The Ancients

by Adam-Clay Webb

  An island in the sky… Lex mused, looking about the distant skies and speckled clouds around him.

  Still looking up into the higher heavens, Oga said, “My son, you have outdone yourself this time.” Wizard only roused his mana. But Oga still seemed relaxed. Even his long white hair was barely fidgeting. “I will ask you once, boy… Where is my city?” Each word of this ultimate question was punctuated with a pause just dramatic enough to syncopate his son’s heartbeat.

  “I have it,” the voice of yet a different man came, causing Oga to finally take his gaze from above. The thick mist of arcane mana still shrouded the three who had appeared.

  Oga’s eyes settled on Shade’s for a moment, and a shiver ran through the god of magic. “The remains of The Elders are here I see,” Oga greeted them. Then his eyes moved over to Vis. “Where is my city?” he asked Vis.

  Vis snickered a little. “A place even you can never reach, Oga,” Vis’ answer came.

  “Indeed,” Oga said, and this response was certainly strange to Wizard. “I do see the city,” he said, looking intently at Vis. “And surely… I cannot reach it.”

  “What the hell are they talking about?” Lex wondered aloud. Despite his effort, only ice energy shrouded him. The darkness within was completely nullified by Oga’s presence. But Lex had expected as much.

  “Well, the city is no longer a relevant concern then,” Oga said.

  Why would he take this so lightly? Wizard wondered. What does he have up his sleeve?

  “You have somehow transported the city to an internal realm… Hidden within the infinite maze of your mind, even killing you will bring me no closer to the city,” Oga admitted. “Very well. You six who gather here… Are you ready?” The island trembled as Oga roused his eighth-grade mana a little.

  “I will end this in a moment,” In said.

  “No,” Vis said. “If you enter his soul, you will be erased by his mana,” Vis warned. “Neither of us can be of use here until Shade lowers Oga’s mana to the seventh.”

  “Madness,” In replied. “I don’t know about yours, but my technique has no regard for magic. The only thing that stopped me from killing Oga all along was finally getting this close to him.”

  “In--”

  “Besides,” she cut Vis off, “Shade is… used up.” She looked over at the anti-magician, whose eyes sunk just enough to validate In’s claim.

  Vis looked over at Shade. He could see even through Shade’s ever-present stoicism that indeed he was exhausted. “We three must remain in the background for now while the others fight,” Vis said. “Shade will work on Oga’s mana while we protect him.”

  “Sounds pathetic!” In said. “I’m trying my luck!” And before Vis could say anything else, the Elder commanded, “Spirit Shift!”

  That moment brought In into a cosmic and infinite expanse. The all-encompassing spatial darkness was dotted with what seemed to be distant stars and planets. A foreign kind of fear rushed through the woman as she looked around, floating about with no sense of direction.

  “What… Is this Oga’s soul?” In wondered.

  From the perspective of Shade and the others who surrounded Oga, In’s body had simply been engulfed and consumed by a bright white light, but Vis was able to vaguely see In’s situation.

  “How brave,” Oga said, smirking a little. “Don’t worry. Her reward is beyond measure. She will for all eternity drift about in the cosmic infinites of my soul.”

  “Forget about In,” Vis said. “She is beyond salvation where she is.”

  And as Vis said that, the whiteness disappeared, taking with it In’s body. Vis shifted away with Shade, reappearing invisibly on a cloaked wind-dragon. Immediately, Oga felt an annoying tug on his mana.

  Oga looked around at those who could be seen – the two Icemakers and Wizard.

  “This is the end, father,” Wizard declared, and his black mana swallowed up everyone there. Yuki’s mist, however, was certainly not outdone. Lex shivered, realizing he still had not gotten used to the expanse of his father’s power. Feeling a familiar revival prompted by Yuki’s mist, Lex sensed the presence of his dark allies. His eyes blackened and a dark aura surrounded him.

  “I will leave none of you for Kizer!” Oga blasted in an explosive rage. “Light Blizzard!” An intense and hot brightness of light and white mana nuked out from Oga’s very soul, swallowing the island and ridding it of misty clouds in a moment.

  Lex felt a now-familiar safeness, even in this harsh brightness. He felt an impervious coat of black ice misted around him.

  “You are protected, Lex,” the boy heard Yuki’s voice. “I have ingrained my Sage Ice into your allies. This darkened mist will survive all light. You can now attack at full strength. Oga’s light is useless against you.”

  Even so, Lex could perceive nothing but whiteness. Well, he did perceive another thing – a slight tiredness in Yuki’s voice that he knew came from making this impossible ice cloak.

  Yuki’s eyes reached up to where Wizard was hurling at a dangerous speed, struck by yet another of Oga’s attacks. But the hurling Wizard vanished in a black cloud. The disappearance was too quick and obscure for Yuki to be sure of whether that was a clone dissipating or the real Wizard spaceshifting.

  Lex, upon regaining some vision, flew off toward Oga, hundreds of wings jutting out from his back, his cloak giving him more power and defence than he had ever felt. “There you are!” Lex reached the god of magic with nothing less than an island-cracking fist. The two, in splinters of time far tinier than seconds, exchanged tens of attacks. With his wings increased to just over a thousand, Lex’s speed was at its maximum – and this godly speed was enough not only to further dazzle the eyes of Wizard and Yuki, but also to keep up with Oga’s movements, and prevent his use of powerful spells.

  Oga, in one of the splinters, wove his left hand through Lex’s defensive movements, and through the countless black threads that attacked at dark will. The shifty Oga grabbed Lex’s throat, and peered with his godly perception into Lex’s eyes. But the dark ones were unmoved by Oga’s gaze.

  “Impossible,” Lex heard Oga mutter. And this moment of bewilderment would have costed Oga more than a slap on the wrist. Breaking free from Oga’s hold, Lex sent waves of pressure through the air and sent cracks through the shaking island with each blow he landed on Oga.

  Wizard conjured up a lightning storm worth of black lightning in both hands, waiting for the perfect chance to land a decisive strike.

  “Wizard,” Vis’ voice came to him. Your lightning will not work. Instead, help me endow Shade. At the moment, you have more mana than I do.” Wizard hissed and complied, appearing invisibly on the invisible dragon with the other two invisible men. There, as Vis had been doing, Wizard lay his hand upon Shade, bestowing upon him more mana by the moment than even Vis could have managed.

  The three watched as the swift and flawless attacks of the Icemakers confounded the god of magic. While Lex pressed him continuously with powerful close-quarter attacks, Yuki remained in the background, impeding Oga’s shifts with swift concentrations of mist that appeared wherever his eyes reached.

  “Extreme Gravity Flux!” Oga Commanded.

  “Oga Art! Gravity Restoration!” Wizard’s voice tore through the chaos, immediately undoing Oga’s spell. Oga shifted again as Lex was already upon him. But as he shifted, it was Yuki’s ice that had already swarmed him, encasing even his cloak of white mana. Before another shift could be activated, Oga was a slab of ice. Yuki unhesitantly opened his clenched fist. But as the sage of ice watched the god shatter into chilly bits, he himself felt a chill behind him.

  “Seems you’re tired, Ice Sage,” he heard Oga say. Yuki needed not look down at the gleaming white sword that was sent brightly through his back. Yuki’s eyes bulged as paralysis struck him, followed by Oga’s hand. “Atomic Dismantlement!” Oga commanded, unleashing one of his direst eighth grade spells. Yuki’s body and ice dissolved into pieces tinier than dust, and the air thin
ned, having lost Yuki’s mist.

  “Father!” Lex’s yell shook the air, stirring up a wind. The blackness in his eyes thickened. Oga held his smirk in place nonetheless, even with the draining of his mana intensifying by the second.

  “Come, boy!” Oga called the raging Lex, who reached up to Oga with such strong will that he failed to recognize that his father’s Sage Ice had left him. Oga laughed as he grabbed Lex, swallowing him up with brightness that neither he nor the Zagans could bear. Lex, even then, managed to jump back, giving himself a little distance form Oga.

  “This is bad,” Wizard muttered. His mana, as Vis’, was at its end.

  “Fret not,” Vis replied.

  Oga held his hand out toward Lex, but the mana that was readied was no longer the magic Oga was used to.

  “I need to finish this quickly,” Oga told himself, fretting a little. The sight of black mana around him was certainly an uncomfortable one.

  “Anam Resal!” A sudden streak of blue magic rushed up toward Oga, grabbing and flinging him vilely. Healing magic already in play, Oga stood and brushed himself off, facing a girl he could have done without having to worry about at the moment.

  “Lex, it seems you’ve forgotten than Oga is my opponent. You should get some rest and wait for Kizer to appear.”

  “She’s right, boy.” And that voice was of Viknor. “Sorry we’re late. Azar is still tied up.” Viknor helped Lex up.

  “She cannot fight Oga,” Lex said.

  Lex and Viknor were then engulfed in a black cloud as Vis had imposed a shift upon them. The two appeared atop the invisible wind dragon.

  “Viknor,” Vis said.

  “I understand,” the wizard replied promptly, joining the other two wizards in empowering Shade.

  “Lex, let the Zagans recover for a moment. I will assist Clover,” Vis said.

  “But--”

  Vis touched Lex’s head and quelled his consciousness, having no time for an argument or explanation.

  “Is this some kind of joke, little girl? I told you to prepare to face me, didn’t I? Why is your magic still so weak?”

  Clover fell to her knees abruptly, screeching in agony and grabbing her head with both hands.

  “This will certainly have terminal effects, but I am pulling out her true power,” Vis said, one hand stretched out to where the distressed Clover was.

  “What are you--”

  “Nothing dissimilar to what we had to do to this one,” he said, looking down at Lex.

  But Viknor already knew this. He looked out at Clover with pity, wondering just how much emotional strain she had to have been bearing.

  “I can’t allow this,” Oga realized. His black mana raged about him as he readied himself to attack. His hand fidgeted as he felt his mana reaching dangerous levels. Where the hell is Kizer? I still can’t pinpoint those rats. He looked about, but his eyes were useless. And at this point, I can’t waste mana on widespread attacks. His pupils dilated as the problem at hand materialized.

  Viknor uttered a proud and confident laugh, like this was his doing. He and the others beheld the storm of rich black magic that surrounded Clover. The wind dragon, feeling threatened by Clover’s magic, distanced itself on its own volition. Vis had to tap into its mind to get it to stay close enough to the action.

  Seeing the look of fear on Oga’s face was almost as great a reward for Wizard as the promised city.

  Clover wasted no time before jetting off toward Oga fist first, fired up by a fabricated rage cemented with contrived memories. The impact of Clover’s fist upon Oga’s face woke Lex from his forced daze. Viknor laughed wildly. Clover, with no relent, followed up with more powerful attacks, sending Oga off with an arcane kick. Pressing her left hand against the back of her right hand, she prepared a far stronger attack. Oga was crouched down on the ground several meters before her. His mana was now a weak purple fading into red. Even more pitiful than his magic was the look of dread that sagged his face.

  But then Vis recognized that an unsettling smirk had appeared on Oga’s face in a thin moment.

  “Viknor, get Azar,” Vis said, and grabbed the old man, using nearly the last of his magic to impose a shift upon him. That same shift, for some reason, was imposed upon Lex. The island quaked and pieces of it fell down to crash down into the earth. Clover stood paralyzed as five massive pillars emerged to surround her. Before she could realize that these pillars were fingers of an emerging giant hand, the sky above her opened up.

  “Hand of the Heavens!” Kizer’s voice further shook the place. A frightening hand of stone reached down from the heavens, while the earth beneath Clover was forged into a similar hand, which cupped her up in its palm and rushed up meet the other hand.

  Vis noticed the golden writings on both of the hands and knew that amongst other things, they meant that Clover could not possibly shift out of this. Vis grabbed his head and collapsed to his knees, pushing to a dangerous limit.

  Clover’s eyes glowed a bright whiteness and a glowing shield engulfed her. As the hands seemed to crush Clover and her shield, they retracted quickly, one sinking back into the earth and the other escaping back up into the heavens. Vis’ breathing became heavy, and his hold on the invisibility spell broke, revealing them and the dragon. Clover lay on her back with no mana about her and no consciousness within her.

  Kizer had appeared beside Oga, arms folded. The condescending look Kizer gave Oga almost made the rescue not worth it for the god of magic.

  Eventually, Kizer laughed a little. “Maybe now you will stop comparing yourself to me.”

  Oga hissed. “Those three,” he said, limply pointing up at the wind dragon with the three exhausted men on it. Oga’s eyes jerked as he saw Wizard spaceshift.

  “Fool,” Vis muttered.

  Wizard appeared in a scattering black cloud just above Oga’s head, descending with a sword. Kizer, his eyes unmoved from looking out to the wind dragon, flashed a bolt of black lightning at Wizard. This black lightning was like no other, and it sent him several meters off. He crashed into the ground, his consciousness stolen by the shock.

  “I have already intercepted his technique,” Kizer said. “Your mana should be restored by now.”

  But Oga had already felt the return of his precious magic. He uttered a heavy sigh.

  Vis’ wind dragon vanished as the mana needed to keep it there simply couldn’t be spared anymore. Vis and Shade made a hard and painful landing, crouching and panting.

  “Lightning Fang!” Kizer commanded, and stretched his hand out in the direction of the two. A streak of red lightning rushed out from his hand immediately, splitting itself to strike both Vis and Shade.

  Vis knew that a wound made by this unique lightning could not be healed by magic. He tightened his grip on the almost-collapsing Shade and initiated a shift with the last of his mana.

  “Going somewhere?” an ominous voice snaked from behind them. Oga was already there – or a clone at least – and he had grabbed them out of the shift. With no shield or guard to defend them, the streaks of red lightning tore through their chests, ripping indiscriminately through the Ogal clone.

  Shade staggered back with wide eyes and the shock of death. As blood oozed down from his mouth, he looked down at the hole inside him. “Vis...” he managed to say. “Did your eyes… see even this?”

  Vis collapsed to his knees. He was soaked in his blood.

  “Won’t you go finish them?” Kizer said.

  Oga shifted in a white cloud, appearing before the two. “You two, besides Kizer, are the strongest enemies I have ever faced,” Oga said, then a gleaming sword appeared in his hand. He looked into Vis’ eyes, and almost saw deep within them the lost city. With a mighty flash, he took Shade’s head off. Then he swung at Vis’ neck.

  Hn? Oga looked out at where Shade and Vis – and even he – should have been. But Oga was still just beside Kizer, and replacing Shade and Vis was a pool of their blood.

  “Yes, I saw it too,” Kizer affirmed.
“Even I. But my red lightning did strike them. Wherever they escaped to will be made their final grave. Recovery from that attack is impossible.”

  “Were it not for us, those two would have been considered gods,” Oga said.

  Kizer was somehow unamused by this statement. But before his mind could linger on it, an appearance of mana caught his and Oga’s attention. Lex had appeared alongside Viknor and Azar. The three immediately noticed the wide pool of blood, just as quickly as they had noticed the unmoving Clover. But even more pressing was the duo of gods who stood smugly – they who had crushed the world under their fists.

  As Lex looked out at the two, his consciousness was shifted to his inner realm, where he stood in a quaking void of darkness. Destroy…

  Azar and Viknor stepped back as Lex’s dark aura surfaced and the ground beneath his feet began to crack and quiver. Lex held out his hand toward them.

  “Finally, both of you at once,” Lex said. Wrapped in the appearance of a shadowball was the power of an entire shadow shell.

  Kizer snickered, but Oga had been pushed too close to death to follow suit. Lex bolted off toward the two, shadow shell in hand.

  Azar and Viknor shielded their faces quickly; as did Kizer and Oga as a brilliantly yellow streak of light tore down from the heavens.

  The gods had no time to think let alone react. Lex’s swiftness came to a forced halt.

  In the midst of the overwhelming light, Kizer felt a hand touch his chest.

  “Heaven Pulse!” a command rang out. In a pulse of heavenly light, with a force Kizer had never before been on the receiving end of, the god of elements rocketed off helplessly for several miles. Seemingly consumed by the light, he was sent flying off the island. Oga and Lex, with faces that mirrored each other, peered through the holy light in awe and wonder.

  Chapter 38: Guardian Angel

  “What the hell—an angel?” Viknor marvelled, shaking and grinning.

  “I know that man,” Azar said, his dumbstruckness just wearing off.

  “I will deal with you in a moment, Oga,” the angel said, his six wings of rich brilliance settling.