by John Corwin
A battle mage kicked my wand from my hand. I twisted sideways and knocked his feet from beneath him. The man screamed as his face found a patch of burning stone. I leapt on his back and rammed his head against the stone over and over until I panted from the exertion. Blood sizzled as it spread across the floor. I looked for my wand, but it had slid across the corridor to the group of mages battling Ivy.
The magitsu masters squared off again. Kanaan dodged around another shockwave attack and ducked beneath Garkin's defenses. But the master of strength slammed the agility master's wand aside. His fist glowed and glanced off Kanaan's shoulder. Kanaan spun through the air and slid across the floor.
He stood, brushed off his robes and positioned himself for another attack. Already, he wore the same expression he'd had the last time Garkin defeated him. Kanaan didn't believe he could beat Garkin. And he couldn't, so long as he attacked him head-on. But how did you sneak up on a stone?
Kanaan charged. Garkin's eyes narrowed. He slashed his staff through the air and a cascade of aether spread out, revealing an invisible form coming from the side. The illusion of Kanaan shattered, and Garkin met the camouflaged man with a blast of energy.
The agility master flew backward and slammed into the wall. Blood trickled from his nose and a cut on his forehead. He pushed to his feet unsteadily.
I felt completely useless without my wand. I turned over the dead mage. He'd fallen on his wand and snapped it. I took it anyway, but my attempts to focus through it fizzled out.
My palms and the backs of my hands tingled with all the useless aether around me. Without a wand, all I could do was watch. The more I drew in, the more my hands tingled. Blood trickled from the scabs where Moses had scrubbed them.
What had he said before I left him? Focus your power here. With these you don't need a—a what?
Kanaan tried to rise, but fell. Blood dripped from multiple wounds. Ivy tried to help him, but more battle mages poured around the corner and it was all she could do to shield herself from their attacks.
"Weak," Garkin growled. "The only way is strength, Kanaan."
Kanaan shook his head, but couldn't even look up as Garkin towered over him. "No one way is perfect, Garkin. You are a blight on magitsu."
Garkin gripped Kanaan's hair and pulled back his head. "Then die a weakling."
"No!" I shouted. Wand or not, I ran at Garkin as his glowing fist swung down on Kanaan's head.
His fist crunched on an invisible shield. Bones splintered and burst through his hand. Kanaan swung lithely up and buried a wand in Garkin's left nostril. The insides of his skull burst into light. His eyes cooked in their sockets. Gray-streaked blood poured from his ears and his teeth shattered in his mouth.
Garkin toppled like a statue, dead as a rock.
Ivy had finished off the other group of battle mages, but sweat poured down her forehead and her chest heaved. She was exhausted.
I grabbed my wand and ran toward the cavern entrance. The area around the mansion was deserted. Victus must have sent the other mages to fight us on the hill. The only way to recall them was through the omniarch and we controlled it—for now.
I darted toward the mansion. The door hung open. I peered inside and a spell sizzled past my head. I ducked and dove inside, rolled left to dodge another attack. Victus stood in the foyer, the grand staircase behind him. His wand crackled with energy.
His lips spread into a wicked grin. "Where are your friends, boy? Did Garkin kill them?"
"Garkin is dead. Your mages are dead." I readied a shield spell. "My friends are coming and you're all out of allies. Give up now."
I saw a blur out of the corner of my eyes. Ducked. Zarin zipped past and tore the wand from my hand. He blurred behind Victus and snapped my wand in half. "I think you're the one who needs to give up."
A roar of pure rage tore from my throat.
Victus smirked, just as he had when he killed Delectra. The tingling in my hands rose to a searing burn. I tried to release the aether, but it kept building and building, pressing against my insides until I couldn't stand it anymore. I tried to stop aetherating, but it was as if a dam had burst. Pure energy flooded me.
My father aimed his wand and unleashed a crackling bolt of energy. I threw up my hands, calling on the shield spell. Light burst from my palms and a shimmering barrier absorbed the blow. Blue fire flared from the scabs on the backs of my hands, sparking like gunpowder. I fought back the pain and deflected another strike from Victus's wand.
"What is this?" Victus roared.
An image of Moses flashed before my eyes and I knew exactly what it was. "It's the first power."
"In a boy?" Victus launched another salvo. I intercepted it with more shields. He fired again and again. It took everything I had to meet his attacks.
My insides burned. Sweat burned my eyes. I wiped it away with a sleeve.
Zarin blurred toward me. I cast another barrier. He slammed into it with a crunch and fell in a heap.
Victus lowered his wand. "Impressive, boy." He bared a smile. "You've proven yourself worthy. Join me. Make me proud."
"You killed my mother. You killed Cora. You've killed too many people, Father." I barely held onto the scalding cauldron of energy in my well. "The only thing I want to make you is dead."
His wand flashed toward me. This time, I didn't try to block his attack. I ran forward and slid beneath a jagged bolt of death. I wove my hand in the pattern Delectra's soul had taught me. Binding together destruction upon destruction. Ruby fire danced in my palm.
I leapt to my feet and cast Fireblade.
Scarlet beams lanced from the ends of my fingers. Victus tried to shield himself at the last minute, but it wasn't enough. I cut through his barriers and slashed off his right arm. Slashed again and his other hand flopped to the floor.
Victus screamed in agony. Fell to the floor writhing.
I abandoned magic. Leapt on his prone form and pummeled him with my fists. Gripped his hair and slammed the back of his head against the floor over and over again. I stopped when I realized he was no longer screaming. No longer struggling.
I held up bloodied hands, shocked at my raw savagery. Victus's eyes gazed blankly up at the ceiling. Crimson pooled beneath his crushed skull.
A terrible thought occurred to me. What if this is another infernus? What if he's tricked me again? I couldn't let the questions go unanswered. Macabre as it was, I needed to know. I sliced open his chest with Fireblade. Blood sizzled and poured from the wound. Inside, I found no soulsphere, only organs and flesh.
Horrified at what I'd done, I squirmed backward through his blood and stared at the body.
"Conrad!" Ivy ran up to me and dragged me backward. Blood painted the floor in my wake.
I convulsed. Rolled over and threw up the contents of my stomach. Heaved until only acid dribbled from my mouth.
"Wow, that was savage." Ivy grimaced. "I saw you fight him at the end. You used your hands to cast spells."
I couldn't reply. I was too numb. Too raw. I didn't feel any better with Victus dead. If anything, I felt worse.
"How did you do it?" she asked.
"The first power." Kanaan's voice was rough. He limped in. "There's no time to waste. We must return to the hilltop. Victus's forces may still attack. We can bring everyone here through the omniarch and get them out of harm's way."
Ivy groaned and dragged me to my feet. "I'm so tired."
I wiped the blood on my pants. The thought of Ambria dying to an onslaught of monsters brought me back to my senses and gave me energy. "Let's go." I ran back to the omniarch room, leaving Ivy and Kanaan behind. I opened a portal to the hilltop. Screams and shouts rose from the other side. Explosions rocked the air.
I dashed through. Ambria and Max stood down the crest, fists raised. They weren't screaming in horror. They were cheering.
Scores of massive wasps buzzed overhead, striking down the giant crows. Scorpions the size of cars stung frogres, bistaurs, and dragophants in the tr
ees below. Towering mantises speared monsters, and twenty-foot-long centipedes coiled around battle mages. Scores of ruby spiders tangled with their mortal enemies, the cobalts.
In the middle of it all, Evadora rode the giant tragon, shrieking with delight as it smashed and burned anything in its way.
Nightliss stood with the small group of professors and my friends. She channeled a translucent shield, blocking the attacks of any creatures who made it past our monster army.
The battle was a slaughter and we were on the winning side.
I collapsed, suddenly bone weary, unable to take another step. "They did it," I rasped. "They did it."
Ambria's lovely face filled my view. Tears poured from her eyes. "Conrad, are you okay?"
I nodded. "Victus is dead. You're alive. I'm okay." And then I blacked out.
Chapter 35
We left Victus's dead to rot in the Dark Forest. Cora returned the giant bugs to the underground forest. At the request of the ruby spiders, she brought up a few of the giant crickets for breeding so the rubies could enjoy the delicacies.
Dozens of rubies had died, but hundreds of the cobalts lay dead. With the population of the cobalt spiders decimated in the fighting, the ruby queen sent soldiers to capture the webbed city so they could assimilate the living into their culture instead of killing them.
Shushiel was among those tasked with the effort. Bobbing with happiness, she told us of her new position.
"Do you really think the last of the cobalts will live with their mortal enemies?" Ambria asked.
Shushiel's forelegs rose in the approximation of a shrug. "I don't know, but we have hope. It would be terrible to kill them all."
We hugged her goodbye and watched her and a platoon of ruby soldiers crawl off into the forest.
"Will you just go?" Evadora shoved the great beast, but the tragon thudded after her, whining like a giant dog. She groaned.
"What did you do to him?" Max asked.
Evadora leaned back against a giant tragon leg and sighed. "He was just really happy that I could talk to him. He's a lot more intelligent than Victus thought, but his instinctual drive is so high, he can't always control himself."
"Sounds like a typical man." Ambria nudged me and grinned.
"So, you just asked him to help and he agreed?" Max asked.
"No." The tragon lowered its head and Evadora patted it. He yawned, revealing a maw that could easily swallow an elephant. "Drago chased me around and tried to eat me, so I climbed on his head and started talking to him. It took a while to learn his language, but once I did, he started telling me how sad and lonely he is."
"He's the only one of his kind," Ambria said.
Evadora wiped away a tear. "I know. It's awful."
"I love you, Evie." Ivy clapped her hands together. "You're crazy!"
Evadora grinned. "I think we could be best friends, Ivy."
Max snorted. "You two are the definition of free spirited."
"Does Drago know Victus is dead?" I asked.
Evadora growled and roared in convincing but miniature fashion compared to the giant tragon.
The tragon reared back its head and trumpeted. Fire blasted a hundred feet into the sky. His tiny wings fluttered, and his ridiculous little arms flailed.
"He's pretty happy," Evadora confirmed. "Drago tried to eat Victus once because he was so furious about the size of his arms."
"For real!" Ivy shook her head. "Poor Drago can't even use a spoon."
Max scratched his head. "Why would he ever use a spoon?"
"There are potions for repairing shrunken limbs," I said. "Maybe Percival could make something to grow out Drago's arms."
Evadora's eyes flared. "That would be wonderful!" She relayed the good news to Drago, who nearly burned down a tree in his jubilation.
"So does this mean he's our friend now?" Max asked.
Evadora shook her head. "Oh, no, not at all. He keeps asking to eat you."
Max shrank back. "But I thought he liked us!"
"Yes, he likes you, but only as prey." Evadora giggled. "He's such a brute."
Cora emerged from the entrance to the caves and smiled radiantly at me. "The creatures of the underground forest are back in place." She perched on a rock. "Did you know that there's another underground even below that one?"
"Wow, how deep does it go?" Max said.
"I don't think it's a matter of depth, but a matter of stepping sideways."
Max blinked. "Huh?"
My forehead pinched. "What do you mean?"
Cora waved her arms around at the forest. "Queens Gate is part of Eden, but it is also a part of the Glimmer." She interlocked her fingers. "The two realms overlap where the anchor stone binds them together."
"Just like the Grotto and the other pocket dimensions," Ambria said.
Cora nodded. "What I did not realize is that all the realms seem to overlap here. Just as Queens Gate is underground to Eden, so are the other realms underground to this pocket dimension."
I jumped up and froze when Drago's predatory gaze locked onto me like a cat eyeing a mouse. It took a moment to remember my question. "Does that mean we can reach Seraphina?"
"Yes, and no," Cora said. "The Arcanes of Eden discovered the pocket dimensions and excavated the earth to reach them. I could find no exits from the insect realm, and didn't go down to the next overlap to search for exits. It's possible they exist, but it would require a major expedition to search them."
"That's amazing." Ambria looked toward the cave. "Can you imagine what we might find down that hole?"
"Down the rabbit hole." Kanaan stepped up beside me. "Unfortunately, we cannot rest."
"Yeah, we've got to rescue my big brother." Ivy's lips flattened. "We don't have long before Voltis aligns with Eden, and I don't want to miss it."
"At least the danger to Eden is gone," Ambria said.
"Not true." Kanaan spread his gaze around the group. "I bound Zarin in sleeper cuffs after Conrad's fight with Victus. After the battle, I questioned him. He is also eager to reach Seraphina and find his sister Aerianas, so he answered all my questions."
Dread rose up my throat. "What did he tell you?"
Kanaan folded his arms across his chest. "Victus was in league with a demon overlord. This is how he ferried troops to the Glimmer through a demon portal. Zarin discovered during his construction of the foundry that this overlord is acting on orders from Baal."
"Victus didn't know that?" Max asked.
"Victus cooperated with Baal years ago, but discovered the grand overlord was only doing it to further his own interests." Kanaan let that sink in a moment. "Zarin questioned many demons during his construction of the foundry. He believes Baal may have subverted Victus's plans in Seraphina and that Baal is the one collecting Relics of Jura."
My heart froze to ice. "The most powerful demon of all is trying to reconstruct Jura? He wants to bring all the realms back together?"
Kanaan shook his head. "Unknown. Zarin has agreed to find more information if we go to Seraphina and discover the fate of Aerianas."
Ambria's looked aghast. "Can we trust him even a little bit?"
"Uncertain." Kanaan shook his head again. "This is certain—we must discover the fate of Justin Slade and the realm of Seraphina. We must put a stop to the relic hunter, or worlds will collide and billions will die."
Max groaned. "Just when I thought it was safe to take a nap."
"We have weeks until the alignment with Voltis," Kanaan said. "For now, we rest and prepare."
"What about the rest of Victus's infernus?" I asked. "Who's going to restore the government?"
"Galfandor and the professors have accepted the challenge," Kanaan said. "It is the best we can do for now."
Evadora thrust her hand into the air. "I want to go to Seraphina."
"Yes!" Ivy hugged the silver-skinned girl. "We're going to have the best time ever."
Cora's gaze grew distant. "I was there once, but I cannot remember how or why.
Perhaps I should come."
My heart rose. "You would do that?"
She smiled and took my hand. "It would give me a chance to get to know my son all over again."
Tears stung my eyes. "I'd like that."
Kanaan looked at the blackened wounds on the backs of my hands. "We have not had a chance to talk about Victus."
My stomach roiled at the violent images from my fight with my father. I held up my hands and showed the fresh burns on my palms. "Somehow, I cast spells through my hands." I looked at my fingertips, but they were unharmed despite casting Fireblade through them. "Zarin broke my wand so I had no choice."
"Amazing." Nightliss took my right hand and peered at the wound. "I have never heard of an Arcane who could cast without a focus like a wand, a staff, or an arcphone."
"It hurt," I admitted. "I don't think it's good for me."
"Or perhaps it requires more practice." Kanaan pursed his lips. "Nightliss, can you heal his hands?"
"I am not the most skilled Seraphim healer, but I believe I can help." Her hands glowed with ultraviolet light as she pressed them to my left hand. Soothing frost ran into my flesh. I moaned at the sudden release of pain dogging me since the fight. She repeated the same step with my other hand. When she was done, the pain had gone, and the flesh began to scar over on both sides of my hands.
"Thank you," I said.
"It will be unpleasant," Kanaan said, "but we must explore what happened. We must expand your abilities."
"Can't you give poor Conrad some rest?" Ambria said. "He's been through enough as it is."
Kanaan nodded somberly. "He may rest, but I fear there is much more to come."
We spent the next few weeks resting, recuperating, training, and preparing. Ambria and I spent a lot of time together. Ivy and Evadora were inseparable, vanishing for days at a time to go to the Glimmer so Ivy could see it all.
Galfandor and the other professors began the long work of rooting out Victus's supporters even while they still controlled the government. Xander Tiberius increased security after Victus's death and put out warrants on his political enemies, forcing the movement underground.
