by Tamryn Tamer
“I’m going to beat it out of him! Mice! Cowards!” Jinx announced while jumping off the wall. The blazing spectral tigress landed in the center of a group of reapers and released a powerful roar. A shockwave of spirit energy blasted through the crowd of reapers stunning them and Jinx leaped toward death.
Several disoriented reapers attempted to block her approach but Jinx quickly brutalized them. The lucky ones died quickly with a punch or kick breaking their necks. The unlucky ones were, well, unlucky.
“This is really difficult to watch,” Morgana winced as Jinx killed her way through the crowd. “Does she need to be so brutal?”
“Don’t worry, she’s just in a bad mood,” Ariel said while patting Morgana’s back. “It’s not like she’s enjoying killing them because they look like you.”
“I wasn’t even thinking that!” Morgana said suddenly more concerned with the carnage.
“Well,” Mirage smiled wickedly while shapeshifting into a clone of Morgana. “I can’t let her have all the fun.”
The shapeshifter blinked into the middle of the crowd and reapers started spontaneously dying as Mirage blinked around jamming her knife into whatever reaper was unfortunate enough not to be paying attention.
“Master,” Theia nodded at Jericho. “I’m going to bring you his head.”
“We need his soul,” Jericho said pensively. “But if you can bring his head, sure, why not?”
Theia flew off the roof and went straight for Death as he floated in the distance. The Primordial vanished and instantly was behind Theia. The Seraph spun around and attempted to parry his scythe with her golden spear but it was sliced in half.
“I’m going to help Theia,” Ariel said while pulling out a golden vine whip covered in thorns. Jericho glanced at the whip and Ariel must have realized what he was thinking. “Cynthia’s been giving me lessons.”
“That’s scary,” Jericho said as Ariel rushed to support Theia. Jericho knew neither of them could stand against Death but there was also no harm in them trying. As long as he had their souls, he could make them replacement bodies.
Sable and Luna jumped off the roof and began pummeling reapers as they made their way to the Primordial as it battled Ariel and Theia in the sky. Jinx nearly reached him but the others would need to bring him down to her level first.
“I suppose I better get down there,” Talia said while giving Morgana a kiss on the cheek. “Just so you know my love, I’m not going to enjoy this one bit.”
“I know,” Morgana pouted as Talia pulled out her dagger and jumped off the roof. Morgana turned to Jericho and shook her head. “I can’t watch. You should probably start making her body now. She can’t fight at all.”
“Actually,” Valaria tiled her head as she looked down at the horde of reapers surrounding the blonde time witch. “I don’t know if that’s going to be a problem…”
“Huh?” Morgana looked over the edge of the wall to see that every reaper that got anywhere near Talia immediately dropped their scythe and began stroking her hair. The time witch, while initially confused, seemed to be in heaven. “You whores! Keep your hands off her! She’s mine!”
Morgana pulled out a large black scythe similar to her father’s and jumped down into the crowd. The enraged reaper began bloodily blending up her clones in a murderous fury. By the time Morgana was finished slicing up her siblings Jinx’s assault almost seemed like a peaceful protest in comparison.
“I’ll kill you all!” Morgana screamed as she rushed into another group. “Keep your hands off her!”
“Sibling rivalries,” Valaria sighed. “It reminds me of my brothers and sisters. I suppose it’s my turn now.”
“Oh,” Jericho chuckled. “You’re going down there?”
“Absolutely not,” Valaria chuckled while moving her finger as if she were drawing on the air in front of her. “But watch this.”
An enormous chimera emerged in the center of the battlefield and tore through reapers like they were nothing. The reapers blades of their weapons were ineffective against the soulless beast so the reapers resorted to beating it with the staff portion of their scythes. Eventually it was overrun but by then Valaria had created a dragon elsewhere.
“This is actually kind of fun,” Valaria laughed as she shifted from creating monsters to monstrosities. One of them seemed to be just a giant mouth with a hundred tongues that attempted to drag reapers to their deaths. “Oh, that’s a keeper.”
“Disgusting creatures!” Death roared as he attempted to crush them with his spirit. Jericho felt pain shooting through every fiber of his being and watched as his familiars fell to their knees. He looked on as both Theia and Ariel went plummeting to the ground. Theia’s shield was on its last leg and Ariel was missing an arm.
“Shit,” Jericho said as he compressed his spirit and used it to protect both him and Valaria. Even Death’s own reapers had dropped to their knees under the force of their creator’s spirit. The force increased as Jericho felt his insides contorted like a knife was being twisted inside of him. Even with his powerful spirit, he wanted to pass out.
“Don’t call my family disgusting! Wretch! Creep!” Jinx roared as her blue flames exploded into a wildfire encompassing the entire battlefield. Jericho felt the weight from Death’s spirit decrease as Jinx’s pushed against it. His furious familiar focused her power upward as she challenged Death.
“Valaria,” Jericho said as he watched his fairy familiar attempted to stand back up only to fall back down. Even with Jinx keeping Death’s spirit at bay, all of his familiars were still struggling and Jinx couldn’t last forever. “Will you be fine here on your own?”
“Of course,” Valaria shrugged. “Technically I’m not even really here.”
“Great,” Jericho said while handing the familiars’ souls to Valaria. “I’m giving these to you. Do you accept?”
“No,” Valaria said while caressing his cheek. “They’re safer with you. You are immortal after all. Or have you forgotten?”
“Immortal?” Jericho had forgotten. He had access to both death and life magic but he didn’t understand what that meant. He didn’t know how to use it. “I don’t…”
“Stop thinking about it,” Valaria said as she pecked his cheek. “You’re a mage. Now go perform magic.”
Jericho smirked as he realized she was right. He was a mage and he’d faced off against the most powerful opponents in Forbidden Arcana. This was just another opponent and he had no intention of losing. He jumped off the wall and shapeshifted a pair of Seraph wings.
“The infestation needs to be eradicated,” Death growled as he blinked next to Jericho. Jericho quickly moved to dodged Death’s scythe and was nearly touched by his glowing white hand. While his familiars only needed to worry about the scythe, Jericho had to worry about both.
“Kill him you idiot! I can’t do this all day! Bastard! Cheapskate!” Jinx roared as Jericho evaded Death’s swings.
“Die, die, die,” Death said firing off fire magic toward Jericho. Jericho quickly created a vacuum to put the fire out and replied with a series of explosive snaps. The explosions did nothing to Death as the Primordial fired off more attacks forcing Jericho to evade.
“You can do it master!” Ariel said while climbing to her knees.
Jericho knew he had it. He had to have it because if he didn’t Death was going to erase everybody in the game. All of his friends, all of his familiars, all of his followers. He wasn’t about to allow that even if it cost him everything.
“Die!” Death said as he sliced Jericho’s arm off. “Die! Die! Die!”
“So much for immortal,” Jericho said while glancing at his arm and evading another strike. He started to shapeshift a replacement arm and remembered there was a better way. He focused on the area around him and a new flawless arm emerged. Then death took his other arm. “Goddammit!”
The Primordial was either increasing in speed or Jericho was getting slower. Additionally, the weight of the spiritual aura was increas
ing as Jinx dropped to her knees. His familiar was doing her best but she was quickly reaching her limit.
He only lost a hand on the next attack and the speed at which he grew limbs was increasing. The more he used life magic the easier it became as he stopped thinking about the individual pieces and recognized patterns.
Jericho felt a sharp pain in his torso as the scythe took a large chunk out of him. Death tried to follow up by touching his head but Jericho managed to blink away. His speed was definitely decreasing as Death appeared in front of him before his blink could even finish.
Jericho pivoted to escape and suddenly felt Death’s hand on the back of his head. The one in front of him had been an illusion. He started to black out as the sound of his familiars’ screams echoed inside of him.
He felt death slowly tearing out his soul as easily as a nurse drew blood. He was furious with himself. He was so stupid and he lost.
No. He didn’t want to lose. He was a mage. And he hadn’t lost yet. He could still feel his soul being pulled from him and pulled back. If death could pull a soul out, Jericho was going to hold it in. With every ounce of his being Jericho willed his soul to stay and for a moment it stopped. But just a moment as Death pulled even harder.
The souls of his familiars echoed inside of him. He wasn’t fighting alone. He tapped into the souls of his familiars and instantly he felt his power grow. Jericho’s soul slowly returned to his body and he opened his eyes. Jericho smacked Death’s hand away before blinking away.
“That’s not going to work,” Jericho said as he felt the power of his familiars’ souls surging through him. Death blinked behind him and sliced off both of his arms but they instantly grew back. The Primordial followed up by trying to rip his soul out again but couldn’t get a grip on it.
Jericho threw a punch at the Primordial and watched as the powerful being went flying backward. Jericho looked down at his hand and realized it was glowing white, just like Deaths. As he stared at his hand, he realized it wasn’t a hand but concentrated souls.
He scanned the battlefield and all of the scythes were the same material. That’s when everything started to click. The scythe Jericho used to remove Death’s soul didn’t work because it just merged back with him.
Jericho smiled as Death approached him wildly swinging his scythe. Jericho dashed backward to avoid the swing while concentrating on the souls of his familiars. He envisioned the little marbles inside of him and all of the power they’d accumulated. Then he pictured a weapon.
Jericho held out his hand as a glowing white sword formed in his hand. The blade looked no different than those the reapers were using but it was completely different. It was different because it was made out of the most powerful souls in Forbidden Arcana, those of his familiars.
“Die!” Death roared as he swung his scythe at Jericho. Jericho countered with his blade infused with the souls of his familiars and sliced right through death. This time the blade didn’t disappear, instead, Jericho felt the blade connect as it tore out Death’s soul.
Jericho quickly snagged the glowing marble and felt an overwhelming urge to release it.
“Shit,” Jericho said as the soul attempted to return to its body. “Shit, shit, shit.”
“Here!” Valaria yelled while opening a portal. “Hurry!”
“Right,” Jericho said as he blinked toward the portal as fast as he could. He looked back to see Death’s body chasing him as he rushed through and appeared outside the enormous gold temple. He rushed toward the front gate of the palace and pressed his hand on it.
Jericho froze as he appeared inside of the golden palace. The enormous red dragon was sleeping in the corner. Jericho glanced around the room trying to figure out of he should just toss the soul or put it in a jar. He definitely wasn’t going to put it in the dragon.
Jericho grinned as he twirled his finger and created a snapping turtle. He held the soul up to the turtle’s mouth and the turtle eagerly devoured it. The turtle’s eyes started to glow and it attempted to snap Jericho several times.
Jericho pointed to the dragon and held his finger to his mouth signaling the trapped Primordial to be quiet. The turtle looked back at the dragon and then at Jericho.
“Die!” Death’s dark voice emanated from the turtle and woke the dragon which immediately fixated on Jericho.
“Shit,” Jericho sprinted to the door as the dragon’s fiery breath nearly got him a second time. He appeared outside of the golden palace and sighed. He focused on the stronghold and imagined being there and he was standing right next to Valaria.
“You’re back so soon,” Valaria said cheerfully as the legion of reapers laid dead on the ground. “Looks like we won.”
“Looks like,” Jericho said as his familiars gathered each other up. “Can’t say I’m surprised.”
“So modest,” Valaria laughed. “But I suppose you have a right to be a little cocky. By the way, everybody’s still furious with you. Any plans on how to cheer them up?”
“I have some ideas,” Jericho smiled.
Chapter 15
Wedding Mayhem
“If anybody objects, let them speak now or…” Cynthia couldn’t even finish the sentence.
“I object! Bastards! Assholes!” Jinx yelled.
“I object!” Ariel chimed in. “I object a million times! A million objections!”
“I’m afraid I also object,” Theia crossed her arms.
“You’re all ridiculous,” Valaria laughed happily. “I love it! Okay, I object too!”
“We all object!” Talia said while gesturing to the entire room of furious familiars and followers. “It’s unfair! It’s ridiculous!”
“Does it really matter my love?” Morgana stroked Talia’s hair. “As long as I get to marry you, I’m content.”
“But I wanted to be the first wife!” Talia pouted. “How does she get to be the first wife?”
“I warned you all this would happen,” Mirage said smugly. “And you all had the nerve to treat me like I was the crazy one.”
“I didn’t think you were crazy,” Luna smiled as she took down a glass of champagne. “Maybe it’s just all that time I spent peeping but it was obvious to anybody with eyes.”
“It’s not as though I was going to be the first wife anyway,” Sable pouted. “But it should have been one of us.”
“Listen here,” Jericho growled at his rabble-rousing familiars. “First wife isn’t even a real thing. It’s literally something you all made up.”
“If it’s nothing then marry me first! Liar! Trickster!” Jinx said furiously.
“Quiet!” Terra yelled while throwing her bouquet at the group of familiars. “I swear to god if you all keep arguing I’ll be the only wife and you’ll all be mistresses!”
“You can’t do that!” Ariel yelled. “Cynthia! Tell her that she can’t do that! It’s not fair! You’re the one that asked us if we wanted to object!”
“You really can’t do that,” Cynthia glared threateningly at Terra. “Jericho will marry Ariella whether he likes it or not.”
“And Jinx!” Kadra chimed in while cracking her knuckles. “And you can’t be mad at them for objecting when you’re the ones that asked if there were objections!”
“You should make me the first wife just to spite them all,” Valaria said cheerfully. The playful goddess was having far too much fun with everything. “I’d make such a wonderful first wife.”
“There’s no such thing as first wife,” Jericho groaned. “I’m just marrying Terra first! She’s not going to be my first wife. She’s my best friend and my partner.”
“She’s a stripper whore!” Jinx snapped. “Your wife is a stripper whore! Cheater! Adulterer!”
“First wife,” Terra goaded the manic familiar.
“I’m going to kill her,” Jinx yelled as her spectral wolf bridesmaids held her back. “I’m going to kill the elf slut! Bitch! Harlot!”
Jericho tried not to laugh at the ridiculousness of everything. They were all
standing outside in some of the most beautiful wedding gowns he’d ever seen and yet they still couldn’t stop themselves from fighting.
He knew they’d wear him down eventually so he decided to bite the bullet and marry all of them at once. The only real problem was their ridiculous competition over who was going to marry him first. He knew whoever married him first was going to end up the enemy of all of the other familiars but fortunately there was a simple solution to that.
“Can we continue?” Cynthia asked. “We have a lot of these to get through.”
“Right,” Jericho said while grabbing Terra’s hands.
“What are you smiling about?” Terra asked while trying not to smile. “This is only to keep your familiars from killing each other.”
“Are you saying we can’t have fun on our honeymoon?” Jericho smiled playfully. “And you don’t love me.”
“I didn’t say that,” Terra winked. “But remember I’m not one of your familiars and I’m not going to fawn over you.”
“I don’t think we need to worry about that. I’ve always been the one fawning over you,” Jericho grinned.
“Oh, shut up,” Terra said as her face turned red.
“I agree,” Cynthia said coldly. “If you don’t shut up and let me get through this, I’ll gag you all. Probably should have done that to everybody from the start.”
“Okay,” Jericho laughed. “I get it. Let’s get on with it.”
“Do you Jericho, take Terra to be your wife?” Cynthia asked.
“I do,” Jericho answered.
“Do you Terra, take Jericho to be your husband?” Cynthia smiled as she waited for Terra to respond. “Now’s your chance to back out while you can.”
“Really?” Jericho chuckled. “I can’t believe you.”
“I do,” Terra laughed.
“I now pronounce you man and wife,” Cynthia smirked at Jericho. “You may kiss the bride.”
Jericho grabbed Terra by the waist and kissed her as the familiars looking on groaned and lamented. Terra waived her hand furiously at the group as she slipped her tongue into Jericho’s mouth. He tried to pull away but with her free hand she grabbed him by the shirt collar and held him there until she was finished.
