The Conservation of Magic

by Michael W. Layne

  With his transformation complete, he could feel an extra surge of energy course through him, but he feared it would not be enough.

  He faced Eudroch, who appeared to be running low on what little patience he actually possessed.

  “Do you offer yourself and your name willingly?” Eudroch said, “Or must I take what I need from you?”

  “You’ve stolen enough from me, brother,” Merrick said. “You won’t rob me of anything else.”

  Eudroch slammed the butt of his three-pronged spear into the ground, and a great thunderclap boomed overhead.

  “Did you know that you weren’t even supposed to exist? I am the one who has a purpose to fulfill. Not you. Do you see this very mountain on which we stand? It used to be filled with Sigela’s power—her love—but now, it is hollow and useless, just like this world. With the Fire Dragon’s return, there is no end to what the Drayoom can achieve.”

  “Enough discussion,” the Queen yelled. “Make him give you his creation name.”

  Eudroch motioned for Mona to approach Merrick again.

  “Do not ask him this time. Speak the words I taught you, and tell him what he must do!”

  Mona stepped forward and opened her mouth, then turned to Eudroch, her eyes frantic and wet.

  “My love…I want to, but I can’t.”

  “But you must do it. For me,” Eudroch said.

  Mona looked appalled.

  “I want to, but I can’t tell Merrick that I love him or make him love me—not when you are my only true love.”

  Eudroch glared at Mona, then at Merrick—hatred and disbelief spilling from his gaze.

  Her proclamation of love for Eudroch stung him as if he had been pierced with a sword, and he was just as confused by Mona’s refusal as Eudroch was. The power of Balach’s name should have compelled her to do whatever he wanted, and for a brief moment, they both looked at her in disbelief.

  Merrick was the first to focus again on the situation at hand.

  He closed his eyes and gathered his inner magic. He found it curled in a ball in the pit of his stomach. But he nursed it and urged it to grow.

  As his power rose, he felt the shard of divinium in his arm grow warm, and his body aged.

  Thunder shook the top of the volcano, and the air crackled around him with electricity. The swirling wind almost knocked him off balance, and sheets of rain soaked his face and body. Even the hollow volcano beneath his feet rumbled as Terrada stirred.

  All the dragons were watching to see what would happen.

  He would give them a show they would not soon forget.

  As his power was close to bursting, he opened his eyes in time to see Eudroch rushing toward him. Merrick rolled to one side, barely avoiding the tips of Eudroch’s fiery trident.

  Merrick came out of his roll into a crouching position, just as Eudroch spoke a word of calling that made the air pop around Merrick like exploding embers. He couldn’t react quickly enough to defend against the bolt of lightning that shot down from the sky, but when it connected, instead of feeling pain, he felt an influx of power that was so strong, he could barely contain it.

  Eudroch opened his mouth, this time to curse, but before he could utter a word, Merrick launched a barrage of rock shards at him. No sooner had Merrick launched his attack than he realized Mona was still in harm’s way.

  When Eudroch casually melted the projectiles in mid-air, Merrick was relieved.

  “Mona, get back!” he shouted.

  She took a few staggered steps away from Eudroch, like she didn’t want to leave his side. The Queen, on the other hand, had moved to a far boulder, to watch the fray from as safe a distance as possible.

  “Perhaps some of Sigela’s blood runs through your veins, after all,” Eudroch said as he circled Merrick, his trident held out in front of him. “But your entrails will spill just as easily from my spear as it will from a blade made of steel.”

  Eudroch jabbed his spear to the right, and when Merrick dodged to the other side, he followed his movement with a long thrust that caught Merrick in the side, ripping flesh from his bare torso with a hiss.

  Merrick cursed and pressed down on his open wound as his blood dripped onto the rocky ground. He heard Eudroch approaching for another strike, muttered a single syllable to Terrada, and let his body fall into the earth. Safe only for a moment inside the Earth Dragon, the pain from his wound abated—not healed, but no longer as critical.

  He travelled through Terrada for a fraction of a second before rising up from the ground behind Eudroch. Weaponless, he slammed into Eudroch’s back and locked an arm around his throat, holding on with all of his strength.

  Merrick was morbidly satisfied to hear only a gurgling sound when his brother tried to say words from the Fire Dragon tongue.

  For almost three full seconds, Merrick felt that he had a chance at winning the fight, but Eudroch bent his knees, lowering his body weight, and putting Merrick off balance. He stepped back with one leg, stretching it out behind Merrick’s body, then spun around with his arm outstretched, in a motion like a windmill.

  Eudroch’s elbow and forearm connected with Merrick’s face, knocking him back so that he tripped over Eudroch’s leg.

  Merrick fell onto the hard earth, his head slamming against the unyielding rock.

  He tried to clear his vision, but before he could, all three prongs of Eudroch’s fire spear pierced the flesh of his stomach.

  Eudroch ripped his spear from Merrick’s gut with a brutal motion, and Merrick tried to hold his abdomen together while his mind searched desperately for the right word in the Earth Lexicon to heal such a vicious wound.

  Even as he remembered the name of Crannog, the one who could not be harmed, Eudroch lunged at him again. Halfway through saying Crannog’s name, Eudroch’s spear pierced him again, in the leg this time.

  Merrick grabbed the shaft of the spear, but Eudroch jerked it away, ripping it from his grasp.

  Merrick only needed a few seconds to heal himself, but Eudroch wasn’t giving him even that much time to regroup.

  As he tried to utter the healing name again, Mona stepped up, behind Eudroch.

  This time, however, she did not cling to him like a lover.

  She had something in her hand that Merrick could not see, and she struck Eudroch with it in the back just as he was about to thrust his spear again.

  Dozens of lightning bolts struck all around them as Eudroch screamed in pain, and Merrick’s divinium-tipped staff burst through the front of Eudroch’s chest like a hot coal through snow.

  Eudroch stood deadly still. His head tilted downwards, staring with confusion at the divinium orb protruding from his chest. He turned his head as far as he could to look at Mona who was already crouching in a defensive posture, waiting for the Queen to attack next.

  “But, I made you love me…,” Eudroch said.

  “I do love you. But when I saw Merrick again, I could feel it in my heart. It was just as you’ve been saying. The two of you are the same person. But I love the part of you that is him more.”

  Eudroch growled and tried to pull the divinium from his body.

  Merrick’s wound had healed enough for him to concentrate and to speak the calling tone for the igneous rock on which they stood. The rock of the volcano rim rose up like the fist of an earth giant and slammed into the already stunned Eudroch, crushing him into the hard ground. The impact was so great that the Earth Queen and Mona were thrown from their feet as well.

  Eudroch rose slowly. He was shaky but not as weak as Merrick expected. Even through the elemental cacophony and the sheets of sideways rain, Merrick could hear Eudroch summon his Fire Magic. A split second later, a circle of flames, ten feet high, crackled into existence around Mona.

  In response, Merrick encased the Earth Queen in a tomb of volcanic rock. Unless Terrada helped him, he knew that a prison of earth wouldn’t hold the Earth Queen for long, but he was running out of cards to play and needed any advantage he could find.

/>   Eudroch stood and faced Merrick, paying no attention to either of the trapped women.

  “They mean nothing to me, brother. You’re the only family I have. There’s only you and me. I wanted you to see it that way, but since you can’t, I will make this easy for you. You’re both willing to give your life for the other. But are you willing to let her die for doing what you think is right?”

  Eudroch looked down at the divinium staff still sticking out from his chest and laughed.

  “It will take more than this to stop me,” he snarled, as he pulled the shaft from his chest and threw it to the ground.

  Merrick followed the three prongs of Eudroch’s own spear as it pointed to Mona, kneeling inside the flames. She had tried to give him an edge over Eudroch, but it hadn’t been enough.

  “Give me what I want, or she dies now.”

  Merrick felt sick. He knew that he had to look beyond Mona and his promise to her and consider the fate of the world instead. His only chance at defeating Eudroch was to unleash all of his remaining power and to hope that it would be enough, even if Mona was caught in the cross fire.

  He looked one last time into her eyes. Through the flames, he thought that he saw her nod.

  The memory of what she had said to him about working together back in the alley still nagged at him. She had been trying to tell him something, but he didn’t know what.

  “Don’t hold back!” she yelled above the din of the storm.

  With final resolve, he turned to face Eudroch and unleashed his remaining magic in a single burst. He tried as hard as he could to focus his power directly at Eudroch, but it was too much for him to contain and soon he lost control of it. His power was great, but his craft was still lacking.

  For a split second, everything around him stopped. No thunder boomed. No lightning crackled. No ground moved. No rain fell. There was only dead silence.

  And then, the world turned white, as every particle around them was blasted with Merrick’s years of pent-up fury.

  He fell to his knees, weakened almost to the point of death, but as he raised his head to look up, he saw Eudroch still standing with a smile on his face, unmoved—unhurt.

  “Thank you, my brother. I’ve been waiting a very long time to have the rest of my magic returned to me. I am finally whole.”

  Eudroch knelt down next to Merrick who was struggling to take a full breath of air.

  “This might sound a bit greedy, but you’re still alive, which means that you still have some magic left. Some of my magic left, that is. I’m afraid I’m going to have to take that as well.”

  Merrick closed his eyes, waiting for his final step into oblivion. No one could doubt that he had tried his hardest, but in the end, he had failed himself, Terrada, and the world. Most of all, he had failed Mona.

  When nothing happened, he opened his eyes and looked out across the top of the volcano. The elements had died down so that only a gentle rain and a slight breeze remained. To his right, a section of the rock encasement had been blown away, and the Earth Queen was freeing herself the rest of her way with her own magic. Next to her, Merrick was astonished to see that Mona was still alive and kneeling within Eudroch’s ring of fire. The flames must have somehow acted as a shield from Merrick’s power.

  For that, at least, he was thankful, and he smiled in relief.

  “Will you take care of her?” he asked, his voice almost too soft to be heard.

  Eudroch stood and backed away from Merrick just far enough to level his three-pronged spear at his head.

  “I will take care of her, brother…until I tire of her.”

  From behind Eudroch, Mona shouted, “I love you, Merrick,” as she threw herself into the fire that surrounded her. Instantly, the flames shot up to twice their height as they engulfed her, and the gentle breeze filled with the sickening stench of her burning flesh.

  Merrick retched.

  Eudroch laughed, as he motioned for the flames to disappear.

  “I guess I won’t be enjoying her pleasures after all.”

  Merrick ducked under Eudroch’s spear and dove across the volcano ledge to where Mona lay, barely breathing, her body burned so badly by the magical fire that he would not have recognized her if he had not known it was her already.

  He put one hand under her head and his other on her chest, over her heart.

  She opened her eyes barely, her face unsuccessfully trying to smile.

  “Use…your…power to save me,” she whispered.

  “I have no power left,” he said.

  He bowed his head in shame. His magic was nothing compared to Eudroch’s. Ever since that fatal day in the alley, everyone around him had died. They were all gone. Ohman, Fenton, probably Cara and Balach, and now, Mona.

  He remembered back to the hospital when he had first discovered his magic—how he had saved her once, but even then, he had killed the innocent patient in the room next door. All he ever brought with him was suffering and loss. He had hoped that there was a part of his name he had yet to discover—a piece of who he was that would somehow make up for all the death he caused, but as he held Mona, he realized that there was nothing else.

  Death followed him closely, wherever he went, even when he saved lives.

  He remembered the words from Ohman about the conservation of magic. For every action there was an equal and opposite reaction. He had learned not to use other people as sources of magical energy—had been told by Fenton and Ohman that to do so was an egregious crime and was the lowest form of magic possible.

  As he felt Eudroch approach him from behind, he realized that he could not defeat Eudroch with what was left of his internal magic.

  But he might be able to at least ease Mona’s pain.

  He closed his eyes and focused his remaining magic into her. As soon as he did, his heart leapt, and he finally understood what Mona had been trying to tell him. It was true that he barely had enough magic left to keep himself alive—certainly not enough to save Mona’s life.

  But his brother had plenty of magic, and he could draw from Eudroch’s power to heal Mona.

  Concentrating on his love for Mona and her love for him, he focused all of his will into healing her. He gave in to his reckless abandon and let himself lose control.

  Instinctively, his core reached out to the nearest energy source available and began to suck it dry.

  Mona’s body arched upward as Eudroch’s life-giving magic was channeled through Merrick and into her. He had caused too much unintended pain and death from his reckless use of magic, but now he was using all of his might to do the same thing to Eudroch—this time on purpose.

  Merrick watched as Mona’s flesh was restored to her body, and his heart wept as he saw her chest expand and fall with greater and greater strength. He could not turn back to defend himself from Eudroch, but he knew that his brother’s life was draining away even as Mona’s was being restored.

  As she opened her eyes and reached up to touch his face, Merrick heard the clank of what he imagined was Eudroch’s spear hitting the ground and the heavy thud of his body as it fell.

  He looked into Mona’s eyes and saw the clear blue sky reflected in them. She was healed, and he was whole.

  “I love you,” was all he could say as a single tear escaped his eyes and fell onto Mona’s cheek.

  He heard motion behind him and turned around to see Eudroch, propping himself up with one arm, somehow still alive, but not for long. Merrick gently set Mona’s head down and turned to face his brother. He had not taken all of Eudroch’s magic, but once he had established the stream, he had taken more than enough to heal Mona. Like a magical siphon, he had continued draining Eudroch and restoring his own power until his brother was the one now close to death.

  For the first time, as he looked into Eudroch’s eyes, he saw fear and defeat.

  Merrick leaned over as Eudroch helplessly tried to push him away. Merrick put his mouth near Eudroch’s ear and whispered Balach’s creation name.

&nb
sp; “I know you have to go, but I want you to know that in some strange way, I love you, brother,” Merrick said.

  Eudroch just looked at him, unable to respond. All fear and hate were gone from his eyes, as he sank to the ground, an empty husk.

  Merrick turned back to Mona. She was alive, and for the first time, he felt complete—more so than ever before. He had faced that part of himself that he had always feared and hated, and he had emerged victorious. He realized that what had been missing before between Mona and him was not his ability to love her, but his ability to love himself.

  He smiled as he finally remembered what Terrada and Sigela, combined, had told him so long ago in his mother’s womb. His creation name was not just about suffering and loss. His name was about persevering through that pain and emerging a better person.

  He was a man named Redemption, and he now knew that without true suffering, there could be no true joy. Without loss, one could not hold anything precious. He had lost everything he had held dear, only to gain the love for himself and for Mona that was all he had ever needed in the first place.

  He still missed his friends and those he had come to think of as his family. He also thought about how he had technically fulfilled the prophecy. The two Sons of Earth and Fire were now whole as one inside of him, and in truth, the old Merrick had died. He was not the same person as he had been before. Sigela was united with Terrada inside him as well. The Fire Dragon had indeed returned, but on a much smaller scale than the prophecy had predicted. Drive and caution coursed equally through his veins. Passion and patience were both his at last.

  In the background, he heard the sobbing of the Earth Queen.

  “What do we do about her?” Mona asked.

  “Let her mourn the passing of her son and the loss of her dreams. Right now, I’d say we need to get back home and start our life together, after we check on a few people first. I have a lot of things I want to share with you.”

  Mona smiled.

  “Me, too,” she said, as they walked arm in arm to the edge of the volcano’s lip.

  Merrick and Mona held hands as he spoke the tone of the earth, and they descended into the ground, out under the shores of Annoon and back to their new life together.