He would show the kingdoms what Pennithor could not: that fighting was not the answer, that balance and unity were required.
Delminor felt his essence expand as the jades started to spin around him. His fingers sparked and he grew to an immense height, his tent falling aside as he rose up. He would be one tower that would not topple over.
He could see in every direction, for he was sensing the energies of the world around him, not using his eyes. He wasn’t sure he had eyes anymore. His body was made of energy now and he sensed the Kallisorian king and made his way closer.
He couldn’t control the energy completely. He felt blasts of lightning scatter in every direction, striking anyone nearby. He felt lifeforces snuff out as he made his way forward, the ground cracking beneath his feet and emitting blasts of fire.
It wasn’t what he wanted. The power was out of his control. No one else was meant to die, and certainly not by his hand. He struggled to rein in the jades, but they acted of their own volition.
The giant unleashed every element in all directions, feeding on Delminor’s fear for his son and striking without mercy. The fighting would end and Dariak would be safe. He knew it in his heart. It wasn’t a fair trade, taking all the lives for the sake of one, but the jades promised him his son would survive.
The Kallisorian king boldly faced the colossus and challenged him. “Foul betrayers of nature! Face us man to man. Enough of this treachery.”
Delminor felt himself respond, unable to control it, challenging the king’s claim of treachery, of using poison and subterfuge, of violating the rules of war for his own advantage.
The mage noticed the king looking all around, as if seeking a host of mages responsible for the colossus Delminor had become. He pushed himself forward in the confusion, determined to win. Arrows pelted him but they burned away before impact. He was impervious to harm while the jades empowered him.
He blasted the surrounding area with lightning, incinerating everyone nearby and blinding anyone who saw the light. The resulting thunder shook the land, pounding in the ears of the men and woman still engaged in battle.
The release of energy lowered Delminor’s defenses for a moment. A host of arrows struck the center of the colossus, where Delminor’s body floated unknowingly. Healing energy dashed toward the wound as earth and nature strove to remove the arrows themselves.
But his heart had been struck and there was nothing the jades could do. The energy around him faltered but the jades made one last attempt. They fused with Delminor’s mind and became a misshapen sphere, the Red Jade reborn, but damaged.
He felt his spirit taken within the majestic figurine, his mind at peace with the world around him. He knew the magic had always been in the land, that the Red Jade governed all. It had been forcibly split by the greedy kings who wanted dominion in their own rights. The Red Jade had manifested itself within them until its pieces could be reunited.
The Red Jade had waited for this day.
The Kallisorian king stood over Delminor’s broken body. “Now it ends. Was it this device that summoned your creation, mage?”
“You’ll never be able to harness it,” Delminor breathed, but only because the air magic made it possible. Agony ripped through him as the king made some other platitude and then plunged a sword into his throat.
The Red Jade could not tolerate the sudden strike. It had been holding Delminor’s essence together after the damage to his heart, but now releasing his blood on the land so swiftly, the Red Jade could do no more.
Delminor felt his mind rend asunder, pieces of him taken into each of the eleven shards of the jade. He knew then for certain that the jades were indeed sentient on some level, that they had taken in the minds of others in the course of their quest to be reunited.
He knew the jades would continue to fight for the land until their own journey was complete and they could be wholly unified to oversee the magic in the land once more.
But as his mind splintered, he knew that the jades could not contain their powers any longer. With a fierce explosion, the Red Jade—so temporarily united—separated into its eleven parts and scattered across the lands, taking Delminor’s shattered spirit with them.
Acknowledgments
My favorite part of ending a story is taking the time to reflect back on all the people who supported me during the process of writing and editing it.
First to my family, I love you all so much. You have been with me on all my journeys through Hathreneir and Kallisor and you’ve witnessed so many things.
Many aspects of Delminor are attributed to my dad. He is a man who faced adversity throughout his life, yet he always persevered to protect us and to keep us fed and with a roof over our heads. He never gives up and challenges himself always to be better than he was. From diving to acting to tap dance, he explores the world around him—all different kinds of energy—and brings them to focus with the warmth that is his soul.
This story was written one year after we lost my mom. It is the first thing I’ve written without her, my first and biggest fan. And although I have no idea what exists beyond “the end” I know she shines down on me with pride and hope. I see her influences all the time in the things I experience around me, all the way to finding good parking spots.
To Lisa, I am always impressed with your kindness. You remind me of the good in the world and of the light of healing energy that comes from our souls.
Kim, you have always been the adventurer on my quest, pushing me ever on and inspiring me to bring pen to paper—well, fingers to keyboard—to record the journey and to make it the best it can be. And congratulations on your own journey and finding and bringing John into your world.
My friends are major supports for me in my times of need. I have faced my own personal challenges this past year and I have needed the understanding and patience you have given me. You are all there for me and you bolster my spirits, helping me soar and forge ahead to new adventures.
Because of my own tribulations, I have been disconnected from others for a time. I would like to thank Joseph and Romy for reaching out to me every week, for reminding me that I have a second home, and for making me feel truly special in your lives.
To Lois, embarking on your own adventures, you continue to inspire me in all that I do. My quest will continue because you challenge me always to face the new day and to live it to the fullest.
To my husband, Kevin, I adore you. You have fiercely attacked your own challenges and you help remind me that together we can make it through anything. You listened to me discuss this tale and helped me remember that the characters really do write the story.
To NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writers Month organization, you challenged me this year to craft a 50,000-word tale within thirty days. I had some inspiring times, like that one day where 10,000 words flowed out of me. And it was fun watching the graph for the word count soar day after day, reaching my word goal on November 12th but continuing until the story was complete nine days later.
Rochelle Deans, my editor, after all the stories we have worked on together, I hear your voice as I write. I edit my habitual flaws on the fly more and more and I can look back over my work with pride. I’m glad you also took the NaNoWriMo challenge again this year and I wish you the best of success with your story.
To Giovanni Panarello, thank you so much for tackling the cover art on this project. It was an absolute pleasure working with you. You perfectly captured the essence of what I was looking for, bringing Delminor and Donya to life in a way that tapped my imagination. Thank you ever so much.
I also thank my previous artist, Fyodor Ananiev, who was unavailable for this project. Your art inspires me still and I thank you always for the work you’ve done and for the image of the Red Jade.
To my supporters and fans, thank you for asking about Delminor’s story and prompting me to share it with you.
About the Author
Stephen J. Wolf is a middle school science teacher with a PhD in sci
ence education and a penchant for fantasy books, movies, and video games. Growing up, he loved learning how things worked. When he saw Mr. Wizard’s World for the first time, he knew then that science was his place to be. From learning about how fireworks light up with different colors to understanding the mechanics of an acid-base reaction, chemistry and physics became his passion.
Stephen started writing in eighth grade when his English teacher challenged the class to craft three different scenes. One scene focused on a person. A second highlighted a location. And the third detailed an object. In the moment of the quick-fire writing prompts, Wolf linked all three tasks together and created his first short story. The following year, he crafted his first novella, then expanded it to a trilogy, growing as a writer along the way.
With some short stories used in his classes, Wolf communicates a love of reading to his students through creative connections between science and magic. His short story, A Shocking Journey, teaches the fundamentals of electricity and magnetism, as experienced by a middle school class, through a series of “magical” experiences that allow the students to visualize the concepts. In time, Wolf hopes to develop a series of such stories for teachers to use.
Stephen lives in New York with his husband, Kevin, and their cats, Merlin, Monty, and Shadow.
You can visit him at StephenJWolf.com and explore the world of Red Jade at Red-Jade.com.
Works by Stephen J. Wolf
Red Jade Series
tinyurl.com/redjadeseriesRed-Jade.com
Book 1: Journeys in Kallisor
Book 2: The Shattered Shards
Book 3: The Assembly
Book 4: The Forgotten Tribe
Book 5: Delminor’s Trials
A Shocking Journey
tinyurl.com/shockingjourney
Learn the fundamentals of
electricity and magnetism using analogies in this short story.
Coding for Kids:
Learn JavaScript:
Build the
Room Adventure Game
tinyurl.com/roomadventure
Learn JavaScript while creating an adaptable text adventure game that challenges the player to locate items in a house and to escape by finding pieces of a passcode.
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