Path of Possession

by Harmon Cooper

  Anguish bloomed all around me.

  Screams, grunts, blood splattering, dirt kicked up, blunt object used as weapons when swords went astray, flashes of turquoise, flashes of black-and-white, flashes of red— the battle, which was more like a brawl, raged on, huge plumes of fire lifting into the air as we grew closer to the docks, and large wooden support beams fell into the street.

  I would have recognized her anywhere, especially after the time I had spent with her. And truth be told there was a moment during our brief interaction that I thought she would turn good, that maybe there would be something more between us.

  I couldn’t have been more wrong.

  My eyes fell upon Sona, a red energy radiating off her armor, the fierce warrior pointing her blade at us as she yelled for the soldiers around her to charge.

  “Is that her?” Hugo asked, suddenly at my side, still engaging one of her elite guards.

  “It’s her!”

  I raised my Flaming Thunderbolt just in time to block an attack from one of her guards, the man’s weapon catching fire and the flames spreading over his body.

  Hugo charged forward, another towering soldier running to meet him with his sword overhead.

  He brought his weapon down; Hugo sidestepped it and punched the man so hard in the side of the face that his helmet shattered, bits of metal jutting into the man’s face as he stumbled forward, dazed, Hugo already on the move again.

  The man fell to one knee, and as he tried to get up I took his head off with my weapon, the neck wound already cauterized.

  Hugo met Sona, her Mummified Hand of Dolma shattering his sword.

  He avoided her next strike, Hugo kicking her aside as another one of her soldiers lunged for him. Hitting the air, Hugo flipped backward, landing on the man’s shoulders and driving him to the ground.

  He crouched and grabbed the soldier’s sword, taking off toward Sona again.

  Their weapons met as I reached the two of them, Hugo’s starting to crack, Sona turning her attention to me as I swung my blade at her.

  “Nick,” she said once she had dodged my attack, a wicked smile on her face, a dark energy igniting behind her eyes.

  With her outstretched hand she blew me backward, the energy shredding me, leaving me a bloodied and tattered mess by the time it finished.

  I could feel every nerve in my body screaming, the pain excruciating.

  I knew if I was going to continue, I would have to heal.

  But I tried to get up anyway, moving to my knee, and pressing to my feet just as one of her elite guards came at me.

  Lhandon tackled the man, using his icy hands on him as Roger flew overhead, his blade slicing at the face of another soldier, one whose helmet had been blown off by my wind attack.

  Saruul jumped over me and leaped over Lhandon. She collided with an elite guard wielding two swords, the man shrieking as she took him down.

  I traced my Healing Hand power, instantly rejuvenated.

  We had to end this now; I had used my power too early, and I was aware of it, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to move without using it…

  One of Hugo’s soldiers fell on top of me and I scrambled out from under him. A local fighter using a hunk of wood as a club struck Sona’s soldier in the back of the head.

  I pressed past him, on my way toward Sona again.

  She broke Hugo’s weapons, and every time she did he went for another one, the man possessed with a desire to overpower her, to stop the invasion, to save his people.

  I was met by an elite guard with two gleaming swords.

  She flourished them as she jumped into the air, stepping up as if there were an invisible block and coming down with both weapons.

  I blocked her double sword attack, her blades igniting. She spun and I ducked, triggering the time switch yet again.

  I drove my blade into her back, everything returning to its normal pace as the woman let out a choking gulp, as she realized there was a fiery sword now sticking out of her chest.

  I turned back to Sona, and as I did I saw her whip Hugo’s weapon away.

  She drove her sword into his stomach and tilted her blade up as it pressed out his back.

  He would try to fight back, but soon the red energy from her weapon engulfed his body.

  Sona drew her blade and turned her attention to me.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: Sona’s Fate

  “Hugo!”

  I took off toward Sona, hoping to prevent her from stabbing Hugo again.

  I skirted around his body and our weapons met, a sinister smile on her face as she spun, her strike sending me stumbling backward.

  “I always wondered what would happen if we truly fought,” Sona said, a sliver of hair falling in her face.

  Rather than respond I swung my Flaming Thunderbolt at her, my blade forming a ring of fire around me which she blocked with her weapon

  I came at her again; Sona sidestepped my attack and managed to bring her blade against my back, her strike sending a sharp pain through my body.

  I ignored it.

  I still had my healing power, and as the wound started to heal up I came at her yet again, my mind working overtime as it tried to come up with a strategy to beat her.

  I recalled the brutal training I’d had in Dornod, some of the things I’d learned so far over the journey, and the runes I was able to use. The only one that would be useful was the Rune of Distortion, but there were too many people around, and casting it could backfire as it had before.

  Since I was still able to heal, maybe the best thing to do was to try to overpower Sona, to get her sword out of her hand and worry less about her attacks and more about finishing this quickly.

  Everything on the periphery was a blur as I lunged for Sona, our blades meeting again and again.

  “You have gotten stronger,” she said as she forced me away. She spun, a bolt of energy sending a slash mark across my chest. “But you are still weaker than you should be.”

  “Why have you done this?” I asked, the wound stitching up.

  “Nick, when will you learn the power of negative karma?” she asked. “We could have been…” Her throat quivered. “We could have been so strong together.”

  “Stronger together?”

  I disregarded her suggestion. As I had done in Dornod during my training, I ignored the pain completely. I fought through it, coming for her again, ignoring a spell she cast that saw swords circling me, all striking at once.

  My robes bloodied, I came forward again, feigning an attack and slowing down time just as Sona pressed her blade out. I brought my fist back and struck her so hard on the wrist that she lost her weapon.

  And I thought that was it; I thought as time sped up I would be able to finish this once and for all.

  But as time steadied to its normal pace, and just as I was about to land a blow that I knew would have ended her life, Sona’s sword returned to her hand as if it were connected to an invisible rope.

  She blocked my attack, shouldered into me, and drove her blade deep into my chest, her eyes falling on my Deathstone Amulet as she landed on top of me, her legs straddling my waist. “Where did you…?”

  I saw a flash of black-and-white as Saruul slammed into Sona. The lioness pulled her to the ground, instantly going for her jugular as Sona tried to fight her off.

  I felt the sword move out of my body as it returned to Sona’s hand, my breaths short and painful as my wound started to heal.

  In a fit of sheer animosity, Saruul tore Sona’s throat out, a lump of viscera flying in the air. The two struggled for a moment longer, Saruul absolutely overpowering her opponent.

  “No,” I said as I pressed myself up, able to breathe normally again.

  I dropped my sword and crawled over to Saruul, the lioness now lying on the ground next to Sona, a big red spot on her body where Sona had managed to stab her.

  The Mummified Hand of Dolma jutted out of her body, and as I reached her I placed my hand on the hilt, its energy immed
iately swelling up my arm. I stabbed it into the ground, away from Sona’s body, and began healing Saruul.

  Her wound was close to healing fully when my power stopped working, a portion of the cut still visible and bleeding.

  She was able to morph now, and as she did, I glanced over to Sona, who lay on her back, her mouth wide open, her throat completely missing.

  Dead.

  An explosion brought the building to the ground, the rubble bringing down some of the soldiers who had been fighting in front of it.

  I looked out at the sea.

  Sona’s two warships were now firing on the port, large plumes of black smoke filling the air.

  “Nick, you need to heal Hugo,” Lhandon said as he came to my side. “Saruul, are you okay?”

  She touched the wound in her side, and looked at the fresh blood on her fingertips. “I’ll be okay.”

  Roger landed on Saruul’s shoulder just as she got to her feet. “Come on, I need you to help me,” he said hurriedly. “I know you still have some fight left in you.”

  “Where did your dagger go?” she asked.

  “I got it stuck in some guy’s eyehole back there; I can’t get it out.”

  I dropped in front of Hugo; he tried to sit up and failed.

  “Nick…” Hugo said, his voice raspy, his face streaked with dirt and blood. He grunted. “Fuck if this isn’t a shitty place for a reunion.”

  “I have to…” I shook my head. My heart thrummed in my chest as another explosion caused the ground to quake, more clouds of smoke now lifting into the air. “I can’t heal you now, but I can start everything over. I can…”

  “I’ll be okay,” Hugo said, a grim smile taking shape on his face. “Fight these fuckers to the docks and make them regret the day they even considered coming to our island. If Evan is there, kill him for me. I’m serious, Nick. This is on you. I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it down there.”

  “But…”

  “I still have a surprise coming,” he said with a grin, the former Marine now baring his bloody teeth. “One for you too.” Hugo looked down at a bracelet on his wrist with a blue jewel on it. The jewel glowed, a glimmer of energy radiating out of it. “Go to the docks and see for yourself.”

  “The docks?”

  He nodded as Lhandon came to my side. “We have to do something about her weapon too,” the monk said quickly.

  “Grab it, and let’s get to the docks,” I told him.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Under the Sea

  The docks weren’t very far from our current location. Despite the calamity, the fire, the fighting, the despair, the fact that we were being bombarded, the death of a foe and near-death of an old friend, it was actually a nice day, the blue sky at odds with the blood-soaked soil beneath our feet.

  Roger flew overhead, his blade back in his talons, the tip bloodied. Lhandon was at the back of our small group holding Sona’s sword, and Saruul was between us.

  We collided with a few of Sona’s guards that had decided to stay back, the men and women swept away as I struck them with my Cooling Fan. They tumbled into each other, into some of the flaming buildings, many of them losing their weapons as Hugo’s braver soldiers surged forward.

  “Love that technique!” Roger shouted down to me.

  It was easier to clear our path using this weapon, but that wasn’t the reason that I had it out.

  I was hoping to be able to bat away any incoming explosions, even if the likelihood of me reacting that quickly was close to nil.

  We reached the docks, and as we did a group of stealth fighters formed a circle around us, their fists up.

  I cleared them away by spinning with my fan out, Lhandon and Saruul ducking just in time. The ninjas were sent flying, some of them into the water and others into the hull of a sinking ship.

  “This is where I branch off,” Lhandon said, turning south, toward the far end of the dock.

  “We need to stick together,” Saruul told him.

  “But I need to rid us of this sword,” the monk said, looking down at the weapon with disdain.

  “Wait, he was planning to toss that shitty sword out into the ocean?” Roger cackled. “Because if that’s the case, someone will just fish it out. He knows that, right? That’s how these evil legendary weapons work. Someone tries to hide it, and another person tries to find it. Throwing it to the bottom of the bay here won’t make it very hard to find it.”

  “Roger is right,” I said. “If we’re going to destroy it, we need to do it in a way that people never get it again. For now, just hold onto it,” I told Lhandon.

  “But the energy…” He bit his lip. “Okay, I will do my best, but I can feel it brushing against my soul.”

  “You’re stronger than that,” I told him, just as one of the ninjas climbed back up the dock, Saruul kicking him in the face.

  “Got him!” Roger shouted, his voice tinged and laughter.

  An explosion hit the area of the dock that Lhandon had just been heading toward, sending a giant wave into the air. All of us ran, the water reaching us, the dock tilting forward.

  Saruul screamed, the lioness still very afraid of water. She moved ahead of us as we continued to run, the dock swaying beneath us.

  Another explosion should have been what caught my attention, but as I glanced out the sea, I saw something that sent a ripple of fear down my spine.

  My mouth fell open as a glistening sea dragon rose out of the water, followed by another, both of them crashing down onto one of the warships.

  I nearly collided with Lhandon as pale men and women lifted from the water.

  “Was this what Hugo had in mind?” I asked, Lhandon bringing his hand to his mouth.

  “I’ve never…”

  Two more sea dragons rose from the tumultuous waves, and as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing, I spotted something that looked like a human on top of one of them. I squinted, trying to confirm what I had seen, but the sea dragon had already dipped back into the sea.

  The underwater people jumped into the air, water spraying from their feet as they began landing on some of the sinking ships, a few reaching the docks.

  The sea dragons tore into the other warship just as an explosion separated our part of the dock from the rest of the chaos.

  “Nick, land, now!” Saruul morphed and bolted toward the shoreline.

  I started running after her, Roger swooping overhead, and Lhandon at the rear again, still with Sona’s sword.

  We reached land, more of the dock crumbling.

  Saruul moved even faster, further and further away from the water, Lhandon and I following suit, and Roger still above us, the bird spiraling through the air. An enormous wave dropped onto our heads, sending Lhandon to his knees, the water carrying some of the dead bodies away. The saltwater stung my eyes as I managed to grab the monk and hold onto his arm, Saruul swimming forward as the water receded.

  We moved further up the hill, flames now all around us from the warehouses that had been struck by artillery.

  The scenery was overwhelming, sea dragons tearing through boats in the bay, the underwater people fighting Sona’s guards on what was left of the dock, giant waves occasionally crashing down and putting out some of the infernos closer to the water.

  We kept moving away from the mayhem, our natural response being one to escape.

  Eventually, we came upon Hugo, who was now surrounded by a retinue of soldiers.

  He spotted me and called my name.

  “What’s going on out there?” I asked Hugo as I reached him, the soldiers stepping aside so Lhandon and Saruul could join me as well, Roger touching down onto Saruul’s shoulder. “How did you…”

  “My secret weapon,” Hugo said with a grin, his eyes dropping to his bracelet.

  “Your secret weapon? You have command over the sea?”

  He shook his head, wincing as he did so. “No, but I have a friend who does, in fact, we both have a friend who does.”

  I felt
a sinking feeling in my chest. “Tom? He’s alive?”

  Hugo nodded, his breath short now, the man looking like he was barely holding on.

  “He sure is. Did you find Evan?”

  “If he was on one of those ships, he’s probably dead now, but for some reason I don’t think he was. My bet would be that he is back in Lhasa.”

  “Then you must go for him.”

  “Not just me, you too, and Bobby, if he is doing better now. Tom now too. We could all go for him and end this, and then figure out a way out of here. I can reset time. I don’t have an easy way to explain it, but I can reset time to before you and I fought, before the demon bull. If I did that, we could do this all over again, and do it right this time around. We can do it right…”

  A hard look came over Hugo’s face. “Absolutely not,” he said. “This is the fate I want.”

  “But you may die…”

  “I want to die,” he said solemnly. “I’ve instructed my men not to bring any monks or jewelry with healing capabilities.”

  I tried to steady my breath. “But why? This isn’t our world, Hugo, we can heal you here. We have to do it now. I would heal you, but I can only use my power once a day.”

  “I’ve done some terrible things here, Nick,” Hugo said, his eyes darting left and right.

  “But that’s no reason to die,” I told him.

  “You could still redeem yourself,” Lhandon added.

  Roger, who was now perched on Saruul’s shoulder, seemed to disagree. “I don’t know, the number of people he tortured by tying them to trees seems like a lot of negative karma to me. That’s more repenting than any sane person would want to do in a single lifetime.”

  “The thing that possessed me was in that crown,” Hugo explained, his voice growing softer. “I found the crown after arriving on the shore. It rose from the sand. I found the crown…” Hugo’s eyes started to roll back into his head and then they quivered, his gaze returning to me. “I found the crown, and as soon as I did, it possessed me. I swam here if you can imagine that. Well, floating part of the way. But the crown. A dark demon inhabits it. I challenged the previous Emperor and won. Then I started to collect rarer powerful items, then I met Tom,” he said, trying to lift his wrist and rattling some of his bracelets. “So much power. But it was the crown.”