by Tamryn Tamer
“She didn’t leave us…”
“Yes, she did!” Jericho interrupted as flames flickered from his shoulders. It infuriated him how people like Plague and Owl could be so conniving and intelligent and fail to understand the simplest truths. “And the fact you don’t realize it is a testament to your stupidity. Now, the next time she rebuilds she’s not going to leave anybody alone because nobody left her alone. She’s going to come back as the thing you’ve been afraid of this entire time and you did it to yourself.”
“Maybe.” Plague scoffed derisively while pondering Jericho’s words. “But by then we’ll be stronger. That’s the thing nobody seems to get Jericho. Raven was so far ahead of the competition that it didn’t matter how fast we grew or how strong we became. She was always going to be stronger. She was always going to be a potential threat. Now we stand a chance.”
“Yeah, good job turning a potential threat into a real one,” Jericho scoffed. “Have fun looking over your shoulder every day. Speaking of looking over your shoulder, where’s Owl?”
“Hm,” Plague appeared to be checking the time. “Aren’t you going to ask how we took down the blessing protecting the city?”
“Okay. How did you take down the blessing?” Jericho asked since he was already curious. He figured they’d kidnapped a prince or princess and hidden them inside of the city. It would be the quickest way to create a siege environment but as Jericho thought about it, there didn’t seem to be any banners indicating the city was under siege.
“You’re going to like this,” Plague said with a malevolent grin. “I suppose I should be thanking you since you gave me the idea when you and Raven explained the conditions of removing the blessing at the meeting. The fact that a queen of a small village could remove a blessing got me thinking. Can anybody with a royal title do it?”
“Shit,” Jericho said as Plague held up his finger displaying a royal seal carved out of bone. Jericho immediately realized what he’d done. While the title of king evoked images of grand castles and massive armies, Forbidden Arcana had many types of kings. Based on the ring, Plague was now the king of a small fishing village somewhere. “But Rend still would have needed to wrong you in some way.”
“Not quite,” Plague said cheerfully. “A king can declare war on whoever he wants for whatever reason. The only difference is once I declare war, the city I rule is unprotected as well. Fortunately, it’s a village with about a hundred people on the other side of the world so who cares?”
“And this is what you want to do with that?” Jericho scoffed. “You just want to terrorize people? Just burn down an entire city for fun? If you can’t have it nobody can?”
“I’m only doing what I have to do to survive.” Plague shrugged. “I’m not going to fall in line and allow Raven to take the continent unopposed. I’m going to fight however I have to. Besides, you’re exaggerating the impact of destroying a city. After all, just last week you doubled the size of your village. That suggests the reason other cities stay destroyed is because nobody is taking the crown and fixing them.”
“None of this is going to play out how you think,” Jericho said emotionlessly. “Raven’s my friend. Diana and I will help her get back on her feet and when she does she’ll be coming for you. But this time she won’t be content with Rend, she’ll start conquering.”
“That’s what Owl said,” Plague nodded. “Which is why neither you nor Diana will be in any position to help her.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jericho asked as he realized why Owl wasn’t at the battle. “You’re launching attacks on Kar Mograth and Dayrose?”
“Better run.” Plague laughed as Jericho lifted his hand and impaled the dark elf with icicles.
Jericho tried to clear his mind and focus on the battlefield but nothing was happening. Images of Dayrose under attack interfered with his focus preventing him from teleporting. He gave up and ran to the battlefield while shifting his body to increase his agility. He broke through the forest and saw the familiars spread out looting corpses.
“Everybody get over here now!” Jericho roared in a panic. His familiars as well as Terra, Raven, and several others rushed toward him. Jericho pulled out a chocolate bar and downed it to gain energy as the group closed in. “Owl is attacking Dayrose right now.”
“What?” Ariel said panicking. “The baby dragons! Lapis isn’t there to protect them! And my people!”
“Odd priorities for a queen,” Talia said while pulling out a scroll and tossing it to Jericho. “Get us there. We’ll massacre everybody.”
“My treasure!” Jinx squealed like she’d just been stabbed. “Open the portal! Now! Now! Slowpoke! Sloth!”
“Are you sure he’s there and this isn’t some trick?” Raven asked pensively. “The fact Plague told you could mean it’s a trap.”
“One second,” Luna vanished and a moment later reappeared. “There’s a small force firebombing the city but they haven’t breached the manor. It looks like Cynthia and some red leathered assassin are managing to hold them off.”
“What about Owl?” Jericho asked. “Was he there?”
“I’ve never met Owl but there was a mage with four familiars including a Fallen cutting through fairy forces,” Luna confirmed.
“A Fallen?” Theia said with disgust. “In my home? I will not allow that.”
“Motherfucker!” Jericho looked down and the ice covering his body was so cold his hand was starting to change color. “I’m going to kill him!”
“No darling,” Mirage said calmly while stroking his arm. Jericho felt a chill shoot up his spine as if for a moment he was standing back in front of Dalmeth or Niraxi. He realized Mirage’s murderous intent was flowing freely in every direction, “I’ll be the one killing him.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Terra said. “First secure the manor and we’ll work from there.”
“Terra’s right,” Sable said. “The first priority should be securing the manor, then the city, then eliminating the enemy.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Talia asked. “Open the portal.”
“Can I open one large enough for Lapis?” Jericho gestured at the enormous dragon. “We can’t leave her here while her babies are under attack.”
“Just infuse more magic into it,” Talia answered. “I assume you’re working with plenty at the moment.”
“That I am,” Jericho said as he held out the parchment and released four full elemental pathways worth of magic into it. A portal large enough to fit not only Lapis but potentially three of her opened up.
“Come on,” Ariel said while jumping onto Lapis. “The babies are in trouble.”
Mirage was the first to vanish and Mai and Riseva followed closely behind, clearly concerned about the giant arachnid children. Jinx and the wolves followed and the remaining familiars along with Ariel and Lapis rushed through last.
“Kaos,” Raven gestured at the portal. “You and I are going too. Leon, you’re in charge of cleaning up this mess. Make sure to gather everything valuable. We’re going to need resources. After it’s cleaned up meet us in Dayrose. Understood?”
“You got it,” the blonde warrior said without argument. “We’ll meet you there when we’re finished.”
“Let’s go,” Raven jumped through the portal with Kaos right behind her. Jericho took one last look at the burning city of Rend to fuel his anger and jumped through the portal after them.
Chapter 4
The Defense of Dayrose
Jericho arrived at the top the manor right after everybody else. The first thing he noticed was the immense network of spiderwebs stretching from the walls to the manor. Ocho, Huit, and Acht arrived on the roof almost immediately ready to do battle. They quickly calmed down once they saw they weren’t enemies.
“My babies,” Mai patted the giant spiders. “You did a very good job but mommy’s here now. Go inside and take a nap.”
The giant arachnids tried to argue but once Mai gestured toward the doorway
to the house they knew they were beaten. The three of them quickly skittered inside to join the baby dragons that’d already taken shelter.
“Okay,” Jericho nodded at the group. “Everybody dies.”
“Agreed,” Riseva said as she and Mai launched themselves off the roof toward the front gate.
“Kaos,” Raven nodded at the enormous orc. “Let’s go.”
“You got it boss,” Kaos responded while using his spear like a pole vault to launch himself toward the wall.
“We’ll make sure to clear them all out,” Raven assured Jericho. “We’re not about to lose two cities.”
“Three,” Jericho said. “I’m sure they’re looking to destroy what’s left of Kar Mograth as well.”
“Right,” Raven sighed. “All the more reason to protect Dayrose.”
Raven vanished in a blink and Mirage approached him. He could feel her wrath seeping out like water dripping from a cracked vase. The beautiful shapeshifter seemed to be unsure of what to say which was rare. Normally she had no issue saying whatever was on her mind.
“Darling,” Mirage looked at Jericho while carefully selecting her words. “I believe I should take care of Owl.”
“Like you did Loki?” Jericho asked knowing exactly what she was hinting at and the reason for her discomfort. Mirage stepped backward terrified by the revelation that Jericho knew she’d done something horrible. He didn’t know the full details but he’d heard enough rumors on forums after the disbanding of Phoenix to know Mirage really fucked him up. “I’ll handle Owl. You help clear out soldiers and protect the people of Dayrose. Got it?”
“Got it,” Mirage said eager to dash off and avoid any further discussion of her rogue antics.
“The hunt is on!” Jinx roared while jumping off the roof. “Let’s take some heads! Stragglers! Snails!”
“You heard her!” Freya said chasing after the spectral tigress. The other spectral wolves quickly followed behind. “Let’s go!”
“There’s a Fallen here. Sable, care to join me?” Theia asked.
“With pleasure,” Sable answered as Theia grabbed her and flew to the battlefield.
“Rude,” Talia sighed. “She didn’t even offer to fly me.”
“Fly with us,” Ariel offered Talia her hand. The pairing worked well since his matured fairy looked like a golden goddess and Talia believed herself to be one. Ariel recently learned how to tap into her anger and frustration to activate her Warden’s Wrath on command and the look definitely added to her divine appearance. Talia accepted Ariel’s assistance onto the dragon. “How about you Terra?”
“I’m good,” the busty elf smiled as Lapis and the familiars took flight. After everybody had gone, she looked at Jericho. “This is a problem. How do we protect a city when he can attack anytime?”
“I know,” Jericho said aggravated by his own impotence. Even if they eliminated Owl, he could return the same day if he wanted. They needed a way to protect themselves or at the very least a way to convince Owl to stay away. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Maybe you should have let Mirage take care of him,” Terra said pensively.
“No,” Jericho said. “He’s my problem.”
“Okay,” Terra nodded. “Then take care of it. I’m sick of sharing your problems.”
“But we share everything else,” Jericho teased.
“Shut up.” Terra blushed and jumped off the roof. Jericho smiled as the beautiful elf glanced back at him while trying to hide her smile.
“Alright,” Jericho shapeshifted wings and flew upward in hopes of spotting Owl. He caught a glimpse of Jinx beating the ever-loving shit out of a werewolf while the spectral wolves looked on and cheered. Lapis was holding three different parties at bay while Ariel bound them in golden vines and Talia jumped around slitting their throats. But no sign of Owl.
Jericho began teleporting to different sectors of the city to look for him. Since there were familiars and mages running around there was no chance Owl wasn’t there somewhere. Jericho focused on his spirit and stretched it throughout the city. He sensed soldiers fighting all around but he wasn’t looking for them. He was looking for somebody masking their spirit.
Owl was smart so it was likely he already figured out hiding his spirit completely was a mistake. It left a strange hole which stood out. The key was to make your spirit something relatively harmless and easily overlooked.
“Really?” Jericho scoffed as he teleported to the tavern and fired off a dozen shots of condensed flames at the literal Owl on the roof. The illusion dissipated as Owl dodged the shots and countered with a flaming slash from his blade. Jericho summoned a windless wall causing the flame to burn out long before it reached him. “Owl, what the fucking hell man?”
“It’s not personal,” Owl said stoically while creating a dozen icicles above Jericho’s head. “You’ve gained too much of a lead and I don’t want to lose. You can find a new home and rebuild giving me time to catch up. I even did my best to ensure you and your familiars would be away.”
“And if some of them stayed?” Jericho asked angrily while teleporting a few feet to the side to avoid the icicles. He snapped his fingers and a series of explosions chased Owl around. “What then?”
“I would do my best not to kill them just as I’d hope you’d do your best not to kill mine,” Owl said emotionlessly while creating four illusionary versions of himself and sending them in different directions. Jericho easily kept track using his spirit magic. “You know I don’t enjoy this. But it’s necessary. You also know that you can’t prevent it from happening.”
“I can’t?” Jericho summoned four dark spears to chase Owl across the roof. “You’re underestimating me.”
“If only. It seems that I’m the only one not underestimating you.” Owl jumped down from the roof and launched several dark slashes at Jericho. “Plague believes that Raven’s the threat to this continent but I know better. Raven just wants wealth so she can buy whatever she wants whenever she wants. If we’re talking about world domination, you’re the real danger.”
“Is that what this is about?” Jericho pulled up a barrier of light deflecting the dark magic. “That’s so fucking stupid! What about me has ever indicated that I’m interested in world domination?”
“It’s not about what you want,” Owl said calmly while summoning a series of earth spikes beneath Jericho’s feet. “You don’t have a choice. There are two ways to take over the world. The first is to raise an army and conquer it. Do you know the second?”
“Control the economy?” Jericho shapeshifted wings and launched himself into the sky to avoid the spikes.
“Absorb it,” Owl answered while summoning a whirlwind to force Jericho off balance. “You manage to conquer without conquering. You hold information and advice and people look to you for guidance. Tiamat might not serve you, but they serve you. Similarly, Endgame might have been the most powerful in your alliance but Raven is loyal to you. Kar Mograth and Rend were both yours and you weren’t even trying.”
“Got it. I’m this big scary monster that you have to destroy.” Jericho rolled his eyes while summoning up fire to eat the whirlwind. He followed up by sending the flaming whirlwind right back at Owl. “You sound like Plague.”
“I don’t want to destroy you,” Owl said apathetically while squelching the whirlwind with a tornado of water. “I told you, it’s not personal. I just want to beat you. To do that I need to bring you back down to earth.”
“Heh,” Jericho grinned as a conversation with Jinx popped into his head. He froze Owl’s typhoon and snapped his fingers sending ice flying everywhere as a series of explosions erupted. “You can’t catch up so you’re trying to kneecap me. It’s funny, I thought of the same thing when I first learned spirit magic and Jinx told me I was being stupid. You don’t get stronger by making others weaker, you get stronger by getting stronger.”
“Says the guy in the lead,” Owl tried to hide a smirk while devouring the chunks of ice in a dark shield
. He swiftly countered with dark magic slashes. “You can’t really blame me for wanting to flip the game board over.”
“Nah,” Jericho said while expertly evading the slash of dark magic and launching a dark spear of his own. “I can’t really blame you for that. What I can blame you for is trying to destroy a peaceful city because you want to be number one.”
“It doesn’t really matter,” Owl avoided the dark spear and transformed a pair of wings of his own. He created a dozen illusions and rushed Jericho looking for a close-range fight. “It can always be rebuilt. But for now, either I destroy the city now or I destroy it later. But the city will fall.”
“No, it won’t,” Jericho said as he pulled himself from the normal flow of time and increased his speed a hundred-fold. His wings vanished and he crashed toward the ground as his stomach ate itself. He pulled out a handful of chocolate bars and began devouring them until he felt alright. “I should have just teleported.”
Jericho looked up and figured out which of the slow-moving illusions was Owl and pulled out his dagger. Sure, it was a bit of a cheap trick but it was important for Owl to realize that he could have killed him at any time. Owl was right though; he had no way of stopping him if he came back later.
“I guess I’ll have to figure that out,” Jericho said while taking aim with the dagger. With one flick of his wrist, the dagger ended up lodged several inches between Owl’s eyes. Jericho returned his time flow to normal and watched as Owl crashed into the ground. He walked over to the corpse and looted it. “Fucker.”
It was obvious that Owl expected to die. The only item of value he had on him was his sword and while Jericho was happy to take it, he’d moved past his desire to wield a magical blade. Sure, it looked pretty cool but it’d also limit his imagination. More than likely Owl came to the same conclusion which was why he was willing to risk it.