by Ben Hale
Soldiers and mages fought the frenzied horde in a brutal battle that had spilled past the line. Bodies of men and Twisted littered the summit. The defenders that remained were fighting for their lives as the Dark continued to draw closer. Gunfire, screams, and howls washed over the summit in a cacophony of sound.
Tess and Siarra dropped into the fray. Casting a wall of fire, they poured magic into it until it lined the circumference of the summit. Men jerked back as the inferno shredded their foes. As one they turned on the Twisted that were inside the fire ring. Howling in fury, the remaining Twisted went down under a hail of bullets and blazing swords. Then the blood spattered soldiers turned to Tess and Siarra.
"Tess?" Wolf asked. "What are you doing here?" He dropped the magazine from his weapon and loaded a second. If he was aware of the blood on his uniform and bite marks on his arm he gave no sign.
"I need to speak with Pearson," she said in a rush.
Wolf jerked his head to the Arc, where a number of injured lay. One man stood out and had been placed against it. The injuries on his body were significant, and his eyes were glazed. Tess and Siarra crouched on either side of him, and Tess touched his arm. She winced when she saw the extent of the damage, and her eyes connected with Siarra’s. Her eyes tight, Siarra shook her head and cast a spell that would ease the pain.
Pearson sighed in relief, and looked to Tess. "Oliver? I'm glad you're here. I need a sharpshooter."
"Who's Oliver?" Siarra asked.
"It's my mother," Tess said in surprise. Then she realized who the man was. "He served with her in the Marines."
"I need you on the western flank," he said, and his arm twitched that way.
"He's been out of it for a while," Wolf said. "He got taken down in the second wave, along with the healing mages."
"Pearson," Tess said, her throat tight with emotion. "I need you to remember when you climbed Mt. Everest."
"Changed your mind, have you?" Pearson said, and issued a gurgling laugh. "I invited you to come, but I suppose you had a baby to take care of . . ."
"What was the summit like?" Tess asked. "May I see what you saw?"
Pearson's gaze saw only memories. "It was like we were standing in heaven, and the entire world stretched away from us. I've never seen anything so beautiful . . ."
Tess reached up and touched the man's temple, drawing on the memory. The image of Pearson standing on the summit of the highest mountain in the world filled her vision. Then Pearson blinked and his eyes cleared. He smiled.
"You must be Kate's little girl," he said quietly.
"I am," Tess said.
Pearson smiled faintly. "I know she's not your birth mother, but you've grown to look like her. She should have been a recon soldier . . ."
Pearson's eyes closed, and Tess stood. Feeling oddly hollow, she turned to find Wolf at her side. His eyes were full of understanding.
"It's time for you to end this, Tess," he said.
"I'm not leaving you here," Tess said. "Not like this."
"Hold this end open," Siarra said, and Gated away. A moment later the exiting halo burst into view above, and Tess leapt to catch it as Siarra reappeared. Together they drew it down to Wolf.
"It won't last long," Siarra said.
Wolf nodded in gratitude, and turned to the dark elves, soldiers, and mages around him. "You heard her, gather the wounded and get through the Gate."
As he spoke the firewall began to fade, and Twisted burst through. Wolf raised his gun to fire, and picked off the first few with precision shots. Tess hesitated, unwilling to leave them behind. Seeing her pause, Wolf jerked his head.
"Go!" he shouted. "We can handle things here."
Tess swallowed and reached out to Siarra. Gathering Gate energy in her hand, she closed her eyes and focused on Pearson's memory. Her next breath sucked ice into her throat. Coughing, she cast warming and breathing charms. Then she looked out and her eyes widened.
Lit by the bright moon and millions of stars, the Dark stretched away from her in an endless expanse. A handful of mountain peaks pierced its surface, rising above twenty thousand feet. Groups of white clouds lingered in the startlingly clear sky, while the whistling wind carried wisps of snow into the air. In spite of her ability to fly, she felt a hesitation to do so.
"Never have I seen such a vista," Siarra breathed.
Tess turned a slow circle, feeling like her eyes lacked the capacity to see it all. She had crossed the world in a single step, and now stood on the summit of the tallest mountain on Earth. Her awe faded into resolve, and she withdrew the compass from her pocket and peered at its face.
"We need to find the Forge."
Praying it would work, she touched the rune on the compass and it glowed to life. Willing it to point toward the Forge, she released a breath and then looked. The needle in the center spun several times, but slowed to a stop and pointed down the slope. Rising into the air, Tess and Siarra glided over the ice-encrusted snow. After twenty paces the needle pulled her arm down, and she came to a stop. As she did all four points on the compass glowed to life.
"I don't see anything." Tess let out the breath she'd been holding. "There's nothing here."
Siarra raised her hands. "Let's shift this snow," she said. "Perhaps it's—."
"You have surprised me, Oracle."
Cold dread filled Tess and she turned to find Alice standing a hundred yards from them. In spite of the bitter cold, she stood calm and resolute. At the sight of their adversary, Siarra drifted away from Tess.
"How did you find me?" Tess asked.
"How does anyone reach this place?" Alice responded. "I had a guide." She motioned to the side, drawing Tess's gaze. Bound and hovering above a ten thousand foot drop, Derek’s eyes were wide with anger and fear. Tess's fingers tightened into a ball, and fire burst up her arm. Alice merely smiled.
"I learned of your companion," she said. Her gaze flicked to Siarra before returning to Tess. "I thought it prudent I bring someone to force you to listen."
"If you truly know who I am," Siarra said, "then you should fear what I will do to you."
Alice turned to face her, and her lips curled into a sneer. "The ancient oracle of Lumineia, Siarra Elseerian. You should have died in your own time."
"I will make certain you die in yours."
Siarra's response caused Alice to shake her head and turn back to Tess."Whatever you seek here," she said, "it will not matter. My army has breached your line. The slaughter among the women and children has begun. It is over. I await their surrender."
Conscious of Derek hanging over a fall into the Dark, Tess shook her head. "How can you slaughter so many innocents?"
"No one is innocent," Alice snapped. "Selfish parents fail their children, and entitled children fail their parents. It won't end until morality is enforced by absolute law."
"You can't believe that," Siarra said, and Tess noticed that she'd drifted closer to Alice. "Have you no faith in mankind?"
"Only a fool has faith in men," Alice said with sudden vehemence. "My father taught me that lesson with every undeserved blow. Children should be allowed to live without fear of the world they were born into."
"Is that why you are here?" Tess asked. "To show them you aren't afraid?"
"I already did," Alice said softly. "I discovered my luck magic at the age of nine, and soon after my parents died in a car accident—because I wished to punish them."
"They didn't deserve that," Tess said.
Alice's expression darkened. "They deserved their fate, just as you deserve yours. You've made it clear you do not want to live in the world I have created. I am here to ensure you don't survive to see it."
Before Tess could stop her, she reached out and released the magic holding Derek aloft. Without a sound, he plummeted toward the Dark far below.
"Derek!" Tess screamed, and leapt after him.
"Tess!" Siarra yelled. "It's what she wants!"
Tess ignored her. Casting a tornado charm, she
exploded away. Siarra leapt to engage Alice, and magic erupted as they dueled. Tess caught a glimpse of Siarra's fury before they disappeared from view. Then she accelerated after Derek's falling form. Pouring every bit of magic into her wake, she sped so fast that snow peeled off the mountain at her side.
All thought of the war, the dead, and the Forge had been discarded in a heartbeat of pure terror. Compelled to act, she raced down the mountain and reached Derek a thousand feet above the Dark. His lips bound, he jerked his head as if to motion her away. Then she noticed why. He wasn't falling into the Dark. He was being pulled.
A thread of luck had wrapped around his waist, and was pulling him down so fast she could barely keep up. This was what Alice intended. She knew Tess would do anything to save Derek, even go into the Dark. Derek's brown eyes bored into hers, and a wealth of emotion passed between them. Then he pulled a leg up and kicked her.
Startled, she lost her grip and fell behind. Before she could catch up, the Dark rose up and swallowed him. With the wind tearing at her clothing and hair, Tess slowed to a stop. Rage filled her as she gazed on the spot where Derek had disappeared.
Disbelief froze her motion, and she held her breath as if it would bring him back. Then anger surged to the fore, exploding out of her in untamed magic. The sudden blast cracked the stone of the cliff beside her. Ice and snow burst into steam from the contact. Then grief engulfed her to the point of agony, and she almost fell into the Dark.
In a single, blinding point of clarity she saw herself return and fight Alice. In victory or defeat, she would never feel whole. Even if the world won, she would have lost. Her fingers tightened into fists.
She loved Derek and would not let him die as a Twisted. She had lost her father, friends, and countless others. She refused to lose Derek. Her entire frame rigid with resolve, she descended into the Dark.
And allowed it to claim her.
Chapter 45: An Oracle's Will
Siarra blocked Alice's attack with a white shield and retaliated by whipping the snow into a pair of ice entities. Her expression a mask of fury, Alice struck them down and then lifted her own entity. The luck fox darted toward Siarra. Instead of striking it, Siarra cracked the stone beneath it. Like a sled sliding down a hill, the section of rock slipped away, taking the entity over the cliff. Alice sneered at her.
"Even you cannot fight luck."
Fighting her madness and her fear for Tess, Siarra laughed. "Fortune is made by those who fight for it."
Alice shifted the snow beneath Siarra, but she stepped into the air. Then she struck back with a cyclone charm. In spite of Alice's luck the wind tore into her clothing and lashed her skin. Alice's eyes burned with hatred.
"With you and my insolent daughter dead, nothing will stop me. Even fate will have no hold on me."
"Not without the Immortalian . . ."
Alice's smile evaporated, and her eyes widened in sudden fear. "What have you done?"
Siarra began to laugh, and the sound echoed across the summit like a victory cry. Instead of fighting the madness, she welcomed it, and lunged at her enemy. Magic erupted from her fingers and struck Alice.
Off balance and distracted, Alice nearly went down. Then her rage returned, and the two locked in mortal combat. Beasts and dragons appeared as entities and were destroyed in seconds. Shards of energy streaked between them, seeking to impale hearts and minds. Through it all Siarra cast her senses down, seeking for Tess.
But felt nothing.
***
The whispers stabbed at Tess's ears and mind, digging into her thoughts. She gritted her teeth and fought, willing herself to ignore them. The voices of the Dark became a barrage of shrieks and forced their way into her mind.
View what you have wrought . . .
You have allowed so many to be slaughtered . . .
The very Earth will perish from your pride . . .
Tess clenched her eyes shut and focused on Derek. With all her might she forced her doubt aside and reached out to him with her mind. The weight of the Dark pushed against her skin, oppressive and sinister. She felt nothing from Derek. Suppressing the surge of panic, she fought to touch his consciousness.
. . . I did not kill her!
Derek's thought was a roar in the night, and Tess latched onto it. The moment she did, his thoughts expanded to include her. Terrifying and relentless, the Dark's attempt to subvert Derek swelled to include her.
Derek held Tess as tears streamed down his face. Her corpse lay bloodied and broken, and the Dark proclaimed him the killer. He jerked his head, struggling to discard the idea, but the Dark latched onto his doubt and sought to expand it.
Release the agony that binds you . . .
Its voice had hooked into his thoughts and dug deeper. Sensing its impending victory, Tess's fear spiked—and the Dark seeped into her mind. In a flash of images, she witnessed her failures . . .
She had sought to stop Ranson in the rock troll village, but the Harbinger leader had escaped with the Sword of Elseerian. Her desperate effort to close the portal had succeeded, but only staved off the inevitable . . .
She had failed to recognize her mother for who she was, and allowed her to fester inside Hawk's Guild. Tess's failure had led to the events on Mt. Elbrus. Caged and helpless, Tess had stood by while the Dark had been unleashed. Her attempt to reveal magic to the world had been a pathetic attempt to stop Alice, and once again she had failed . . .
As the Dark began its advance, Tess had squandered her time. She'd founded a meaningless Order of White that ultimately succeeded only in stripping a minor foe of his magic. Desperate to save her parents, she had allowed Alice to strike her down. She had fallen to the Dark in disgrace . . .
With everyone believing her dead, Tess had been given her greatest chance—but it too had failed. Her triumphant return to Auroraq had cost Hawk his life. Tess hadn't closed the portal to the Dark in time, sealing her defeat . . .
Even now with the greatest of ancient oracles at her side, she had failed to destroy the Dark. Billions of the aurens had perished, and the survivors stood on the brink of defeat. Tess had been born to unite the races, but had merely killed them. Her attempt to gather the talismans had resulted in the legendary sword of King Tryton being destroyed—
Tess blinked through her tears, her mind rejecting the Dark's insinuations as another thought latched onto her focus. The Sword of King Tryton had been imbued with the magic of honor—and there was only one source it could have drawn from.
The whole of mankind.
Defiant in the face of Alice, the combined nations of Earth had demonstrated a united courage, fueling Tryton's Sword until it had surpassed even Siarra’s ability to control it. Derek was right. Tess did not need to wield the sword. She had needed to see it destroyed in order to realize the power of magic from emotion.
Understanding blossomed within her, filling her frame with absolute certainty. The voices of the supreme Dark faded into silence as Tess saw the same events of the last year, and the true purpose for her enduring them.
Every conflict, every attempt to control her, all had driven her to master her magic. The failures had not defeated her. They had hardened a willpower that could stand unbroken even against the almighty Dark. She hadn't been born to stop the Dark . . .
She had been forged to.
Doubt and despair fled her mind and were replaced with an unfamiliar power. With startling clarity she realized it to be the magic of supreme will. She opened her eyes to find the face of the Dark before her. Lit by the blinding blue light cascading off Tess's form, it looked down upon her with unblinking eyes. Forced to retreat from Tess, the Dark had formed a dome over her.
You will not stop us from conquering your world . . .
For the first time, the Dark's whispers had distilled into a single voice. Magnified by the Dark's titanic will, the words beat upon her with monumental force. They crashed over her like a wave smashing into a lighthouse, only to retreat and leave her standing.
/> "This is a world of light," Tess said. "There is no place for you here."
All life will submit to our will, the Dark replied, its voice rising in fury. Races greater than yours have fallen, and worlds brighter have seen their light extinguished.
"Not this one," Tess said.
Catching sight of Derek at the edge of the clearing, she strode to his side. Weak but alive, Derek lay in the freezing snow, his skin blistering. She healed the wounds at a touch, and his eyes opened to hers.
"I'm sorry, Tess. She meant for you to die here with me."
"She failed," Tess said, and a smile spread on her face.
His eyes widened as he saw the blue light emanating from her, and how it repelled the Dark. "How are you doing this?"
"The magic of will," Tess said.
He flashed his crooked grin. "Do you ever stop being amazing?"
"I expect you to remember that."
Drawing on her magic, she lifted the two of them into the air. The Dark roiled at the extent of her will, churning like a furious storm intent on destroying the island at its center. The face of the Dark contorted with rage, and it launched itself at Tess.
Her eyes fixed upward, she glided past the attempts. Like the soft patter of rain on the roof, the Dark's fury could not touch her. Then Tess and Derek broke free of the surface and rose into the night. Beneath them, the Dark heaved and climbed, seeking to reach her. Threads streaked up, only to be stopped by the blue light still emanating from Tess. Their futile efforts fell behind and Tess did not look back.
She alighted on the summit of Mt. Everest, drawing the gaze of the two combatants. Alice's eyes flicked to her—and widened in shock. Siarra's expression lit with relief and joy. Setting Derek down away from the cliff, Tess strode through the devastation of their duel.
Snow and ice had been burned away, leaving gaping scars littering the area. The stone underneath had been rent, rising in the crumbled remains of golems, giants, and other entities. Whole sections of rock had been sheered off, left to fall while Siarra and Alice continued to battle.
