The Ancients

by Adam-Clay Webb

  Purple mana raged up about Wizard again.

  “I hope you haven’t forgotten how to fight like an ordinary arcanine,” Shade said, seeing Vis’ preferred form of attack was now disabled. “The rest is up to you,” Shade said. “I can now only keep a hold on their mana from the background.”

  Vis nodded. He spaceshifted down to the ground. Facing the enemies, he cast a hand up to where Shade still was. “Chameleon Cloak,” he commanded, and a cloud shrouded Shade and the dragon, making them invisible and undetectable.

  “I know you’re exhausted from our prior battle, but try to keep up,” Wizard said to Lyla. “My mana as it is won’t last very long, so we’ll pressure him to shift about with close combat. He has arcane magic at his disposal, so don’t give him the chance to cast powerful spells. Also, be careful not to ruin the island,” he said. Lyla nodded.

  Wizard rushed at Vis with two swords of blinding purple mana. He had expected Vis to shift to avoid the swift attack, but instead, the arcanine brandished two swords crafted of a higher magic, defending aptly against Wizard’s heavy and accurate strikes. Wizard pressed him with more attacks. Vis jumped back in a quick dodge, then made a reply. He could feel Lyla coming up behind him. She wielded swords of fine glass. Vis shifted from the midst of them. But as soon as he appeared, Wizard was upon him again, forcing him to shift yet again.

  “Anam Resal!” Wizard’s command rang out.

  Vis held his hand out toward the incoming beam of bright mana. A black shield appeared about him. The wave of power seemed to swallow him up, but as the brightness cleared, it was revealed that Vis’ shield stood firm.

  Wizard felt another tug on his mana. Immediately, his mana dropped an entire grade. His purple aura was now demoted to a red smear of brightness. “That wretch,” he cursed under his breath, looking about, but unable to see or sense Shade, who was still lowering his mana.

  Lyla flew up to Vis, wind wings boosting a swift flight. Vis quickly defended against her glass blades, shattering them with his arcane swords. He shifted yet again as Wizard zoned in on him with bright red swords.

  This continued for quite some time. The swift attacks of Wizard and Lyla gave Vis very little chance to wield powerful spells, and the strong defences and nifty spaceshifting Vis used prevented his enemies from inflicting even a spec of damage upon him.

  “It appears we will indeed have to settle for a draw,” Wizard finally conceded. He felt his mana dwindling down even to the fourth grade. Lyla looked over at him and nodded. A moment later, Shade revealed himself beside Vis.

  Vis smiled a little. His breathing was a little hasty. “Excellent,” Vis said. “We have wasted enough time. Let’s go.”

  Chapter 29: The Purge

  Higher beings gathered in a higher realm. There was a massive rotating globe spinning in the midst of sixteen floating chairs. Known as the Inner Ring, these sixteen councillors were chosen by a clandestine process that not even they understood. Every few thousand years, the longest serving councillor – and thus leader – of the Inner Ring would mysterious disappear, probably relocated to a higher realm – well that was the optimistic way of looking at it. Due to this, the Inner Ring had no real veteran that knew too much.

  “We must send forces to earth to stop this war!” Bengushi argued valiantly, even against his seniors.

  “I understand your connection toward earth, and even more personally, to the major players in this war,” one of the councillors – the most senior one – said, “but we cannot get involved in this war.”

  “We have the power to--”

  “Yes, councillor, but we cannot become involved in a war of this scale. The secrecy of the council will be forever compromised if we do.”

  “If we do nothing, the world will be destroyed!” Ben blasted.

  “Bengushi,” the councillor next to him said. “Please remain calm.” There was a subtle hint of warning in his voice.

  “There are three primary reasons why we cannot intervene,” the leader said. “Firstly, our secrecy will be compromised.”

  Bengushi hissed.

  “Secondly, we should not get involved with Kizer and Oga.”

  There were nods and mutters of agreement, but this only further irated Bengushi. “We are the Inner Circle! Rulers of the dimensions! How can we fear these men like the humans do?!” Bengushi thundered.

  “You must have been chosen to serve on this council because of the potential in your wisdom, Bengushi,” the councillor said. “But there is so much that you are unaware of. Oga has been troublesome in the past. Kizer too has the potential to be dangerous. The standard limitations do not necessarily apply to them.”

  “What do you mean?” Bengushi asked, concern now balancing out the ire in his tone.

  “In fact, I will irreversibly shut down the Waiting Room, and disconnect this high realm from their realm entirely. As it now is, death would bring these men within the reach of us. I cannot allow that. When alive, they are demons on earth. When dead, they will become demons in heaven.”

  “I’m sure none of the other councillors will stand for this cowardice!” Bengushi said, standing hard. But as he looked around at the others, there was the half-guilty, half-resigned look on their faces. “Damn you all…” Bengushi said.

  But then another councillor stood alongside Bengushi. “Bengushi is right,” this one said. “In this realm, we are High Councillors, but in the lower realms, we are angels. Only we, the Inner Circle, are imbued with angelic power. It is time that earth knows about the sixteen angels… You, Head Councillor, could even destroy those two with a single attack. Remember that you only are archangel!”

  “Have you lost your mind, Councillor Vannex?” the Head Councillor asked. “You obviously have no idea what Oga is. Kizer might be stronger on earth, but Oga’s magic… Oga is the reason I had to create a seal around our realm.”

  Bengushi was certainly frightened of this. What is he talking about? Just what did Oga do… Just how strong is that man?

  “Councillors!” Vannex addressed. “We have sat here cowardly in this high realm while demons – namely, The Seven – have done our duty.”

  “Our duty was never to rescue worlds,” the Head Councillor said. “It has always been to watch over and manage the dimensions that we are set above. Think of it. We are a body of ten thousand councillors, yet, at any given time, only a tiny fraction of us have angelic power. What do you think would be the result if we stepped into every brewing fight that we saw? Do you think we would still be here? We ‘angels’ must remain here and be a line of defence for this realm in case there is an attack.”

  “And to my third reason why we cannot intervene,” the leader continued. “Even if we do rescue earth and slay Oga and Kizer, the Zagans who are on their way toward earth will consume the planet with ease. There is no point in saving a world that is destined to die anyway.”

  “We can defeat the Zagans! We are the power of light!” Vannex said.

  “What do you know of the Zagans’ power, Vannex?” the head asked. “You were not yet in this circle when the Zagans discovered us and tried to consume our realm.”

  “Madness!” Vannex blasted. “No such thing could have happened!”

  The Head Councillor laughed. “Before our circle was sixteen, it was sixty-four,” the Head Councillor said. “Included were seven archangels – each at least as strong as I am – and one cherub.”

  “A cherub?” Vannex asked. He had never heard of this title.

  “The cherubim are the strongest of angels. Even archangels’ power could not compare to theirs. Long before the problem of Oga, there was a far greater trouble. After exposing ourselves recklessly, we were discovered by the Zagans, and a band of them breached our dimension and attacked us. The attack was led by the strongest Zagan of all time, the father of Juventus, who you all know due to his part in earth’s recent events. We defeated most of the Zagans with our holy light. But in the end, we were reduced to sixteen. Our leader, the Cherub Glacia
, made a pact with Orion, the Zagan commander. They would never again set foot on our realm, and we would not interfere with their destruction. You should also know that the one leading the approaching army of Zagans toward earth is Orion himself.”

  The circle became noisy at this revelation. None of them had been in the circle long enough to know of this war and treaty, which were kept secret from the regular councillors.

  “And now, I have decided that the best way forward is to seal off our realm from earth entirely. We cannot break the pact that we made with the Zagans. Glacia is destroyed… Without him, we do not stand a chance against them.”

  “This is the most cowardly act I have ever heard about,” Bengushi said. “How could the head of the Inner Circle make such a deal with demons?! Aren’t we beings of light? How could we not manage to destroy the Zagans?”

  “Individually, we are far stronger than they are, seeing that it is a matter of light versus darkness, but with their near infinite numbers, we had no choice,” the leader said. “Had we not made the agreement, our circle would have been completely destroyed. This realm would have been reduced to a wasteland, and chaos would have rapidly and freely engulfed the universe. You see, the selection process does not replace dead angels. That should be obvious by now. As we are only a quarter of what we used to be, we certainly cannot afford to lose anymore angels!”

  “But if you shut down the waiting room and seal earth off from the higher realms, that means that every human will be forced into the underworld after death. For them, heaven will no longer exist. Invariably, they will all be subjected to the torment of hell! How can we do this?!” Bengushi pled.

  “Councillor,” another said, “I suggest also cutting earth off from the underworld. If Kizer and Oga are transported there, they might somehow still be troublesome.”

  “That would mean that after death, a human will simply enter a state of permanent nonexistence,” Bengushi said.

  “It is regrettable that it has come to this, but we must first protect ourselves, Bengushi,” the Head Councillor said.

  Bengushi looked over at Vannex.

  “He might be right, Bengushi,” Vannex said.

  “Councillors who agree that we seal earth off from the higher and lower realms, please stand,” the head said. In moments, only Bengushi remained seated.

  “Very well. The decision is carried. The waiting room will be shut down. Death on earth will now invariably lead to nonexistence.”

  “And what about Lex Leo?” Bengushi asked.

  “The decision here overrules everything,” the head said. “The Gold Council understands that. Lex too will suffer the same fate as everyone else. When he dies, he will not be transferred to anywhere… I am sorry, Bengushi, but it’s fifteen to one. The decision is made.”

  “One final question,” Bengushi said. “Glacia survived the Zagan war, yet you say he was destroyed. Who killed him? Who could have been strong enough to kill an angel of unequalled strength?”

  ***

  In the midst of the meeting, Azar had sent Viknor to retrieve Lex, whether he was awake or not. As Azar, Ruben and the other strategists were putting defensive plans in place, Viknor appeared to Azar and whispered something to him nervously. Clover studied the expression on Azar’s unsettled face. Azar opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, there was a sudden emergence of stifling tenseness. A white cloud cleared as Oga appeared amongst them, standing on the table everyone was seated around.

  No-one was able to move. Only Viknor managed to raise his purple mana.

  “Be still,” Oga said. “I am only a clone.”

  There was muttering everywhere and every possible question flashed through their minds. For most of who were sitting there, this was their first glimpse of the god of magic, and the kind of power that emanated from him – and hardly even a glimpse. After all, this was not even the real Oga.

  “Kizer insists upon making this into a game,” he said, then an hourglass appeared in his hands. He released it and it slowly descended to land on the elaborate table. “The purge will begin in exactly one hour. Be ready.” With that, he disappeared.

  Everyone in the room gasped for breath, their ability to breathe just returning to them.

  “Where is Lex?” Clover asked frantically.

  Everyone looked to Azar for an answer. It was shared knowledge by now that this ‘prophetic’ boy was the key defender in the last war, and that his power would also be necessary to provide even a slim chance of survival in this one.

  “Ruben, get a location on Lex, and those two Elders,” Azar said.

  “Ohm, In,” Azar said, getting close to them. “Your men have disappeared with Lex. What is the meaning of this?” he asked caustically.

  “I tagged the two Elders just now, but they just vanished in a shift!” Ruben said, analysing six small spheres before him.

  All eyes turned to the cloud of clearing black mana. Vis and Shade had appeared, but not by themselves.

  Viknor summoned up his mana again. He felt a deep threat springing from these two. “Arcanines,” Viknor said to Azar.

  “Where is Lex?” Azar asked them. “And who are these two?”

  Shade’s hold on Wizard’s mana was not yet fully gone, so no-one could sense the dreadful aura that usually accompanied him.

  “Allies,” Vis said.

  Ohm grinned. He had no idea who these two were, but he knew they were quite strong. Even dampened, he could sense that they were powerful magicians. And if Vis trusted them, so could he.

  “I am Wizard,” one of them said.

  Of course, there was a sudden anxiety. Clover, Hawthorne, Star and Viknor roused their mana and stood ready to fight, but Azar remained still.

  “And beside me is Lyla, an arcanine who also manipulates multiple elements,” Wizard continued. His voice sounded almost as sinister as Oga’s.

  This doesn’t make any sense, Azar thought.

  “I have given them reason to help us take down Kizer and Oga,” Vis said. “Azar, deploy them as you see fit.”

  “Deploy?” Wizard’s face curdled. “I did agree to kill Oga. I did not agree to take orders from anyone. I will fight on my own volition,” Wizard made clear. He looked down at the map on the table, and saw the hourglass. He could see Oga’s magic on it. On the massive map were pieces – representing the forces at their disposal. He made a simper, visibly impressed.

  “Why would the son of Oga join us?” Hawthorne dared to ask.

  “I won’t ask you again – where the hell is Lex?!” Clover blasted, her fists now clenched and her blue mana heating the room, making people clear away even farther from her.

  Zen too, while quiet, needed an answer just as much as Clover did.

  “He went off on his own,” Vis said. “Remember, the Lex you once knew is no more. This Lex will not be controlled, but be assured that his will is still aligned with ours. He is probably seeking out Kizer and Oga on his own.”

  Clover gasped.

  “Since time is limited, we cannot worry about tracking him down. Have faith that he will appear on time,” Vis said.

  This Lex? Zen wondered. What did they do to him? She shook, grave thoughts flooding her mind. Have they found some cruel way to weaponize him even further?

  ***

  “Everything is now in place. Everyone is in position,” Kizer said to Oga. They were alone in a secret place, on a tiny island in the middle of the Muyan Ocean. “We’ll remain here. There is a chance that someone will be able to track us. We can’t afford to lead them to Araseli or Orenda,” Kizer reminded Oga. They were in a cave.

  “That is wise. From here, we can manipulate our forces. I will empower the Notherlandians as you have commanded. My clones are scattered to give more direct commands where needed.”

  “Good. I will sweep the world with my giants until only the few resistant fighters remain. I only need a few more moments to synch my power into the whole earth. After the sweep, then our fun will begin,” Kizer
said with a smirk.

  ***

  The air tightened across the expanse of the globe. The earth braced itself for the mayhem that was to come. The irony was livid. Only two years before, the whole world watched the skies in terror, dreading the eminent war that was to be wreaked by the villainous Trium. But now, two years after, the world quietly rebuilt and hoped, and was beginning to dream again, completely unaware that a much more terrible calamity was at its doorstep.

  Angels watched from the heavens as the sands of fate coursed decisively through the gods’ hourglass. The time had come. The hour of grace had ended, and it was now the moment cleansing.

  ***

  A quake – like none felt before – shook the entire the earth with a suddenness that woke every sleeper, a suddenness that heralded the very end of the world. Veins bulged through Kizer’s skin as his power engulfed the spinning marble that was earth. Mountains were torn apart. Seas and rivers rose up out of their place as a ubiquitous army of giants emerged from the earth, being forged from rock, metal and wood. The whole of mankind screamed and scurried in a shared and unspeakable terror as beasts that towered twelve, fifteen feet tall, with the might of tens, hundreds of men, emerged to populate the globe in a matter of moments. The hemispheres split by day and night were now joined by the darkness of an unstoppable doom.

  There was also a scattering of black mana as Notherlandian sorcerers appeared amongst the elemental giants, coated in a mighty aura of arcane power. Oga’s mana, stretched thinly over millions, still gave each soldier a power pungent enough to topple most magicians with ease.

  ***

  As the persisting quake tore against the Magmalian tower, only a few managed to keep their heads above the sea of panic. And Azar had to be one of them.

  “Ruben! Boy! Snap out of it!” the king blasted, shaking the lad, whose eyes were wide and whose face was paled and shaken as he looked down into the crystal balls at the calamity that had struck the world.

  “We don’t stand a chance, King Azar,” he finally muttered.