Path of Possession

by Harmon Cooper

  Saruul and Lhandon each took a stump, Roger perched on one of the thick ropes hanging between the buildings.

  “Okay,” I said as I dropped to the cobblestone ground, which was stained with various leather dyes. I began by taking deep breaths all the way to the back of my skull. The time switch appeared first, and the green button that activated my marker took shape.

  I focused on the green button for a moment, steadying my breath.

  It pulsed and solidified, the image strengthening as I mentally pressed it.

  “Good,” I said as I got to my feet. “Everything should be set.”

  We reached the back of the crowd, the Ganbold city square absolutely brimming with activity. It was the most people I had seen gathered in one place in this world, thousands and thousands of them, all with their focus on a high stage that had been erected at the far end of the square.

  Some of the vendors who would have normally been outside the palace gates were here as well, selling fried foods, monoculars, and city banners, many of the people waving them in the air.

  Without modern technology, I assumed it would be impossible to amplify voices, but as I soon learned, there was a rune for that.

  “...A leader wants only loyalty, and when this bond of trust is broken, a leader must act,” Hugo said, his voice amplified to a level where it was almost overpowering.

  I was able to make him out on the stage, Hugo wearing armor with gold accents, the serpent crown still on his head.

  People in the crowd started to cheer and wave their banners, especially when Sukhbat was brought out, the hefty monk standing with his head bowed. I noticed pools of reflective crimson dripping off the side of the stage next to a stack of bodies, all of them wearing orange robes.

  “You seem to have enjoyed our return to loyalty so far,” Hugo told those gathered for the public execution, “as it is through the loss of blood that those who have betrayed our country redeem themselves, their deaths purifying their spirits and aiding in a good rebirth.”

  “Why do evil assholes always have to give some impassioned yet nonsensical speech?” Roger asked from the safety of my robes. “Is it the same in your world too?”

  “Actually, yes, I do believe it is.”

  “We can’t let him kill the Precious Heart Gem,” Lhandon said, and as I turned to him I saw that his features were starting to change back to normal.

  “Nick, your face,” he whispered.

  “It doesn’t matter now; let’s just go with this,” I said. “Remember, we can redo it if we need to. And you’re right,” I said, now ignoring Hugo’s diatribe, “we have to do something.”

  “… It brings me no pleasure to kill one of the Island Kingdom’s most important and reputable monks, but the punishment for treason is death, and there can be no other way. Some would say that I am granting him mercy by allowing his soul to be purified through this loss of blood. Hopefully, the Precious Heart Gem will rebirth with the knowledge that betrayal is the ultimate sin…”

  I drew my Flaming Thunderbolt of Wisdom and held it over my head as I pressed past the citizens of Ganbold, the crowd parting once they saw my weapon.

  It was then that Hugo noticed us running through the crowd, my flaming sword held high overhead. People continued to move out of the way, fumbling over one another as his guards started to form at the front of the stage.

  “Hugo!” I yelled, beating my sword into the air, dollops of fire licking off the blade. “I challenge you!”

  “Let him pass,” Hugo said firmly, and when his guards wouldn’t move, he stepped down from the stage, pushing them out of his way as he made his way to me.

  The crowd formed a circle around us now, giving us plenty of space to settle this. I stopped, Lhandon and Saruul behind me, Roger dropping to the ground near my boot. “My knife, Nick, quick,” he said.

  I drew and dropped his knife, leaving it on the ground.

  Roger took its tassel in his beak.

  “I gave you a chance, Nick,” Hugo smiled as he reached his hand out, one of his guards placing a spear in his open palm. “And apparently, you have decided to make this easy for me.” He twirled his spear once before getting into an attack position. “Do you have anything to say for yourself before challenging the Emperor of the Island Kingdom of Jonang?”

  The air was electric, the crowd gathered around simmering with anticipation.

  I slowly brought my Flaming Thunderbolt to the ready.

  Before placing my other hand around the hilt of my sword, I traced the rune that allowed me to absorb three strikes. I would start here, and possibly move to the Rune of Distortion if it was warranted.

  Even though I could turn back time, I still had to be careful not to die.

  There was the Deathstone Amulet, but I didn’t want to use that on this death; I wanted to save it for something else, and if I wasn’t able to stop time and trace Ra-Mu…

  “Well?” Hugo asked. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

  “Let’s get this over with.”

  I charged forward with my sword overhead.

  It met Hugo’s spear, both his hands on his spear as he swept my legs out from beneath me and attempted to pierce my chest, the tip of his spear bouncing off, his first strike absorbed.

  I leaped into the air, bringing my sword back and stabbing it forward, the flames igniting as they reached Hugo’s armor, the fire instantly dissipating. He caught my neck with his free hand and drove me to the ground so hard that I left a small crater.

  I rolled out of the way, knowing that I had just one more chance before I needed to activate my rune.

  As I got to my feet, I looked to see Hugo’s crown glowing, the snake’s red eyes bright as lasers.

  He chucked his spear at me; it struck me in the heart and bounced back. I heard Saruul cry out behind me; I saw a flash of turquoise in the air to my left.

  I mentally activated my time switch, shock coming across my face as I saw that Hugo was still moving at his normal speed, going for his spear with a determined look on his face.

  I cast Ra-Mu, barely managing to trace the rune before Hugo drove his spear straight through my chest.

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Demon Bull

  We raced to the square.

  I didn’t bother to tell Lhandon, Saruul, or Roger that I had reset time, that this was my second go-around.

  Rather than kickstart any banter, or mention to Lhandon that his disguise had started to fade, I raised my Flaming Thunderbolt and continued my charge, the others following behind me, the crowd at the square parting.

  “Out of the way!” I shouted, and once enough people had cleared, I began yelling for Hugo.

  “…As it is through the loss of blood that those who have betrayed me redeem themselves, their deaths purifying their spirits and aiding in a good rebirth.” Hugo paused, peering out to the crowd once he heard me calling his name.

  I reached the same place where I had stopped last time, immediately tracing the rune that allowed me to absorb three strikes. Hugo was going to be a better combatant than me; not only was he amped up because of the jewels he possessed, he was also a former Marine.

  Fighting was in his blood.

  And as he had last time, Hugo hopped down from the stage as the locals started to fan outward, Roger asked me for his blade.

  “Not this time,” I told him, focused only on besting Hugo. “I have to try something.”

  “Not this time?”

  “Have you already attempted this before?” Saruul asked.

  I nodded as Hugo approached, a spear placed in his hand. He said the same thing he said to me before, asking me for my final words, but rather than let him finish his question, I decided to make my move.

  This time I didn’t go with my sword overhead; instead, I immediately feigned an attack, Hugo jutting the end of the spear forward to meet it. I sidestepped his attempt, and was just about to go in for the kill when I realized I was on the verge of striking someone who I used to consider
a good friend.

  I hesitated.

  My attack went wide, allowing Hugo to smack me in the face with the end of his spear.

  I absorbed the strike, but that didn’t stop me from spinning off to the side, where Hugo used the sharp end of the spear to take me off my feet.

  A deranged look on his face, the eyes on his serpent crown glowing, Hugo drove the spear into the ground.

  I had already rolled away by that point, but I knew that I had one more chance before I would have to start this process all over again.

  Our weapons met, my Flaming Thunderbolt igniting a portion of his spear before the fire was quickly dampened by an unknown force.

  Hugo kicked me in the chest and I flew backward, rolling once and losing my weapon.

  He looked at my sword.

  He tossed his spear aside, and as he crouched to grab the hilt of my weapon, I activated my time switch.

  I cast Ra-Mu.

  “I’ve lost twice now,” I told Lhandon, Saruul, and Roger as I stood up, the four of us back at the tannery. I instinctively placed my hand on the hilt of my weapon, confirming it was still there. I had just gone, yet again, from combat to a stationary position, my stomach taking a moment before settling.

  “You what?” Lhandon asked.

  “Twice. Hugo has beaten me twice now.”

  “I see,” the monk said, exchanging glances with Saruul. “If you don’t mind me asking, what has been your strategy thus far?”

  “We’ve charged forward,” I told him, “and then I engaged Hugo. Both times I have absorbed his strikes until I could no longer use that rune, and then I’ve come back here before he could kill me.”

  “Have you thought about doing something a little sneakier?” Roger asked.

  “I believe one of the problems is that…” I shook my head. “I may have had a chance last go-around, but I choked at the last second. It’s just weird to think that I have to kill my friend. It threw me off, I’ll admit that.”

  “If you don’t kill him, he’ll kill you,” Roger reminded me. “Just imagine him as that other guy that you came here with. Evan?”

  “Yeah, Evan.”

  “So you’re having second thoughts,” Lhandon said, pondering this for a moment.

  “We need to hurry,” I said, ignoring the concern in Saruul’s eyes. “By the time we get there, Hugo will be bringing Sukhbat onto a stage to execute him. If we wait too long, they will kill him…”

  “Maybe there’s something else,” Lhandon suggested. “Did anything else stand out to you when you were fighting him?”

  “Hugo can move at about his same speed when I activate my time switch. Also, the eyes on his crown are glowing brighter than normal. I already found the crown suspicious, and he has other jewelry on, but that, in particular, seems to be quite powerful. Maybe it’s the crown’s eyes, maybe it’s just in my head.”

  “Then go for the crown,” Lhandon said. “What can it hurt to try that?”

  “To go for the crown, I might have to get in pretty close, and if there’s anything that Hugo was trained in, it would be hand-to-hand combat.”

  “You should try anyway,” Saruul said. “If it doesn’t work, return here and we will think of something else.”

  “Right,” I said, suddenly feeling a swell of confidence, “we need to go.”

  It was about fifteen minutes later that we reached the back of the crowd, Lhandon out of breath due to the speed we had been moving. I drew my blade and charged forward as I had done the previous two times.

  Hugo got down from the stage and was given a spear.

  He started up his spiel and got to the point relatively quickly: “Do you have anything to say for yourself before challenging the Emperor of the Island Kingdom of Jonang?”

  “No weapons,” I told him as I drove my sword into the ground. “You and me.”

  I lifted my fists, an absolutely sinister smile spreading across Hugo’s face.

  He handed his spear to one of his guards, the eyes on his crown glowing as I approached him with my fists up.

  I was glad that I had traced the rune that allowed me to absorb three strikes while running through the crowd.

  Hugo’s first punch was lightning fast, right in the chin. I was sent stumbling backward. He was at my side in a matter of seconds, delivering a blow to my ribs that would have shattered them had I not absorbed his attack.

  It was now or never.

  I lunged for Hugo, both hands reaching toward his face, hoping to knock his crown off.

  His right knuckles connected directly with my nose, and knowing that I would have to try again, I scrambled away.

  I started to run toward the opposite side of the crowd as Hugo laughed, the locals joining in with him. I triggered my time switch, and traced Ra-Mu just as Hugo caught up with me, delivering a quick strike to the back of my head.

  Everything went black.

  But the rune worked, returning me to the past.

  “It’s my fourth time,” I told Lhandon, Roger and Saruul, my body not quite understanding how to interpret the sudden change in action. “He has beaten me three times now.”

  “So you have returned,” Lhandon said, looking at me curiously.

  “I tried to engage him with my weapon the first two times, and this last time I tried to go for his crown. I have a feeling that what he has become has something to do with his crown.” I stopped for a moment, realizing that I had already said this. Then again, they hadn’t heard me say it yet. “It’s just a hunch, but I think it’s what’s going on here. I’ve got to get to that crown. Maybe I could use the Cooling Fan to knock it off him. Then again, that may injure some of the locals, and who knows how tightly that crown is affixed to his head.”

  “I could try to get it,” Saruul said. “You could engage him from the front and I could come in from the back.”

  “People, people,” Roger said, a note of disdain to his voice. “You need something picked off the top of some guy’s head, and no one, not even the monk, has thought to ask me to do it? If anyone’s going to be yanking a crown off this egotistical emperor’s stupid head, it’s going to be me. Why am I even having to volunteer for this? Did no one seriously think that I would be the right person for this job?”

  “He seems agitated,” Lhandon commented.

  “Roger is right,” I said. “Sorry, little guy.”

  “Nope, we are not going to start calling me ‘little guy.’ In fact, I think that you should go ahead and lose to Hugo again and come back to this point and remember what we have already discussed, and not call me ‘little guy’ that time, so it will have never been said.”

  “Are you serious?” I asked him, looking up to the leather rope that he was perched on.

  “Maybe,” Roger sighed. “I guess we shouldn’t waste time on doing all this over again just so you don’t say it.”

  “Let’s go,” I told them, “and this time, I will distract him while you get the crown. How does that sound?”

  “Sounds like a plan you should have had all along,” Roger said as he dropped down to my shoulder.

  We moved to the square, Lhandon again breathing heavily once we reached the back of the crowd.

  As Hugo rambled off about loyalty, I started shouting at the stage, waving my Flaming Thunderbolt over my head as we neared the front of the mob. The crowd parted, Hugo dropped down and took a spear from one of his guards, going with the same speech he had gone through the other times.

  “Roger, up here,” I said, nodding to my shoulder as Hugo spoke.

  “What’s the plan, boss?”

  “I am only able to absorb three strikes, which means you don’t have long to get his crown. Maybe it’s best to take off after I have engaged him, loop around…”

  “Well?” Hugo asked. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

  “Fuck this guy, Nick, you know I got this.”

  “All I have to say is that you will regret challenging me,” I told Hugo as Roger hopped back to
the ground.

  I waited for Hugo to charge me this time around, hoping it would be advantageous to our plan.

  Hugo was in front of me in a matter of seconds, driving a spear into my chest, its tip bouncing off as I absorbed his blow. I struck him with the hilt of my weapon, my Fist of Force giving me added strength and sending Hugo backward.

  “Where did you learn to fight like that?” Hugo asked, hatred burning behind his eyes.

  I came for him this time, focused solely on distracting him as our weapons clinked together.

  He blocked each blow, an almost bored look on his face.

  Hugo managed to strike me in the cheek with the end of his spear, and as I went up to block his next strike, Roger came out of nowhere, tearing the crown off Hugo’s head.

  “Holy shit!” Roger screamed, dropping the crown to the ground as his talons sizzled.

  Hugo made eye contact with me, and as he did, I stopped time, knowing that he would be able to move near his normal speed, but hoping that it would make him just a little bit slower.

  It was now a race for the crown, Hugo dropping his spear as he ran, me with my Flaming Thunderbolt, ready to strike the crown or bat it away.

  Hugo reached the crown before I did, but I managed to drive my blade down onto the ground, breaking the crown in two.

  “What have you done, Nick?” Hugo asked as he stumbled backward.

  Black liquid began to bubble out of the crown.

  Swelling and dissipating, the liquid began to form an absolutely enormous man with dark purple skin, broad shoulders, and muscled chest with rippled lines across his pectorals. The man had the face of a bull, bulky horns jutting out his head. His legs started to take shape, the demon bull glaring at the two of us as a golden ring began to form in his nostrils.

  “Both of you will pay dearly for this,” the demon bull said, his voice absolutely terrifying, “and then I will drink from the skulls of every person in this cursed city.”

  He threw his head back and began to morph again.

  The demon finished its transformation into a bull the size of a woolly mammoth, its enormous septum piercing turning to liquid and forming a golden mask on its face.