Rise of The Mortokai

by D G Palmer

  It was a sentiment echoed by Daniel. He didn’t know how long he had been waiting but, the way time worked, he had a feeling that it wasn’t as long as he felt it was. Fortunately, he honestly didn’t mind the rain. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He liked to feel the pitter patter on his face, it was almost therapeutic.

  His mind was cluttered with thoughts; about Trinity and Finn, about the legend that was his father, Eric Mondragon, about studying to become a mage, what that looked like, about Bobby, about The Mortokai.

  Daniel opened his eyes. As the cold droplets made him blink, he wished the rain could wash away all his confusion and self-doubts and give him clarity of thought.

  That’s when Daniel thought he saw it. Out of the corner of his eye, the shadows above the Microsoft store seemed to ripple. He straightened up and focussed on the area.

  Eric, who had been keeping a firm eye on his son, saw the change in demeanour of Daniel, saw him become more alert. ‘It may be time,’ the warrior said to Finn as he followed Daniel’s gaze.

  ‘I’m ready, commander,’ Finn replied.

  It was something Eric hadn’t been called in a long time and he was startled to hear it again. He turned to see Finn grinning up at him and he smiled back before they both watched and waited for Daniel to make a move.

  They didn’t have long to wait.

  Just as Daniel was beginning to think that his imagination was playing tricks on him, above the H&M’s store he saw the shadows ripple. A feeling of fear came over him. All along he had hoped they were wrong about The Shade being on Earth, but seeing it here, now, remembering what it was like inside the creature, made his blood run cold. He began to wonder, what could they possibly do to stop it? It was no point fighting back. They should just let it do what it wanted. He should tell his dad not to bother.

  However, when he looked over at his dad and Finn, he could see them frantically trying to gain his attention as they ran towards him. He couldn’t hear what they were shouting over the noise of the people, the traffic driving on the wet tarmac and a strange sound of rushing wind. But as they got closer, he heard them.

  Run.

  He woke up from the miasma that had descended upon him and saw the wide maw of The Shade beneath him, drawing on his Essence. Daniel reacted instantly and ran across the road, zig zagging through the traffic.

  It wasn’t the time for manners as Daniel barged pass several people on his way down Regent Street towards Piccadilly Circus. The rain had forced some of the people not prepared for the changeable London weather, to take shelter, but there was still enough on the streets to be an obstacle. He was literally in a race for his life and he wasn’t about to lose it for the sake of etiquette.

  Daniel was beginning to think that this was the worse idea that he had ever come up with. How could he ever hope to escape from a creature that could use the shadows to travel. Beside him, he could see it, moving swiftly from dark recess to dark recess. Occasionally it would reach out an elongated arm and then withdraw it. The creature was toying with him.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Finn called out to Eric as they chased Daniel.

  ‘For what?’

  ‘This!’ Finn suddenly drew her guns without breaking stride and started firing at The Shade. She knew Eric had said not to expose themselves to the public, but Daniel wasn’t going to get away. She had to do something.

  With her phenomenal sharpshooting ability, shot after shot from Finn’s steam powered guns struck home against The Shade, forcing it to retreat momentarily and giving Daniel valuable seconds.

  People whooped and hollered, wondered if they were, unbeknownst, part of some guerrilla filming or if she was a cosplayer. Eric slowed down to make sure no one had captured it on their phone and that nothing too serious was being discussed, then he heard someone ask about her crazy guns. At which point he looked up and saw a sign. ‘She got them from Hamleys,’ he replied before he set off after Finn, who had kept up her pursuit, completely unaware of the stir she had caused behind her.

  Having reached Piccadilly Circus, Daniel navigated through the perpetual crowds and headed left, up Shaftesbury Avenue, London’s West End theatre district. It wasn’t long before he was making another left onto Great Windmill Street.

  He neared his goal.

  At the end of this Street was the Brewer Street Carpark. Daniel hadn’t seen anything of The Shade since Finn started shooting it. Even though it went against what they had all planned, keeping a low profile and all, he was glad that she was a rule breaker because if she hadn’t, he knew he wouldn’t have made it.

  Daniel checked behind him as he crossed the road and ran into the carpark. There was no sign of Finn or his dad, so he stopped just inside the entrance momentarily. He just hoped that they were nearby because even though he couldn’t see the creature, he knew it wasn’t far.

  ‘Come on, come on,’ Daniel impatiently willed them on. His heart pounded; partially from the run but also because he knew The Shade could descend at any time. Then he saw Finn around the corner shortly followed by his dad.

  This was it. The final countdown. This was where they turned the tables and fought back. Daniel just needed to find a suitable battlefield; level two only had a few cars. Perfect!

  Unfortunately, it was the perfect environment for The Shade also, and it wasted no time in claiming its prize. Elongated arms extended from the darkness above and grabbed hold of Daniel’s wrists. They pulled him up into the air as a black, shapeless mass slowly formed below him. A large mouth opened up and began to feast on the Essence of the terrified youngster.

  Daniel felt like he was fading fast. He could feel his Essence draining away more rapidly than it had before. He seriously doubted that he would be able to hold out for Finn and Eric to arrive.

  Then he turned his head and saw the reason why he was being drained so quickly. Daniel saw ripples in the darkness. They had all assumed that it had been one Shade that was involved in the disappearances but, in actual fact it had been three.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sayyidah looked angrily at Gydion. ‘You should be kneeling before him instead of fooling yourself into thinking you are his equal!’ Sayyidah spat.

  ‘Allow him his moment of defiance, my love,’ roared Baelthorn, his booming voice echoed around the cavern. ‘Let him believe that he is significant, after all, he was your leader and lover once, that should afford him some benefits, but rest assured he shall kneel and worship before his returning god like everyone else.’

  ‘You are no god to me, Baelthorn. To me you are nothing more than someone whom over reached and was put in his place by his siblings.’

  ‘Why do you provoke me, mortal, when you know I can kill you so easily? Do you wish to feel the wrath of the black wyrm? But to reward the one that has released me from my purgatory with death would not be fitting of the benevolent deity that I am.’ The ancient being reverted back to its humanoid form and drew Sayyidah towards him. ‘And you, my dear, I have yet to reward you for your endeavours, either.’ Baelthorn kissed Sayyidah with ferocity. Gydion could barely hide his discomfort at the display and this gave the would-be god pleasure.

  ‘Do not look so hurt, Gydion, for she was to be mine long before she had ever heard your name, but she was a rebellious girl then and was bewitched by another before she was finally taken by your Master Penwyll to become a mage, but this was always her destiny.’

  ‘Her destiny? How can that be? The Tuatha are unknown in our realm.’

  ‘You doubt me, mage? Your myths and legends are littered with dragons. Only the unenlightened do not know this. In ancient Egypt there was a cult to me, the Cult of the Black Wyrm, and it was then that the young Sayyidah was given to me.’

  ‘A sacrifice by a cult no doubt long dead, yet you still claim their offering.’

  ‘The true believers of my cult knew I would return one day, my priests still called to me, and now I have, with your unwitting help. And as your reward you shall spread the word as my special
envoy, along with Sayyidah and reintroduce the Cult of the Black Wyrm to your realm.’

  ‘Envoy? I am very happy with my present role so I will not be the envoy of anything.’

  ‘This was not an offer, little mage. You are in no position to refuse me.’

  ‘I told you he would not accept, Lord Baelthorn. His sense of righteousness would not allow him to abandon the people of Ariest.’

  ‘I am their Archmage, it is my duty to stand up for them.’

  ‘As you did when Sayyidah led an army of Shade to that realm. You defeated them, eventually, and banished the woman you called wife here. Ironically the same mistake my siblings made.’

  ‘Why would you turn against your kin?’

  ‘They turned against me!’ Baelthorn spat in a rage. The dragon lord regained himself before he continued, ‘In the chaos ether, before form took place, there were many entities. We battled for supremacy of our realm and the Tuatha finally won out. In the ensuing peace my brethren rejected any form of hierarchy instead choosing equality. I fought like no other in the chaos and was rewarded with nothing! So, I decided to take what I deserved.

  ‘We Tuatha believed there was nothing beyond our realm, but I found that to be untrue. I discovered a portal that brought me to this marvellous dimension, Salamida. It is a living entity, older than the Tuatha and, just like black dragons, it is an essence vampire much like myself, but it feeds on the power of worlds, through their ley lines, not individuals.’

  ‘So, you thought to usurp the power of the realm and use it for yourself? This does not sound very godly or divine. To me it sounds like someone hungry for dominance, a control freak, so to speak.’

  ‘Still you persist.’

  ‘I do. For the simple fact that I do not think you can do anything about it. No self-respecting ‘deity’ would repeatedly take this affront. And yet you do, like a powerless common... lizard.’

  The angered Baelthorn unleashed a rage filled force bolt at Gydion, just as the Archmage had hoped he would. If Gydion was to escape he had to know what he was faced up against. Luckily, he had been proven right in regards to not trusting Sayyidah with her full powers and from what he remembered about the Tuatha civil war and the punishment meted out against Baelthorn when he was defeated, he too would be weakened. The question was, by how much?

  The shield Gydion threw up was struck hard by Baelthorn's bolt. Two or three more such attacks would be enough to bring it down, he surmised. The dragon lord must have succeeded with his spell and had indeed been syphoning power from the realm. Was he at full power? Probably not, thought Gydion. But he knew one thing, if he was to get out of this situation, he would have to come up with something quick.

  Baelthorn’s hands glowed red as he began to draw upon his powers once more. ‘We had hoped you would see the light and join us, but since it is your wish to be extinguished, so be it. Feel the full might of a god!’

  Just as the dragon lord was about to unleash his eldritch barrage Sayyidah threw up her hand. ‘Halt!’ she commanded.

  It would appear that things are not as they seem, Gydion thought to himself as he looked from Baelthorn to Sayyidah. Which one of you is the master pulling on the puppet’s strings?

  ‘You have had a small taste of what you are up against, Gydion. In your heart of hearts, you know you cannot win. Join us, do not force my hand and have you destroyed.’

  ‘Perhaps you have not heard but I am the Archmage, I am no slouch in the power department.’

  ‘Is that so? For all your vaulted power and ability, husband, you always seem to miss the small things and that is why you will never defeat me.’

  ‘I seem to remember defeating you before.’

  ‘Is that what you think? I conceded that battle so that I might win the war. It never ended for me, Gydion, I just made a tactical withdrawal and allowed you to think you were victorious, but in truth you have been out played for some fifty years. Whilst you lived your life with your apparent guilt of sending me here, I have been moving my pieces into position waiting, biding my time, until the moment to play my hand. Do you know the first move I played? It was so long ago and even now you do not realise.’ She leaned closer, her lips gently brushed Gydion’s ear as she whispered, ‘I am not the true Sayyidah. She never left Ariest.’

  Chapter Twenty

  The plan had gone wrong. Horribly wrong. On a scale of how wrong it was, it would be right up there with Neville Chamberlain’s “peace for our time” speech. But when things go wrong at this kind of level, casualties are not far behind. And Daniel knew that he was about to become one.

  It had always been a dangerous plan, with plenty of risk on his part, but it had been a measured risk; that he had enough Essence to hold out against a Shade until Finn and his dad arrived. It most probably would have worked, but against three Shade it was a different story; his Essence was all but depleted.

  The last time he had been completely drained of Essence, Trinity had been there keeping him alive, when he was in a coma, by sharing her own. But this time there was no Trinity to save him.

  ‘I’m scared,’ he whispered as tears began to well up in his eyes. ‘I don’t want to die. Not now I’ve found a new life to live. Not now that I have Trinity.’ Daniel began to violently struggle against the restraints, unfortunately it was too little too late. His energy left him as he closed his eyes and slumped over.

  This time Daniel was done.

  ‘Daniel!’ Eric screamed as he charged onto the parking level. The sight of the lifeless body of his son falling into the mouth of The Shade caused him to lose his composure and throw caution to the wind. Instead of remaining with Finn, Eric dived into The Shade after his son, leaving Finn to battle alone.

  ‘So, it’s just you and me now,’ Finn grinned broadly. ‘I hope you’re ready to get a beating because you’re going to pay for what you did to Daniel.’ Finn’s bravado suddenly vanished as she saw not one but two Shade descend from the dark shadows of the carpark ceiling. ‘Oh vekt!’

  WAS THIS DEATH? Daniel wondered as he opened his eyes and found himself in an empty void. No angels with trumpets, no devils with pitchforks. Just emptiness? It was like being in a black hole. Where am I?

  ‘Everywhere and nowhere,’ replied a voice, a glittering light show accompanied each word. ‘You are in the space where one second ends and the next one begins.’

  ‘Who said that? Who are you?’

  ‘Everything and nothing.’

  ‘Why am I here?’

  ‘To make a choice.’

  ‘A choice?’

  ‘Live or die?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You have yet to accept our gifts.’

  ‘Gifts? I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘And because of that, you are on the verge of death.’

  ‘I’m dying?’

  ‘Search your feelings, you know it to be true.’

  Daniel could remember the carpark, The Shades. But it seemed so long ago, as if it were a distant memory. How long had he been here?

  ‘Why do you care if I’m dying or not?’

  ‘We are the sum total of all magic and protect the many realms from mystical imbalance. Order cannot be without chaos. Chaos cannot be without order. The balance must be maintained. We created the realms and allowed our children the capacity to entreat us when they need our aid. You are our Mortokai. You are a bridge between us and all else.’

  ‘So, I am this Mortokai?’

  ‘Only if you accept who you are.’

  ‘I still don’t understand. Why me?’

  ‘Because you were born different. You are the synthesis of the human world and the faerie world, of the physical world and the abstract. We are magic. The Mortokai is one with magic.’

  ‘I have heard many things about The Mortokai. People fear the name.’

  ‘Small minds always fear what they do not understand.’

  ‘They have prophecies that say it will destroy everything.’

  ‘That is
down to you. Accept our gifts and what Mortokai becomes will be your decision. We shall not interfere... as long as the mystical forces of order and chaos within a realm are balanced.’

  ‘It sounds evil.’

  ‘Good and evil is solely determined by the perception it is perceived from.’

  Silence reigned whilst Daniel tried to comprehend everything he was hearing. Magic wasn’t just real, it was alive. But he was dying. He thought about his dad and Finn finding his body. It was becoming more and more difficult to remember things as his life faded away. One thing refused to die, however, his affection for Trinity.

  He needed to live. He needed to live for her. Daniel didn’t want to miss out on the joys of life now that his was just beginning. If part of life was about creating experiences then he had to live because his fell way short of what could be deemed a full life.

  ‘It is time to choose, Mondragon. Do you accept death or do you accept our gifts?’

  ‘What are these gifts?’

  ERIC DIDN’T THINK TWICE about his actions. He saw the limp body of his son falling into the mouth of The Shade and he just reacted. Sure, he felt bad for abandoning Finn, but this was his son his only child and besides, he believed in her, believed that she would be able to handle herself against the creature until they destroyed its heart. She was plucky that way.

  The way she idolised him reminded him of how things used to be back on Ariest when he was commander of the 1212, the legendary military unit. His fame rose even higher when bards wrote songs about the adventures of Eric, Grimgaard, Tavisum and Gydion.

  He had to admit to himself that he did miss it, the admiration, the notoriety; he hadn’t picked up the Claymore since coming to Earth. Not that he would change anything he had now for his old life, he loved his wife and his son.

  Even though Daniel had described, to Eric, the pocket dimension within the Shade, right down to the white path, being in an environment that was monochrome was still a bit off putting. Everything was either black and white or a mixture of the two. Everything except for the hue around his body and Dragon Claymore, that is.