by Dan Neil
Keia stumbled backwards and squinted to see through the haze. She instinctively raised Valiance just as the Darkfire Blade came at her head. She jumped back as he swung horizontally, his sword lacerating the temple wall with a violent screech.
He pointed his gauntlet and cast shadow telekinesis, trapping Keia in place. A stone on Valiance sparked to life, summoning a solid bubble of water that struck Ezra in the chest at high speed; his spell was disrupted, and he stumbled backward.
Keia seized the opportunity. A bolt of lightning streaked from Valiance and struck his gauntlet. Electricity coursed through Ezra’s body; he shook and gritted his teeth. After a moment she stopped. Smoke rose off the burned, hissing skin around his gauntlet, and he seemed fazed for the first time.
Keia relished the break, gasping for air. Each spell was easier, but this was a lot of casting in a short time.
Ezra met her eye with a maddened glare, completely over the edge. To him, nothing existed but his prey.
She shifted her weight, frowning. This doesn’t look good.
“Keia...”
“It’s me,” she urged, “your sister.”
His gaze softened for a moment, and she felt hope. Maybe he was tiring. Maybe he’d stop. Her hopes were dashed when the blaze redoubled in his eyes.
“Kill—Keia!”
The name echoed throughout the pyramid.
Ezra leaped forward and unleashed a devastating horizontal slash, decimating the guard rail. She blocked with Valiance but was pushed back—pain jolted through her shoulder in shockwaves.
How the fuck is he still this strong? Keia thought, forcing her legs to stand through the numbness. Ezra unleashed flurry after flurry of violent, hateful slashes, and the Darkfire Blade erupted with shadowy sparks on every collision. The rapidity of his strikes made his assault appear as a whirlwind of fiery darkness fighting to extinguish a dancing light.
Keia stepped backward through a portal to distance herself from the storm. Ezra gave chase up the stairwell.
With a leaping slash, he tried to bisect her, but she repulsed his frenzied attack and dodged—his next swing smashed against the stairs, tearing through stone and metal alike. Yelping as debris pelted her face, Keia raised a ward to defend against shrapnel and sparks.
The Dark Disciple unleashed a spell bombardment—killing spells, dark wind, Darkfire, and shadow tendrils tore from his gauntlet, screaming at Keia. Casting portals, time shifts, and light bursts with Valiance and Ziel in tandem, her deft spellwork carved up his assault.
Sweat flew from Keia’s forehead as her lungs stretched out, each gasping breath satisfying them less. How the hell is he not tired yet?
Hoping to interrupt his onslaught, Keia opened a portal beneath Ezra. Thinking quickly, he pierced the temple wall with his blade and pulled himself back through. She retreated to the pyramid’s topmost platform. Burning with rage, he followed.
Keia stole as many gulps of air as possible, hoping to quell the smoldering sensation in her limbs. A frigid emptiness pervaded her chest as she surveyed her environment—the roof was barren of advantages. There were two walls across from each other that curved and met at the pyramid’s zenith, but not much space to maneuver on the platform itself.
I hope this wasn’t a mistake.
Ezra emerged from the stairs below, a devilish grin on his bloodied face. He raised his arms. “Nowhere left to run.”
Through heaving breaths, Keia replied, “We can still both walk away from this.”
Her brother lurched toward her, twirling the humming Darkfire Blade between his fingers.
Keia pleaded, “It doesn’t have to be like this—but I can’t let you win.”
Silent as a stalking predator, he surged forward, haphazardly lashing out with the Darkfire Blade. She redirected the attack with a portal. Predicting his killing spell, Keia raised a ward in advance and countered with a booming gale of wind. Ezra impaled the roof, his shrieking weapon letting off black smoke as the raging current passed over him.
The Dark Disciple rushed forward, backing her up with a series of frenzied slashes. Within seconds, Keia’s back was against one of the walls.
Growling, Ezra brought his blade down with all his strength. She deflected, but his power forced Valiance out of position. Tremors burst up to her shoulder and chest. Ezra stomped on the shield, trapping it against the ground, and hacked at her exposed arm.
Keia released Valiance and rolled away, but her shoulder was grazed by the Darkfire Blade. A scream formed in her throat and then died—searing pain rushed from the source up and down her spine and through every bone in her body. With sheer will, she forced Ziel against her shoulder. Radiant light shone from it, extinguishing the Darkfire.
Barely a moment had passed. Ezra stood with his snarling blade lodged in the pyramid’s roof—the weight of his blow had cracked it. He was breathing heavily, eyes brimming with blood-madness as the stone touching his blade squealed, emitting shadowy smoke. Valiance was beside him.
Keia gasped for air, staring in disbelief. She shuddered. That wasn’t even the worst of it. By the gods.
With a wicked grin, he kicked Valiance over the edge. Keia summoned it with her bracer, but the Dark Disciple held the shield in place with telekinesis. Now her arm pulled toward the shield, dragging her closer to the edge.
This wasn’t going to work. She ceased casting the magnet spell, and Ezra released the shield. Valiance tumbled hundreds of feet to the ground below.
Keia cast a portal beneath herself, but she was caught by telekinesis and pulled back through. Though she tried to thrash about, her body was immobile.
As he approached, her brother said, “A valiant effort, same as last time.”
Ezra struck her face with his gauntlet. Her lip busted and eye bruised, Keia crumpled to the hard, stone floor. Dazed, she scrambled to her feet; the Dark Disciple kicked the back of her knees to force her to kneel. Yanking her hair, he exposed her throat. Their gaze met once more—his functional eye was fanatical and hateful, while hers held a spark.
He sneered. “There’s that same look. I remember those eyes from the vault, just before what should have been your last breath. Always fighting to the bitter end—how miserable.”
She struggled against his grip and punched at his arm and side, but it was of no use. He put the Darkfire Blade to her throat and said, “Tell me; what did that liar Aliya teach you that’s going to save you now? Or that demagogue, Myrddin?” He paused, anticipating his victory. “Or our weak father?”
Something became clear within Keia. Ziel began to glow fiercely. Father…
“Father—mother,” Keia said weakly. Ezra’s brow raised in confusion. “That’s right; I have everything I need.”
Ezra raised the humming Darkfire Blade to pierce her heart. Ziel was shining like the day she lost her magic. A spell she never felt before, had never seen, was on the brink of existence—on the edge of her soul. It burst forth as Ezra unleashed everything in one swing. Keia closed her eyes and raised her hands as the Darkfire Blade’s humming closed in.
Chapter 50
The Void
Day 15 of the Season of Life, 1020 YAR
Keia waited a few seconds for any sign of pain, but there was none. Her eyes peeked open and were entranced—partially in horror, partially in wonder. The Darkfire Blade had never reached her.
Impossible…
Ziel glowed with a resilient blue light as the very space before her contorted and twisted into a knot. The spatial rift was impossible to traverse—Ezra’s arm was trapped within the distorted dimensions. Her mind struggled to decipher the spell. The harder he pushed his blade into the void, the more misshapen it became.
Keia blinked rapidly. I’m—I’m doing this. How am I doing this? What is this?
As if in pain, the Darkfire Blade hissed and screeched—it was being compressed, spir
aling into itself. Ezra released her hair and tried to launch a wave of Darkfire. It, too, became entangled. Roaring malevolently, he pushed harder to force his way through the growing vortex.
Open-mouthed in awe, Keia stared at the empty void before her. Somehow, she had made this.
Ezra summoned shadow tendrils and maneuvered them around the strange spell in a desperate attempt to reach Keia. She stood and blocked them with portals. Strangely, her spells never disappeared—stranger, new portals kept popping into existence, and they were all moving slowly toward the twisted, contorted vortex.
The storm of portals converged as Ezra howled in frustration. Was he still trying to stab at her, or was he trying to remove his arm from the condensing spell? It made little difference. The portals merged into the space-contorting spell.
One by one, the collapsing spell absorbed the portals and grew more unstable. It was beyond Keia’s control, and Ezra’s arm was trapped. The void hissed louder and louder until it collapsed with a sudden shriek; everything within disappeared in an instant.
A white portal opened where the spell had been. As she stared into it, Keia heard Ezra crying out. For a moment more, she was captivated by the pure nothingness. Then her face was splashed with something warm and sticky—blood. Ezra’s blood. Her spell had severed his arm. The Dark Disciple howled in anger and disbelief as Keia blinked, her mind rushing too fast to make out any thoughts.
Debris around the white portal lifted into the air. It attracted everything around it with steadily increasing force. Keia felt it getting stronger by the moment.
That’s not good. It’s going to take everything. She glanced down at her allies. They were running out of time—she had to get to them, now.
Ezra heated his gauntlet and cauterized his stump. Keia leaped from the pyramid. She summoned a portal and emerged next to Friedrich.
Her allies were in bad shape, each suffering extreme wounds. Keia cast a portal and reached through, pulling Valiance out. She lifted Aliya and Jisaazu closer with telekinesis. All the while, Ezra’s maddened bellows rang out as he descended the temple’s stairs.
“Please work, please work, please work,” she chanted as she cast heat to cauterize Friedrich’s wound. There was only smoke, but it heated sufficiently to close it.
Still no fire? Really?
There was no time to think about it. She did the same for the others and tried her hand at a healing spell. A blood-curdling scream erupted from the temple.
“KEIA!”
Having prolonged their lives as much as possible, she sent everyone through portals. They emerged far enough away to ensure their safety if the white portal became catastrophic.
Keia turned to see Ezra standing at the entrance, clutching what remained of his wounded arm. His gauntlet was pointed at her, and his expression was pure malevolence.
“This isn’t over,” Ezra menaced.
She shook her head. “You need to get away from here.”
“Neither of us,” Ezra said between labored breaths, “is going anywhere. Not until this is finished.”
Keia pointed at the gluttonous white portal and said, “That thing will collapse. It could take both of us with it.”
“Then I’ll just have to kill you first!”
Gray bolts shot from his gauntlet. With telekinesis, Keia raised a stone slab and blocked his salvo; then she threw the rock at Ezra. He summoned dark winds that tore the boulder apart, leaving a thin screen of dust between them.
Keia jumped through a portal and appeared above him, slamming Valiance into his head. Stumbling backward, Ezra blindly unleashed killing spells that were easy enough to dodge.
Keia summoned more of her strength; Valiance glowed brilliantly as it collected wind in a spiral, forming it into a tornado aimed at her enemy. Ezra met it with Darkfire, and the spells collided with a deafening blast. Gaea’s song rang from within as their magic locked together, each spell endlessly combatting the other side.
As wind and Darkfire tangled, tendrils emerged from his gauntlet and snaked toward her. Keia deflected them with portals, but diverting her attention allowed the wave of Darkfire to creep closer. One tendril went unnoticed and grabbed her shield hand.
Though she lost her balance, Keia kept her grip; however, she was spread too thin. With a violent pull, Valiance was pried from her fingers and thrown by the tendril. Her tornado ceased.
Ezra’s Darkfire honed in, but he watched helplessly as she redirected it through a portal with Ziel. The raging shadow ended.
The increasing force of the white portal was now lifting boulders and splitting the temple walls. As it consumed, it grew smaller, and chunks of earth began to float toward it.
“There’s no time, Ezra!” Keia pleaded. “That thing is dangerous. If we stay here, we’ll die.”
“I’m fine with that!”
Ezra growled and unleashed a magical bombardment—one last push to overwhelm her. Keia summoned portals and ducked as dark wind consumed everything around her. The foul spell burned away everything in its path—trees, rocks, dirt, grass—but even surrounded by an endless storm of shadow, Keia held on.
There’s no time, she thought. I need to finish this now.
Keia closed her eyes and felt Valiance’s glow in the distance. She threw the shield straight up with telekinesis before falling through a portal.
Suddenly, Keia was hundreds of feet above the ground—Valiance floated nearby.
All or nothing.
Keia grabbed the shield and turned toward Ezra as she fell, quickly reaching maximum speed. Their eyes met as she descended toward her destiny. Time slowed for both of them. Then, it was to be stalled no more. Ezra growled and aimed a killing spell at her head. She pointed her shield at her brother.
Just before the gray bolt hit, a portal opened. Keia was gone. Ezra’s eye twitched as his head madly darted about. Then another portal appeared right in front of him, in the center of which was a rapidly growing blue glow.
Keia’s momentum launched her into him shield-first—Valiance struck him square in the jaw. Pain jolted up her arm upon impact. Instantly knocked out, Ezra was sent flying into the deteriorating pyramid. She landed on her shoulder and skidded some twenty feet before coming to rest.
Breathing heavily, Keia coughed up blood and rolled onto her stomach. Her entire body hurt. Her arms gave way when she tried to stand. Her attack had shattered the bones in her shield arm, and the other shoulder was injured on landing. After two more tries without her arms, she managed to stand, crying out in pain with every shift.
Keia muttered, “That was dumb. I’m never doing that again.”
She stared at the temple entrance, half expecting Ezra to walk out. Instead, his unconscious body was strewn against the far wall.
It’s over, she thought, casting a portal to Aliya, Friedrich, and Jisaazu. By now, the white portal was barely visible, but its gluttony pulled everything in as it creaked and groaned under its own weight. She sighed.
One more step would take her to safety, but she found herself unable to leave. Turning away from the portal, she ran into the skyward-falling temple to save her brother.
Keia struggled to maneuver as bricks were torn from the foundation. The temple was breaking apart. After leaping over a floating chunk of rock, she stood before her brother, a bloody crumpled mess. Her mind raced as she clutched her wounds.
I’ll bet he tries to kill me again if I do this. Keia frowned. But if I don’t…
Her thought was interrupted by the ground’s sudden, violent shaking. The singularity was imploding. The pyramid and the surrounding land were being lifted toward the void.
There was no time to think. She cast a portal and sent Ezra miles away from her allies.
Keia cast a portal beneath herself but did not fall into it. Then, she cast one above her, but it, too, drifted upward toward her doom.
She floated upward into the grasp of the strengthening singularity. Taking a deep breath, Keia accepted the truth: she wasn’t going home. As an unknown fate beckoned, her life flashed before her eyes. A peaceful smile came over her face, and her eyes closed as she drifted toward oblivion. She thanked everyone who brought her to that moment. It had all been worth it.
I saved everybody—me! I got to be a real mage. I’d do it all again.
A light shone so brilliantly that it flooded her vision through her eyelids, and she leaned her head back. The gentle warmth of serenity permeated her being.
A familiar voice rang out.
“Keia!”
Confused, Keia thought, Father?
A portal appeared next to her. Two hands pulled her through just as the white portal collapsed, consuming the Temple of Breyten and its foundations. Her last glimpse was of a crater gouged into the land where the temple once stood.
Chapter 51
The Truth
Day 15 of the Season of Life, 1020 YAR
Keia blinked a few dozen times. No longer were the floating, condensing remnants of an ancient temple clouding her field of vision. Instead, a sea of green opened up unto the horizon—she was sitting in the Plains of Breyten. An old, friendly face stared at her with a perplexed expression. She blinked twice in disbelief.
Keia gasped and took a step back. “Myrddin! You saved me!”
“You didn’t save yourself,” Myrddin chided. “For all the lengths you go to for others…”
“Aliya! M-my friends! Are they all right?”
“They’re here.” Myrddin pointed behind her. Aliya, Friedrich, and Jisaazu were on their backs, limbs splayed and eyes closed. Keia tried to stand but recoiled—her entire body was sore, and the broken bones in her shield-arm were excruciatingly painful.
The wizard said, “Careful. You sustained many wounds and cast numerous spells.”
Keia turned to him and pleaded, “Can you help me heal them?”
Smiling, Myrddin aimed his wand. A circle enveloped the three and began to rotate; within a minute, their wounds had closed, and their pained expressions softened. Then he flicked his wrist and fixed the damage done to Jisaazu’s prosthetic leg, which he then placed next to her.
