regor’s irritation with Bothan, even with Regor needing help to fight Bothan, it still didn’t make sense. It wasn’t like this would make them friends. Even if they could get Bothan out of the picture, it wouldn’t change anything between them.

  “Yeah, I know. But I still don’t know why you want to help me. It’s not like we’re best buds or anything. It wasn’t that long ago that you were threatening to kill me yourself. So, even if I do end up beating him, what makes you think I wouldn’t come after you next?”

  Regor launched into a speech that would have made any politician on Earth proud. Jason almost found himself nodding in agreement, until he remembered who was talking. When Regor asked if Jason knew the best reason for him to help them, Jason automatically answered without giving it much thought. His brain was doing overtime as it was. Trying to come up with deep answers to the stuff Regor was selling just seemed to be too much effort. Nyala was right. The man was definitely a smooth talker. Just not quite smooth enough. Still, he had made some valid points about Bothan. It couldn’t hurt to hear what he had to say.

  “Okay,” he said, “let’s say I’m buying all this. How can you help me?”

  “I can tell you how Bodann became so powerful.”

  “Alright, how did he get so strong?”

  “He died.”

  Jason stared at him without answering. Dude, you can’t be serious. Did Regor really expect him to fall for that?

  “Yeeaah,” Jason finally said, drawing out the word. “Y’know, that sounds like a great plan and all, but I’m afraid I’ll have to pass, thanks.” He shook his head. “Do you really think I’m just going to let you kill me and hope I come back bigger and badder than before? Seriously?”

  “Look, I’m just telling you what he told us. Personally, I think it sounds ridiculous, but the simple fact is you can’t beat him as things stand right now. And as much as I hate to say it, I can’t beat him either. From what I’ve seen, all four of the remaining Altered could join together and we still wouldn’t stand a chance against him. Trust me, I don’t like it any better than you do.”

  “So why don’t you do it yourself? Then you’d be the god you already think you are. Why take the chance of someone you’ve been fighting against getting enough power to beat you? Doesn’t sound to me like you’ve thought this through.”

  “Oh, I’ve given it plenty of thought, believe me. To begin with, I’m not technically human anymore. If what happened to Bodann can be repeated, it’s much more likely to succeed with someone like you than it is with an Altered. And secondly, and perhaps more to the point, I’m just not that desperate. If I have to, I can put up with him. If I tried it and it worked, that would be great, but if it didn’t…” He shrugged. “I’m not quite ready to take that chance. You, on the other hand, have fewer options. If it works, you win, and I just have to hope for your good will for helping you. If it doesn’t, well, he was going to kill you anyway.”

  “I think I—” Jason stopped as a whispery sound from beside the bed caught his attention. He looked over the edge just in time to see a small portal disappear and a rolled up piece of parchment bounce off the floor.

  “You think you what?” Regor asked.

  “Just a second,” Jason said as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached down for the paper. He unrolled it, and felt the blood drain from his face as he saw the two symbols drawn on it. The crimson “ink” was still sticky, and had smeared slightly, but
the markings were plain enough to read. Just like that, it was clear what he was going to have to do.

  Oh, man. This really sucks.

  He turned back to Regor, feeling like the full weight of Lore’s Have was now sitting squarely on his shoulders.

  “Okay. Tell me what he said again.”

  *****

  “Absolutely not! That is out of the question!” Reyga could not believe his ears. “He is just trying to trick you, Jason. Surely, you can see that?” This was obviously a ploy by Regor to get Jason out of the way so that he, Airam, and Bodann would only have to deal with Nyala, Nivek, and the Circle. He looked at the others, and saw several, including Lenai and Captain Gatlor, nodding at his conclusion.

  “I must agree with Reyga,” Seryn said. “Rather than an offer of help, this sounds much more like a way for Bodann and Regor to rid themselves of you without actually having to take any action on their own. To me, that would imply that they still see you as a threat to them.”

  “Yeah, that’s kind of what I thought too, at first. Then this showed up.” He held out a piece of parchment that had some strange symbols drawn on it in a maroon-colored liquid.

  “Where did this come from?” Reyga asked. “What does it mean?” The crimson fluid staining the parchment looked disturbingly familiar.

  “It appeared in my room when I was talking to Regor. And I think it means that whatever we’re getting ready to do isn’t gonna work.”

  “Why do you see that as the meaning?” Seryn asked.

  “Because I’m pretty sure that’s my blood on it,” he said. “Is there any way you can verify if I’m right?”

  Seryn nodded. “Yes. But I would need to compare a sample of your blood against what is on the parchment.”

  “Fine.” Jason pulled out a small dagger. Reyga recognized it as the one he had given to Jason during the Gathering’s End festival. Jason gave him a crooked smile. “When you gave this to me, I never thought I’d be using it on myself.” Then he took the tip of the dagger and pricked his finger. Once a large drop of blood had formed, he wiped it on the parchment beside the symbols and handed it to Seryn. “There you go. Is it mine?”

  Argent power caressed the parchment as Seryn examined it. From her reaction, Reyga knew before she spoke what her answer was going to be. With a resigned sigh, she nodded.

  “The blood is yours,” she said, confirming Reyga’s fears.

  “This proves nothing,” Gatlor said. “There have been many opportunities for Bodann or one of the Altered to get a sample of your blood.”

  “Maybe,” Jason said, “but they wouldn’t know these symbols.” He held out the scrap for them to see.

  “What do they mean?” Lenai asked, as she, Gatlor, and the Loremasters gathered around Jason to examine the parchment.

  “This one,” he said, pointing at the first symbol, “is a letter. In the written language I used back on Earth, this would be the first letter of Regor’s name.”

  “And the other?” Seryn asked.

  “That’s a logo.” The Loremasters exchanged puzzled glances. “A logo is a symbol used to represent something,” Jason explained. “This one represents a place that makes shoes.”

  “So, something about Regor’s shoes?” Reyga asked. A ghost of a smile crossed Jason’s face at his question, but he could see that Jason was troubled.

  “No, it’s not the shoes. The logo is usually accompanied by words, the company’s motto. Their motto is ‘Just do it.’ I think it means we need to do what Regor is suggesting. That’s the only thing I can figure out.”

  “Who sent this, can you tell?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? I did,” Jason said. “Just like when I went back and got my dad, I sent a message to myself. And since I apparently only had time to draw the letter and logo, and since it’s in my own blood, I’m guessing things were looking pretty bad when I sent it.”

  “I still mistrust this,” Reyga said. “We need to take some time to consider other options. I cannot believe this is the only way.”

  “I too have my misgivings, Jason,” Seryn added.

  “I’m open to suggestions,” Jason said. “Do you have any other ideas?”

  Another voice broke in. “I suggest you try to make your peace in whatever way you find most comforting.”

  Reyga turned to see Bodann and the two Altered in the room.

  “I apologize for interrupting what looked like a very important discussion, but I come bearing unfortunate tidings,” Bodann said. “Although I will remember our time together with a certain measure of fondness, I’m afraid it must come to an end. The game is no longer entertaining, and I must be about forging the new Teleria.”

  Reyga’s gaze went back to the parchment in Jason’s hands as Bodann spoke. There had to be another way for them to prevail. But if Jason’s interpretation of the note was correct, whatever strategy they were going to come up with was doomed to failure. And if that was indeed the case, then Teleria’s fate rested on Jason’s possible death, and, hopefully, rebirth, if what Regor told Jason was the truth. But even if Regor’s words were true, there was no guarantee that the same thing would happen to Jason. His death could be permanent.

  Bodann clapped his hands together, drawing Reyga out of his musings. “So,” Bodann said. “I’ll be back tomorrow just after Second Meal. You have that long to make your goodbyes.” He started to turn away, and then hesitated. “Oh,” he said, “and dinna waste your time trying to hide from me. As I’ve told you before, there’s no place in all of Teleria that I canna see. It would only prolong the inevitable. Better to meet your fate head on.” Then he and the others vanished.

  “Well,” Jason said, turning to Seryn, “so much for taking some time to think things over.”

  “Jason,” Reyga said, almost pleading, “are you absolutely certain you wish to do this? Are you certain there is no other way?”

  “Trust me. I know me. I’ve lived with me all my life. And there’s no way I would tell myself to do this if there were any other way. Believe it.”

  Seryn nodded. “Then it would appear our course it set.”

  “Yeah,” Jason said. “Let’s just get it over quick, before I change my mind.”

  *****

  Jason wiped his hands on his legs, trying to dry off the nervous sweat coating his palms. Now that it was down to it, he wasn’t sure if he could actually go through with it. He’d asked Reyga not to mention anything to his dad until they knew if it worked or not. He knew his dad would try to talk him out of it, and would probably succeed. He also knew, if he’d sent that message to himself, this was their only chance, so he couldn’t give his dad the opportunity to change his mind. The worst part of it was, if it didn’t work, he wouldn’t have a chance to tell his dad goodbye. Then again, if things had gone as badly as the parchment seemed to indicate, he probably hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye then either.

  He entered the training yard and walked over to where Seryn was speaking with Meryl, Lenai, and several of the Loremasters. Gatlor, Seerka, and Calador stood off to the side.

  “Well, what’s the plan?” he asked after they had greeted him.

  “We believe your, for lack of a better word, demise, should be gradual,” Seryn said. “This way I can monitor you and send you through the portal at the precise moment of your death.” She frowned. “I must confess, never have I been in a position where I have, of my own volition, chosen to deliberately allow someone to die. It is disturbing, to say the least.”

  “Just think how I feel about it,” Jason said.

  “I choose to think of it as a transformation,” Reyga said, “rather than death. ‘Death’ seems to have such finality to it.”

  “Gradual,” Jason said. How many ways are there to die gradually? Nothing he could think of sounded promising. “You couldn’t just blast me with dimsai or something? Maybe hit me so that I get thrown through the portal?”

  “I do not believe that would be wise,” Seryn said. “First, there is the possibility
of backlash to consider, such as what happened to Loremaster Reyga. Additionally, if what Regor said is accurate, the timing is critical. You must be passing through the portal at the exact moment of your death.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. So, how’s this going to work?”

  “You will be cut, mounted on a horse, and allowed to bleed. Loremaster Brin will open a portal to a location just outside of Lore’s Haven. Meryl will go through first to receive you on the other side should something go amiss. At the proper moment, I will have Lenai lead the horse through the portal.” Seryn shrugged. “At that point, we will do whatever is necessary. I confess, I do not know what to expect.”

  “Cut, huh?” That didn’t sound like any fun at all. “You sure there’s no other way?”

  “There are other ways, certainly,” Seryn said, “but I believe this to be the one that allows for the most accurate timing.”

  “Fine. Are we ready?” Jason wasn’t, and the longer it took them to get on with it, the less he felt like doing it. But he knew it had to be done, so there wasn’t any point in waiting. “No time like the present, right?”

  “Almost,” Reyga said. “Some here wish to speak with you first.” He moved back as Gatlor stepped forward.

  “Jason Bennett,” Gatlor said, “I would have you know that I have never enjoyed admitting when I was wrong.”

  “Because it so rarely happens,” Seerka said, a distinct tone of sarcasm coloring his words.

  Gatlor glanced at the sky and gave a little shake of his head before continuing. “In the beginning, I had many misgivings about you. I thought it foolish to place Teleria’s hopes on one so young, and a Far Planer at that. In this, I was wrong. Your willingness to sacrifice yourself on this, and previous, occasions shows me that I misjudged you. I wish to apologize for that. You honor us with your actions, and I thank you.” He held out a hand to Jason. Jason reached out and felt Gatlor’s strong grip around his forearm. “I hope this will not be the last time we speak,” Gatlor said. With a firm shake, he released Jason’s arm and stepped back.