“Thank you,” said Jak.
“I’m afraid there’s not much more we can do. Our combative skills are limited.”
“Don’t worry,” said Jak. “We've faced more demons than this. We can handle ourselves.”
Though she’d never faced this many demons without more help, and not with Cain threatening to appear at any minute. But she didn’t mention that.
“Get ready,” said Perchel as they swooped in lower, circling downward to the flat structure he had mentioned earlier.
“Go ahead and drop me now,” said Jak. “I can survive the fall.”
Perchel did not hesitate to obey. Without another word, he and the other Sky Fae that carried her, let go.
Jak plummeted towards the snow-capped peak, towards the dark shapes below, and summoned her magic.
She hit the stone platform with a booming thud that echoed around her. To absorb the fall, she dropped to one knee and placed one hand on the ground. In the same instant she hurled a wave of Telekinesis in all directions. She was surrounded by demons, but the wave of magic picked them up and tossed them like rag dolls. Some fell too far to recover, tumbling over a cliff face on one side, or a snow-covered slope that was too steep to climb on the other.
Yet those that were left whirled on Jak, just as the Sky Fae came in closer, dropping Karlona, Marek, and Seph to the ground. Seph brandished his bow and Karlona’s knives came out of their sleeves in a fluid motion. Marek activated his Telekinesis brand.
Jak slid the spear out of its space on her back and tossed it at Marek. He caught it out of the air and stared at Jak. It was the first time she had trusted him with a weapon.
“Won’t you need it?” he said.
Jak turned to face the demons. “It will only get in my way.”
Then the first demon pounced.
She shrugged it off with a wave of Telekinesis. The demon flew through the air and landed against a stone pillar with a crunch.
She activated Flamedancing, sending jets of fire rushing at the onslaught of demons. High pitched screams increased around her. But for every demon that fell in the fire, another took its place. More and more demons were joining them now, attracted by the light of her flames. They were coming from every side, having covered the entire peak before their arrival. Now they were all converging on one spot.
And while she killed one demon after another, as did her companions, she also knew one more thing.
If Cain wasn’t on his way before, he was now.
22
The echo of a headache pierced her forehead, not painful, but perhaps a shadow of what she had once felt when Cain was very mad. He was coming for them, that much was certain.
She continued to take the demons out one by one, using a combination of Flamedancing and Telekinesis. She wielded balls of white-hot fire, and sent beams of energy into their foes. Not one could get close to her, though she did have to keep an eye on her companions.
Seph let his last arrows fly into the bodies of oncoming demons. Marek guarded his back, while Karlona carved a path through their enemies to one side. They were doing fine, though every once in a while she sent a wave of magic at a demon lunging at Seph and Marek. She could at least give them a little less to think about.
More demons crowded around them, snapping their jaws and baring long fangs and huge claws, products of their transformation. Jak nearly slipped on the snow-covered stone as she rushed to meet them. But she caught herself and sent a jolt of lightning through the nearest demons. The lightning passed through several of them before losing energy momentum.
But she couldn't rely on her Thunder brand alone. If she overused it, she could lose energy quickly, and there was no thunderstorm to draw from. She was starting to feel drained already.
All while the dread was beginning to build up again in her stomach.
“He’s coming!” she yelled as she rammed the butt of the Pillar of Eternity into a nearby demon head.
The demons nearest them continued to fight, but those that still climbed the mountainside to get to them slowed to a crawl. They knew their master was coming.
Jak dispatched the last demon in the vicinity and took a moment to survey her surroundings, trying to find something, anything that could help them.
The platform they stood on spread out for several feet in all directions, but on one end, she could make out some stairs, partially covered in snow. There were two sets of stairs, wrapping around opposite sides of the mountain’s final peak, a giant monument of rock that stretched maybe fifty feet above them. What was at the top? She had a pretty good guess.
But there was no time to climb the stairs and discover if the second Pillar of Eternity was there or not. A roar announced the coming of the dragon. It swooped into view, with Cain still riding. A cry went up among the demons, something akin to ecstasy. They cheered for their master.
Fire burst out of the mouth of the dragon, shooting straight down at them. Jak threw up her hands, dropping the Pillar of Eternity as she warded off the dragon fire with both Telekinesis to shield them, and Flamedancing to redirect the fire. Her companions only stood watching, completely helpless to do anything about the dragon attack. Seph’s eyes followed the beast as it circled around. Perhaps he could calm it somehow like he did last time.
The dragon breath abated and she stooped to pick up the Pillar of Eternity. She couldn’t allow that to fall into Cain’s hands. She couldn’t allow either of them to fall into his hands. And she didn’t have time to try and retrieve the second Pillar from where it likely stood at the peak. This would have to be a final stand with Cain.
A form came crashing down from the sky with a thud that shook the stone platform. Cain turned to look at her, his horrid, melted face regarding her with loathing. His eyes burned an icy blue in the darkness, not unlike her mother’s green eyes, but colder.
The dragon continued in its flight, now that its rider had left. It didn’t leave, however, but continued circling the mountain.
Cain didn’t stop to speak, by the time he had straightened, he formed a fireball in one hand and threw it at Jak. She threw herself to one side, whilst simultaneously swatting at the fireball with Telekinesis. It crashed into the ground behind her, sending up shards of stone.
He was not messing around, he was not goading her. He knew this would be a fight to the death, and he would not delay.
“Get back!” she yelled at her mother, Seph, and Marek. “Let me fight him.”
None of them protested, and Cain kept his gaze fixed on her. He knew she was the primary threat, and her companions knew better than to do anything stupid. None of them would stand a chance against Cain, and everyone knew it.
Jak formed a fireball in her own hand, sending it hurtling at Cain. He tossed it off with a casual wave. She sent a bolt of electricity speeding at him, a direct hit!
But the Thunder brand had seemingly no effect on him. If anything, it may have helped him. His body absorbed the energy and Cain smiled slightly. Stupid, she should have thought about absorption. If she could use a thunderstorm to fuel her brand, it made sense that one could draw from another’s Thunder brand as well.
“You’re weak,” he said, advancing towards her. “You have no idea the power you could wield.”
But she did have power he did not. It was time to put it to good use.
The Pillar of Eternity flared to life in her hand, and time stood still. Jak took a deep breath then ran to Cain’s opposite side. If the Pillar wouldn’t let her kill Cain outright, at least she could get the drop on him from behind.
She let the power drop and shot a fireball right at Cain’s back.
He whirled and blocked the blow, but she was much closer this time. He staggered back one step from the force of her attack.
She activated the Pillar once more, moving to another side. Then another, then another.
Finally, one fireball managed to connect.
Cain yelled in pain as his flesh burned. But to Jak’s surprise, the red a
nd black burnmark quickly faded before her eyes. Cain smiled. “Your attacks are not capable of harming me. Nothing can harm me!” He shot a massive beam of hot fire at her. Even as she activated the Pillar of Eternity, the flames were almost on her before she managed to scramble out of the way.
She had to keep trying. If one attack had gotten through, perhaps more would do so as well. She just had to make sure that she destroyed Cain’s body so much that his healing abilities couldn’t save him. Relics, how did he manage to heal so fast! What kind of brands were they dealing with here, and how could she have any chance of beating him when she didn’t know what they were.
She attacked him from all sides, keeping as much distance as she could. In one instance, just as she let time resume its normal pace to send another fireball his way, a huge force rammed into her.
She recognized it instantly as a Telekinetic push, but one far stronger than anything she had managed to conjure up. She flew through the air over the lip of the stone platform to the icy slopes beyond. She tumbled, feeling the ground give way beneath her. She was falling. She tumbled into a sharp bolder which would have broken her back had she not possessed Toughness. She scrambled to find something to hold onto as she began sliding off the rock.
And the Pillar of Eternity slipped from her fingers.
“No!” she cried and desperately reached for the Pillar with Telekinesis, willing it to come back to her hand.
But the Pillar spun out of control, pushed by a greater force than her own.
Cain rose into the air above, staring down at her, a look of pure triumph on his face. He glanced down at the Pillar of Eternity as it fell far below. “I’ll pick that one up later.”
She had to get the power of time back. It was the only edge she had against Cain. Her attacks would be useless without it.
“But first things first,” Cain continued. A huge fireball began forming over his head, much like the one Jak had used to destroy the abandoned eastern village. He was going to wipe her off the face of the earth.
A glint in the moonlight, and something dark plunged its way into Cain’s side. They had forgotten about Karlona. She materialized behind Cain, her green eyes visible from where Jak lay hanging to a large rock.
Jak scrambled to her feet, and called on her brand of Telekinesis to propel her forward and to one side, back to the stone platform but away from Cain. He would not remain distracted for long.
Indeed, he whirled on Karlona with a backhanded slap that send the Shadow Elf flying. To Jak’s horror, just as she alighted back on the platform, he followed up with a jet of white-hot flame that burst from his palm like an inferno, directly at her mother. Forgetting about herself, Jak threw up a Telekinetic shield to redirect the blast, but it was all she could do to keep it from collapsing. Thankfully, her mother used the split second Jak gave her to roll out of the way and disappear entirely. Jak said a silent prayer of thanks for Shadow Elf abilities.
Cain’s eyes rounded on her, his attention once again focused on his greatest threat, even though Jak did not feel like much of a threat in that moment. She had lost the Pillar of Eternity, she could not attack Cain directly, and running away would only delay the inevitable.
She could try to retrieve the fallen Pillar, but that would take time to search for where it had fallen, and that was time she did not have.
But she did know where another Pillar lay…
Without pausing to think it through, she jumped, launching herself into the air with her brand, in a direct line for the ultimate mountain peak. She passed the stairs that led there in a single moment, overshot the top, and finally got a good look at her goal.
The second Pillar of Eternity stood embedded in a rocky altar of some sort, its length protected from the elements by stone archways. Unlike the first Pillar of Eternity, this one was on display, for anyone who made it this far to see. Also unlike the first Pillar, this staff was a polished white color, with black lines extending up and down its length. Its colors contrasted opposite that of the first Pillar.
The dragon roared from nearby, and Cain would be right on her tail, so she had to act fast.
She ran forward and grabbed hold of the second Pillar of Eternity.
She heaved to pull it out of its stone basin, but it did not budge. It remained locked in place, calm and heedless to the chaos that was erupting around them.
“Come on,” she yelled. “I’m trying to help you, why won’t you help me.”
But the staff remained silent. There were no visions, no quiet voices in the back of her mind. It remained as cold as the mountain it sat on.
Suddenly, she was flying, launched into the air by an attack from the rear. She felt a searing heat in her back as her clothes caught fire. She tumbled down the stairs and rolled, the flames in her clothing dying out as she did so.
“You will not take it!” Cain spat. She whipped her head around to see him standing there, next to the Pillar. He still thought the Pillar would go with her. He didn’t know it had rejected her.
She had half a mind to tell him right there, to tell him that he had nothing to fear, that the Pillar was useless for her. But instead she scrambled to her feet as Cain reached for the white Pillar and pulled.
Nothing happened.
Jak let out a gasping breath. He wasn’t able to take it either. He tugged and he pulled, but the Pillar of Eternity would not come free.
Fury contorted the already grotesque face of her enemy. His blue eyes shot to meet hers. “You have bewitched it somehow.”
“I have,” she lied. “It will never serve you.” Lies were her only defense now. She had to make him believe that the Relic could not bend it to his will, even though she had no doubt he could do so with enough time.
“You know I cannot allow you to have it,” he growled.
“There is nothing you can do.”
Cain laughed, a rasping sound that came from deep within him. In it, Jak heard her own doom. Power crackled around him. He was going to kill her. She had to move. But his next words stopped her. “If I cannot have it, than no one will.”
No, he was going to destroy the Pillar of Eternity. They had discussed the possibility, but she never thought he would actually do it.
“It’s indestructible,” she screamed. “Your attacks won’t have any effect.”
He laughed again. “My father’s Relics are very powerful, true. But even Relics of the highest order are vulnerable to dragon fire.”
Cain raised one hand and a light shot from it, straight up into the sky. It was more than a light. It was a beacon, a call. A call for the dragon.
The dragon roared in the distance, growing closer. Jak stared at the skies. It was approaching fast, brought on by its master. As it flew, its chest began to glow, heat building inside of it.
Cain rose into the sky, carried by his own telekinetic powers. He hovered just out of reach of the platform, away from the dragon’s target. “Say goodbye to your last hope, Jak,” he said, before lowering himself down to the stone platform below them. Down to where the people she cared about most would be.
The dragon fire erupted out of the beast’s mouth, hurtling towards the mountain top.
Without thinking, Jak threw up a Telekinetic shield, protecting both her and the Pillar of Eternity from the inferno. She tapped into her own Flamedancer powers to help, to try and siphon off as much of the flames as she could. But there was just too much of it. She rose to her feet, and screamed, feeling every muscle ache from the strain of keeping the shield in place. It would not last for long.
She glanced down at the stone platform, expecting an attack from Cain, something to distract her long enough for her hold to break, and for the peak of the mountain to be consumed. But instead of an attack, she saw something else.
Her mother had rematerialized and leapt through the air at Cain. The woman had her knives out and almost on the man, but he hadn’t been so distracted as Karlona believed. He turned to her and laid hold of Karlona’s neck with one hand
, just as she came within striking range. Her obsidian daggers remained in her hands, and her mother slashed and stabbed at Cain in an attempt to free herself. Cain’s hand tightened, and he laughed at Karlona.
“No!” Jak yelled, and her Telekinetic shield threatened to collapse. She strained with the effort of keeping it alive. She could let it go. If she leapt off of the mountain top, she could make it down to the platform to save her mother.
But could she? The future stretched out before her in one blinding flash. She could save her mother. At least temporarily. But what would happen then? They couldn’t defeat Cain. Not like this. She could save her mother now only to die later, and what would that accomplish? Even with the second Pillar of Eternity destroyed, he would find the first one, and use it to ravish the land. Thousands, perhaps millions would die.
But if she stayed to protect the second Pillar of Eternity, perhaps she would find a way to use it. It was the faintest spark of hope, yet hope nonetheless.
No...was this…? She grit her teeth with the effort of sustaining her shield under the constant barrage of dragon fire. This was a choice. It was a choice like the one she had faced in her second test. A choice between two correct options. Save her mother, or save the Pillar.
Seph and Marek were nowhere in sight. They had probably, wisely, taken shelter the moment Cain had arrived on the scene. Why couldn’t her mother have done the same?
But if her mother hadn’t intervened the first time, she would have died shortly after dropping the first Pillar of Eternity. And now, she kept Cain from launching an attack on Jak while she defended the mountaintop. She was making the hard choice. To sacrifice herself to save another, to choose the greater good over her own self-preservation.
“Please no,” Jak whispered. There was no one to hear her, no one that could hear her over the roar of the dragon. Yet she knew that the second Pillar of Eternity, that white Relic of unknowable power, understood. “Please don’t make me do this. Help me find another way.”
Tears ran down her cheeks. Cain had Karlona in his grasp, and his eyes flashed a brighter blue as his fist closed around her throat. Karlona gasped, continuously stabbing at Cain with her daggers. When that didn’t work, she called on her Fae magic to create a cloud of darkness around them, in an attempt to distract Cain, to obscure his vision. They both disappeared behind the veil of shadow. But the last-ditch attempt would likely not be enough to get the better of Cain. Sooner or later, his fist would close completely on Karlona’s neck, and she would die.
To World's Above: An Epic YA Fantasy Adventure (Roots of Creation Book 5) Page 15