by B. T. Narro
There sounded to be genuine curiosity behind Airinold’s words, but Valinox took on a hardened look.
“I did what I had to survive you, brother. It doesn’t matter. I don’t need to explain myself. I am too powerful for you or anyone to stop, and I can finally reveal the change I am making to the mortal world.” He seemed now to be addressing the gathering crowd. “I have only ever wanted one thing. Mankind is troubled. You fight each other over such trifles, from the differences in your beliefs to your supplies of food. Laws will never fully protect you from one another. You require direction, or you will destroy each other. Under my guidance you will worship my father, and there will finally be order and lasting peace.”
“You can’t truly believe any of that,” Airinold said. Thousands had now come close to listen, but neither brother stole a glance away from the other. “Our father will never return.”
“He will. I can feel him watching. He will approve of everything I’ve done once he sees the order I’ve established. That’s when he will return and see that he was wrong to cast me aside.”
“And what is to happen to dteria and the thousands who use it in this paradise you describe?”
“Strict sanctions, oaths, and laws will turn the disorderly obedient,” Valinox replied. “Those with power will be rewarded with roles of enforcement and land to oversee. If they abuse that power, their punishment will be swift and severe.”
Failina spoke, “You mean to bring Nijja out of Fyrren to rule with you?”
“She might need some convincing, but she will see the right path eventually.” I had not seen this side of Valinox. It was almost as if he spoke sweetly about Nijja.
“This is not at all the right path,” Airinold said. “Peace through the destruction of dteria is the only way.”
Valinox lifted an eyebrow. “Who are you lying to? Is it our sisters, specifically, or is it everyone here listening?”
“What do you mean?” Airinold asked.
“Don’t you think I have learned enough about dteria by now to tell that it cannot be destroyed?”
“What?” Souriff said in anger.
“So you told them you could destroy it, I see,” Valinox said. “I may be many things, Airinold, but I’m not a liar like you.”
“You said you could undo it,” Failina accused Airinold. “Was that really a lie?”
Airinold’s shoulders drooped as he looked at Failina. “I wanted to create dteria in a way where I could destroy it, but it was impossible.”
Failina seemed weak in the knees as she looked away, while Souriff cursed her brother.
“What else is a lie?” Souriff asked. “Did you really make dteria to stop all the fighting, or did you do it for yourself?”
“Everything else I told you is true,” Airinold retorted. “Something had to be done to stop you and Valinox from destroying mankind. I knew I wouldn’t be able to completely undo dteria, but I trusted I would be able to control it. And it was working. Too well, in fact. There were so few people using dteria after I started hunting them down that I quickly became weak. I feared the two of you,” he told Souriff, “would band together and destroy me. Then everything would go back to how it was before. That is why I became Gourfist. I needed to maintain my power while continuing to threaten those who used dteria. I did not anticipate losing control to Gourfist. If I had managed to keep it, there would be no dteria today.
“It doesn’t need to be destroyed so long as it is managed. It is Valinox’s fault that it has gotten so out of hand. You told me yourselves. He has empowered a king in Rohaer who strives to spread dteria across not only his kingdom but Lycast as well. If Valinox used his power to stop the use of dteria, we would be looking at a peaceful world right now. You can’t blame the maker of the sword for war.”
“Everything I’ve done is for a good cause,” Valinox argued. “I wish to begin a new world.”
“In which you rule over everyone through fear,” Airinold said. “It would never work. There will be revolts. The people aren’t going to allow dark mages to govern them because dark mages behave like drunken men with bad morals who indulge their worst impulses. Even if there is no war, people will suffer more than they do now. You are not all-seeing. You cannot stop all forms of power abuse. You can only hope to prevent it through giving power to good people who will not abuse it. It is not too late to give up this notion and join the rest of your family, Valinox. Don’t you see that we all stand against you for good reason? You have become corrupted.”
“You do not have my vision,” Valinox said. “In the end you will see that I know what’s best, if you are still alive. Now these are my demands.” He glanced around, keeping a calm demeanor as he surveyed the crowd. When his eyes passed over the queen next to her daughter, the queen put her hand across Callie protectively. Valinox ignored them and met the king’s gaze as Nykal stood near the demigods.
“You will concede Lycast to me, king,” Valinox said. “You will do so by dismissing your army. My men will then spread across Lycast and take rule over each town. I have chosen my rulers wisely. They have good hearts and have not become corrupted by Airinold’s creation. They will rule without causing suffering. There will be enough crops so that mankind will live prosperously. So will you and your family, king. You will be given land like the other nobles who will report to me. So long as you obey my orders, you and the people you lord over will be happy. My orders will include ensuring that your people worship Basael, that no crimes are committed, and that enough food is made to feed everyone. Hard work and beneficial inventions will be rewarded, while crime will be punished. It has been too long since such a time existed.”
There were many of us surrounding Valinox, but I could feel a layer of dteria all around his head, while his chest was protected with armor. There was probably no way to get through with a surprise attack, but Hadley had come to stand beside me and we were sharing looks as she showed me the mana break stone she had cautiously taken from her pocket.
Before I could figure out whether Souriff or the other demigods would let us kill Valinox so dishonorably, he glowered at Hadley in a way that stilled my heart.
“What do you have there, witch?” he asked.
Everyone turned to Hadley. Her face reddened as she looked around nervously and pocketed the stone.
“You had better not be thinking about using one of those curses that disables mana,” he warned her. I wasn’t sure if he could feel it or if he’d just guessed it was what she had in mind. He continued, “Even if you are so dishonorable as to curse this area when I came to discuss peace, it won’t work. I will kill hundreds of you before I escape, and Basael will not punish me for it. Then I will never again give your king another chance for peace.”
The king gestured for Hadley not to do anything.
“Too risky,” I whispered.
She nodded and took her hand out of her pocket, leaving the stone there. Without a real plan in motion, and with so many people around, I was worried Valinox might be right. I didn’t think it would go as we hoped if all sorcery was disabled, even with all of us against him.
“Valinox,” Nykal said to regain the demigod’s attention. “In this plan of yours, what is to happen to the thousands of dark mages who will surely be upset when they are not rewarded for fighting in the war you instigated?”
“Some will be rewarded. The strongest and most trusted will be given nobility. Like you and the other nobles here, they will follow my strict rules and perform their duties. The others who have become too corrupted will be killed if they cannot show change. Some of these people exhibit the worst qualities of mankind I have ever had the displeasure of encountering. Airinold’s creation has done well to bring them to light. I will destroy them myself, if need be, but only after I have victory.”
“Knowing you,” Airinold said, “this could all be a trick used to push our army back.”
Valinox appeared insulted. “I have only ever wanted peace,” he claimed. “It is why I’ve s
trived to rule over mankind. This is not a trick. Your defeat is inevitable, King Nykal. You must see that you cannot hope to stop my army. This is your only chance to avoid the slaughter of your people. Let them live so they can help you help me. Together, we will bring peace to the kingdoms. We will unify and become so powerful that this peace can spread across the whole world. All I ask is that you move back your army and send Jon Oklar with me. I’m sure you’ve heard by now that there is a sickness spreading. He, along with Souriff, will put an end to it before it gets out of hand. When the dust settles, I will replace Frederick Garlin with a new king who will better help me bring peace to Rohaer.”
I was starting to see how Valinox had convinced so many people to fight for him. Even though I had wanted to kill him with my own hands just a moment ago, I felt that I could believe in him if I let myself.
Of course I wouldn’t. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was whether he was telling the truth and really thought he could change the world as he described, or if he was lying to all of us, and this new world would be even worse than the one left behind. Either way, I wasn’t going to stand around and let it happen, and I was sure the others here wouldn’t as well.
“You look at me as if I lie,” Valinox told his siblings. “Fine. It is your right to mistrust me. But you will see by the end of the battle that I came here with the truth. I wanted to spare the lives of people. After you retreat and lose many of your valuable sorcerers, I will still allow Souriff to come to me and give up on behalf of Lycast. That is because I am generous. However, the longer this goes on, the less generous I will be feeling. Keep that in mind as your people die and the end draws near.”
He gathered dteria around him as if to take off.
“Do you want to hear the truth that Caarda told me about our father?” Airinold asked, stopping him.
Valinox had turned away, but he looked back over his shoulder. “What are you talking about?”
“It was something he said before he locked himself away for centuries.”
Valinox appeared confused. “Caarda is gone.”
“No one told you that he’s still alive?” Airinold asked, looking at his sisters.
“We haven’t had the chance,” Souriff said.
“It’s true,” Failina told Valinox. “Caarda is alive. We’ve seen him.”
Valinox looked as if he was torn between believing them or cussing them out for toying with him.
“He couldn’t bear his grief,” Airinold explained, “so he removed himself from our world in his own way. I don’t know when he will return, but I believe that he will.”
“What do you mean removed himself?” Valinox asked. “Where is he?”
“He trapped himself in a pocket of time and is inaccessible to us. He had visions of the future and knew this was the only way he could survive all these years without killing himself. He told me something right before he shut himself out. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but I see now that it’s the truth. It’s something I think everyone has the right to know, especially you, Valinox. I warn you, though. It changes everything. You will never believe it unless you are open to it. If you can’t manage that, you might as well leave right now.”
I was surprised to see Valinox listening with rapt attention. I didn’t know what it was about Caarda that seemed to bring out a different side of these demigods. I could only hope to find out one day.
“Go on,” Valinox said.
“Caarda told me that mana is part of the world, part of our life, of our existence,” Airinold said. “Which means it wasn’t created by our father.”
Valinox scoffed. “You lie. Caarda wouldn’t speak blasphemously about our father.”
“I swear that Caarda spoke these words to me. He said there are other forms of sorcery besides mana and that Basael did something to accentuate mana in our world: He created a bubble, a dome of some kind, which keeps mana from leaving, intensifying it over the years. This same dome keeps out other forms of sorcery that would normally be in the air and are also part of our existence. There are likely other places in the world where sorcery is very different from here. The people there probably don’t have the same access to mana as we do but find these other forms of sorcery more readily available. There are likely other beings like Basael who have toyed with these forms of sorcery. I’m sure you see what this means. You cannot live in dedication to our father, a false idol. He is not even a god. He’s just a powerful being with a long life, as are his children.”
Anger twisted Valinox’s face. “I should kill you right now for speaking like that against Basael.”
“I’m trying to open your mind,” Airinold replied, seemingly unafraid.
I was surprised to see Failina and Souriff appear shocked as well.
“You didn’t tell us any of this,” Failina told her brother.
“There’s much more.” There was something in Airinold’s tone that made me inclined to believe him—a certain desperation, as if he knew they couldn’t possibly take his word for it but hoped against all odds they just might trust him.
“What you say doesn’t make sense,” Souriff glared at her brother. “How could we create schools of magic if mana already existed in its current form as you imply?”
“I know it has been a long time since you think you ‘created’ something, but if it was fresher in your mind you might realize that you didn’t create it. You shaped mana into what you wanted and you held it there.” Airinold made a fist. “You held it and held it. You’ve held it for so long that it is a part of you, but without you, your ‘creation’ would slowly stop existing.”
“You’re not making any sense,” Souriff said.
“No, I think he is. Keep going,” Failina said.
“Mana is complicated beyond comprehension, but we are able to grasp pieces of understanding,” Airinold continued. “What we know is that mana can be altered in nearly permanent ways. Think of mana like a clear mind that has no knowledge. It has the capability of learning just about anything, given the right instruction. As beings like us grow from children to adults, we become connected to mana in such a way that we can teach it to work differently. Doing so requires a huge amount of force, and this force has to come from somewhere. In our case, it comes from us and leaves us through our connection to mana. We use this force to change how mana works. It doesn’t necessarily weaken us in the same sense that age or an illness will weaken a mortal.
“We are feeding some of our power into mana, and this transition of power remains nearly permanent, connecting us to the specific changes we made. If we were able to take back what we put into mana, we should regain the power we lost, and mana will be changed back to how it was. That is why we are not creating a school of magic but taking mana and twisting it so some of its properties become more accessible than others. In the process, we are making it nearly impossible for sorcerers to access forms of mana that once would’ve been accessible to them, but we are making other forms of mana easier to reach.”
Leon lifted his finger at Airinold. “Holy shit.”
I suddenly remembered something Jennava had said about Leon. She had never met anyone else who understood mana better. So to see him have this reaction, like this epiphany was about to cause his eyes to bulge out of his head, turned me around completely. I no longer wondered whether Airinold was telling the truth. All I could think about was what this meant going forward.
Failina said, “But that would mean that our father lied to us…about everything.”
“Yes, and even after a hundred more centuries, Lina, I think you’re too good to ever see why that is. So allow me to explain it and tell you how Caarda figured it out. Our father wanted all of us to be weak compared to him. He pushed the strongest of us to give up the most power. It is why he was so demanding about Caarda following in all of your footsteps. Basael was threatened by his lastborn because he knew that Caarda might eventually figure out our father’s plans before it was too late to stop them. He was the rul
er over dteria. He expected one of us to find it and spread it across mankind so that he could always lord over us.”
“That can’t be true,” Souriff said, but her stricken expression indicated she feared it was.
“It explains why Father never showed love toward us, toward mankind, or ever ‘created’ any schools of magic of his own,” Airinold continued. “He had already given up much of his power to prevent us from accessing other forms of sorcery. The rest of his power went into maintaining a connection to all of us through the use of mana so that he would have control over however we used it. He then pushed one of us to create something like dteria, which would take power from mortals and feed it to us, but more would transfer to him.
“We haven’t felt this dome around our world that Basael made, but Caarda has. He also realized that Basael did not anticipate his own death. Now that he is gone, his dome weakens with each passing year. That is why all of us are not as powerful as we used to be, not because of age, but because the mana we are connected to and depend upon for our strength is not as potent as it once was. Caarda told me all of this, and like you, my kin, I did not want to believe it at first. But why would Caarda lie? He’s never had any reason to, and I don’t either. You can believe what you want, Valinox, but you should at least hear the truth. Going to war in order to force mankind to worship Basael is probably exactly what Basael wanted, but is it right? That’s what you should be asking yourself.”
A man I did not know suddenly thrust a dagger at the back of Valinox’s head. It got stuck in the dteria the man obviously did not know was there. Valinox spun around and grabbed the man’s arm and broke it with a quick twist as he howled in pain. The demigod kicked the man as he fell, flipping him into the dense crowd.
