Odin nodded before Thor suddenly vanished as Chillie clapped her hands. “That is all. The rest of us must make ready for the aftermath and hope the worst doesn’t happen.” The screen turned black and shifted to a news station somewhere in China.
Eyes turned to Ethan who said “Glad I’m not leading everyone, but Odin will want our whole team. Thor will likely have us fully explain the situation since it was our mission. Blake, can I ask, if it comes to that, you to speak for us? I’ll mess it up.”
Blake nodded. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. I’ll do it though since you asked.”
Cook popped up in her usual green manner and made a gut stuffing meal as tasty as ever, even making Panther a strip of grilled fish and a bowl of milk the cat eagerly partook of. Few words at the table were exchanged, but Ethan and the rest felt eyes from other tables fall on them. The one cheerful comment came from Reevy who hugged her mate and said “Finally we can have a hunt together. Maybe our squads can coordinate to be near?”
Ellen pat her old reptilian friend on the back before saying “I’m finished. Looks like the rest of us are to. I say we get going.”
“Seconded.” Storm-shadow spoke.
“Alright alright.” Ethan stood, grabbed his empty plate and drinks of his and his equestrian companion. He bent over and kissed Kanade’s cheek. “I’ll likely be busy and won’t be home till late.” The Enchantress hummed pleasantly.
She scooped up Panther who lay in her lap. “As will I. Our new little friend here will need a few things at home. I never had a pet before for myself and he won’t be neglected ever again. Just come home safely… all of ya.” She added to the rest of the table.
“Thanks, Girlfriend.” Floa returned. “Mind your auntie, Blossom. You were a good girl yesterday. Be good today too.”
“Love Yooou, Mama!” The child Pixie shrunk in an instant and fluttered to give her mother a kiss on the cheek.
“Oh, this will be quicker.” Floa suddenly said to her teammates. “Pile all the dirty dishes together.” They did so and she clapped to instantly send them to the washing area.
“And just why haven’t you told us you can do that? You could have saved so much time.” Ethan teased. “It’s good having you around, Floa. You get thing done in a snap.” The raven haired pixie grinned with a full set of pointed teeth and shook her head while rolling her eyes. “I’ve never asked, but do you get tired transporting things and opening gateways?”
“Not really.” Floa shrugged and walked around the table, taking hold of Blossom and putting her down on Kanade’s collarbone for safety. Panther looked closely and tried to playfully paw at the shrunken child till Kanade acted more quickly than the mother. Floa sighed. At the size Blossom took, she would be a light snack for the cat. Nell passed Vina to her nearby sister and hurried back. Returning to the topic while she walked with the group down the hall she said “What I do is actually called Translocation.” She emphasized. “I can move things around all day, open gateways to different realms and worlds. I’ll get winded if I must Translocate huge numbers of more than three thousand humanoids like yourself all at once. Six to seven thousand will make me pass out. Souls I can do all day long since they have no physical matter. Thankfully there are thousands of my kind here so even if there is a mass transfer I won’t be burdened with doing it alone. Still, I love this ability and desire no other.”
“It is clearly more dangerous than mine.” Ethan said and she agreed wholeheartedly. He knew if she wanted to, she could send her enemies to the bottom of the ocean or the heart of a volcano. Or forever lost in the vacuum of space.
Seeing their team gathered and moving as a unit, other squad leaders who were done quickly finished and hurried to follow. One squad leader, a large, four foot tall and long limbed Gargoyle landed beside Ethan and asked “Fire-thrower, I’m Braxas. Good work on retrieving the sword. I was once cut by it long ago and saved. Believe me when I say that what you and this team did saved many from endless torture.”
“How is it you were cut?” Ethan asked. “Your skin is…”
“Tough as stone?” Braxas nodded. “It is, but the demon blade is sharper than most understand. It nicked my ear and my teammate” the doglike ear in question twitched. “managed to wrestle the blade and give me the treatment before it was reclaimed by Chaos’ minions.”
“So how did you see our mission?”
“Magnus was kind enough to send me a link of his recording. Not everyone has gotten to see what went down.” Magnus wasn’t paying attention to anyone but Nell as she chatted away while stroking his arm with the tips of her fingers.
First it was a half dozen, then a dozen squad leaders followed Ethan and his team. Then two, three and four quickly surrounded or followed towards the heart of the castle. Ethan felt mildly claustrophobic being surrounded by everyone who had centuries more experience. Out of all the squad leaders he could see only three others were human and didn’t belong to the caster category. Less than nine percent in all of Earth’s Order were special humans. Ethan knew the three had a special ability. One could manipulate shadows into an endless arsenal of weapons, one could walk through any physical object and the last could make you see an illusion so lifelike you couldn’t tell the difference.
The leaders of the castle stood when the large group approached and in the half hour spent eating, Thor had returned and stood beside his companion. Ethan had to blink and shake his head, but Storm-shadow said “You are not mistaken. Have you forgotten already? That is my younger twin brother Shadow-storm.”
“Sorry. I did.” Ethan admitted as he looked at Thor’s mount, the identical twin of his own. “You’ll forgive me if I can’t remember all of your seven thousand and some odd siblings.”
“Brother!” Shadow-storm whinnied when the sibling found the other and butted heads like a ram. “About time you found a companion!” The teams’ approached and most of the other squad leaders dispersed to wait for orders on what to do next.
“So how is your reign as king of Fifth House? Any new foals you sired?” Storm-shadow asked his twin when they lightly butted heads in camaraderie again.
“Not recently, Brother. You?”
“Star-bolt and I have decided we sired enough for now.” And smiled.
“Ho, Ethan!”
His head turned as the powerful Thor approached and gripped his shoulder. “Good to see you again, Thor. I didn’t get a chance last time, but you sure surprised me by growing over a hundred feet tall. I almost wet myself.”
The half Naga old Norse god of thunder and lightning grinned. “Well met! Glad I made such an impression, Lad. I almost wet myself from laughing when Father spoke to me last night and I watch your skirmish with the Siren. Fish fry! I loved it. I look forward to fighting at your side.”
“Never in my life would I have guessed I’d one day hear those words from Thor. By the way, the Avengers movie and graphic novels do you no justice other than breaking glass and yelling ‘Another!’ when you want more beer.” The hammer wielding man laughed and slapped Ethan’s back much like Odin does.
Thinking of that Viking almost made him magically appear near them with Gungnir the barbed spear to say “Lads, We are prepared to enter the tribunal hall to discuss the plan.”
“My best squad leaders will be arriving soon as well while their teams prepare to come here for the battle.” Thor said, mostly for the benefit of the others rather than his father.
The large elevators were packed as they went up, taking more than one trip for most, but in less than a half hour the tribunal room was packed with over three hundred battle hardened warriors. Most wore Tattoo’s headset since it was an invaluable tool with many advantages. Thor got the ball rolling and the room silenced, but it was Blake who was Ethan’s best friend as he directly gave a short and clear overview of the mission. Like his brutal training method, Blake gave a detailed, if shortened, report that got down to the point and all that was done yesterday. “And that is what we faced.” Blake ended an
d returned to his seat between Kira and Ethan.
Thor stood and returned to the heart of the room, his very presence was just as calm and commanding as his father. One hand rested on the foot long hilt of Mjolnir, the famous war hammer of legend. In the early morning light it glinted thanks to a smooth and polished off-golden hue. Either end of the hammer was squared and five inches by five inches with a flat top length of twelve. It was a perfect rectangular weapon of war and only Thor knew all its secrets. But one thing Ethan remembered was Mjolnir grew in size, much like its wielder. The famous being said “As it stands, we must act decisively before the Kitsune can react. For those who’ve never faced one with nine tails, listen up. I have fought two before and nearly died each time, but I killed just one. Make no mistake in its appearance. Mine and my father’s best advisors have decided where each of our teams will be located for the mission. At my command we will all simultaneously attack the predetermined locations brought by Ethan Volorum’s team. Whoever finds the Kitsune first must radio their position and wait for reinforcements or take it out if there is an opportunity. There doesn’t seem a pattern, but we’ll be spread out all over the city. Have your team’s Pixie near at all times so we can transfer and overwhelm our enemy before it’s too late. As it is, I will lead the quest, but should I and Shadow-storm fall you will take command from my second, Perrilian.” A giant of an Ogre stood in bright silver and gold armor. “And if we fail I’ll entrust you to figure out what to do on your own as squad leaders. That is all. Link your eyewear to learn your targeted area. Meet outside at noon and be ready.”
Ethan took out his headset, turned it on with the usual activation phrase ‘My dearest angel.’ and spoke “Download mission.” In seconds it was finished and blinked in confusion as hundreds of numbers appeared and heard Thor’s voice come through the ear piece like everyone else’s. “Link established. Get started.” Ethan looked over to see Thor had also hooked one over his scaly, humanlike ear. Then the hundreds of numbers shifted to a small corner and were filed away, leaving only the coordinates 45 27 13N, 12 27 14E.
Ellen handed her set to Floa who looked and nodded since she would be their transporter and she knew the exact location to take them.
Ethan, Magnus and Blake sat outside meditating for the past three hours while everyone prepared for the difficult scenario. Kira and the girls showed up ten minutes before noon with Storm-shadow bringing up the rear. The stallion said “Everyone is readying for departure.”
Filling much of the area were close to four thousand powerful warriors. Many squad leaders were already mounted on Pegesai if they couldn’t already fly. Despite the crowd, it wasn’t very loud. There was an expectance and hunger in the air Ethan couldn’t quite place. None showed an ounce of fear that he felt filling him. Still, he was able to mask it and watched Storm-shadow touch his ruby and the battle saddle appeared beneath the armor Ethan put on. The Elemental grabbed the horn and mounted, hooking his feet in the stirrups, tying the belt to the soft seat and hooking himself in properly. From the new vantage he saw the crowd also finalizing themselves and over by the moat was Jormungandr’s head sticking out and talking with his best friend Thor.
Their group spoke quietly amongst themselves over the best tactics to implement should the worst occur. Floa was the most silent as she stuck close to Ethan, holding his hair like a rope while standing on his shoulder.
Over the radio in many ears came Thor’s voice as he walked away from the moat. Jormungandr settled back in the water. “Everyone is now present and accounted for.” The whole area silenced to listen. “Form up and prepare to ship out. You know your orders. Get to it!”
Nell, Ellen, Magnus, Blake and Kira all huddled closer to Storm-shadow and prepared themselves. Blake drew his katanas, Ellen her claymores, Nell her bow and arrow and Kira pulled out a potion and drank it, making her already flawless skin shine for a moment. She then began air-writing and over a dozen bluish needles of magic appeared around her wrists. She didn’t stop and then behind the needles were a half dozen blue orbs slightly larger than marbles and she stopped when she held a ball of blue fire in her left hand.
All around the area Wizards and the rare battle Witches prepared magic and weapons were drawn. Every weapon other than bows seemed to be enchanted as their wielders spoke the activation sequence and made them glow either blue or off white. It’s really that bad. He thought and controlled his rising trepidation by breathing slowly. We’re going into battle against a greater demon.
“GO!!!” Came Thor’s order.
Every Pixie teammate heard it and brought their hands together.
Floa Translocated her group to the nearest open space nearest the coordinates in Venice, Italy. They found themselves in a backyard and Kira instantly surrounded them in magic that would make them appear invisible to outsiders for a short time, just in the event the target attacked. Not a second after she finished and cast the runes Thor’s voice said “Transfer complete! Everyone is accounted. Best of luck to you all.”
Blake and Ellen sped east with Storm-shadow and Ethan following fast behind. The Witch and Nymph took rear point. They came upon Via Concordia, at the southwestern bend in the road and looked upon a large Grey building. Kira immediately said “Top floor, north wing!” as she felt the nearest location.
Their group crossed the street and Storm-shadow took to the air. The Elemental and Pegasus climbed till aiming for the roof. As soon as Storm-shadow’s hooves landed it triggered a trap.
Green vines as thick as rope shot from every conceivable crack in the roof and wrapped around Storm-shadow’s hooves like a whip. In an instant the vegetation grew, but before it had even a chance to bind them Ethan surrounded himself and his mount in fire that burned the ropes before they could do anything.
Down below, Blake charged through the front door while Ellen circled to the north and activated a set of spells in her shoes that allowed her to gallop over vertical surfaces so long as it could support her weight. More vines tried entangling her, sprouting from window seals, but her silver glowing swords hacked them away and didn’t slow her.
Through the front door Blake was a blur of motion as his curved weapons sliced effortlessly through the falling net of greenery.
All knew the traps were pitiful, but were triggered by Spirit Energy, not of the untapped human variety.
There was a nearby skylight in the shape of a pyramid and Storm-shadow approached it. Down below was a white form and just before he could say anything there was a shout “Target sighted. Islan…” “Found him! Northeast section of…” “Located at riverside home…” dozens reported finding the Kitsune with more claiming to see it by the moment. Thor took command of the communications. “Illusions! Kitsune trickery! Beware your eyes and only speak if it is real.”
Outside the northern window Ellen peeked inside, telling her team “Located, sitting in chair reading the paper.”
Blake and Kira were soon standing at the door when Ethan said “Take him out!” Blake kicked the door open and moved away as Kira blasted the light needles, blue fireball and orbs into the room. The demon didn’t budge while holding the mirror. The magic passed straight through it to spear the wall with needles before blowing the wall completely out with fire and explosive orbs and she said “Wrong place. It’s a trick.”
Over the radio it happened more and more. After three minutes Thor said “Relay all failures!”
Ethan said “Failed.” and all the numbers in his eyepiece began turning red. All but one after another minute passed.
Thor commanded “Squad number one oh seven, report.” Nothing came over the silent radio. “I repeat, squad number one hundred and seven, report!” Still nothing. Immediately Thor said “That is the place. Translocate to that spot!”
Floa clapped before all others at the command for her ninety fourth daughter was in that team and fear drove her to immediate action. But in her haste she forgot everyone other than Ethan and Storm-shadow.
Just as they shifted
location to a parking lot of a large hospital they watched as a green sphere suddenly enclosed the area. It was a huge, translucent barrier and at the edge of it appeared almost in an instant that all teams appeared just outside it.
Thor felt the smooth barrier, like glass, gripped Mjolnir tightly and called a tempest of storms in seconds so great was the hammer’s magic that fed off his power. Bolts of lightning struck the upraised mighty weapon, charging it with immense power. Everyone ran away as the mythological god of storms began to grow to his giant form of over a hundred feet, the hammer growing in proportion. Then Thor gave a mighty war cry that was louder than lightning and brought Mjolnir over his head with a mighty blow that could level mountains. Lightning shot from the hammer’s collision with the green barrier, attacking seemingly everywhere at once.
It was so blindingly bright and loud that everyone was affected.
Those inside the hospital merely thought it was a late and powerful thunderstorm, not realizing what just happened.
Then to the astonishment of everyone, when they could see again, the barrier remained strong. Thor though saw someone had made it inside before the barrier was erected. His booming voice sounded muted, but Ethan heard “…o inside. Till we bring this down you’re our only hope. Hurry!”
The elemental shook his head to clear it after the power of that blast. “Do what I can!” the giant being could only nod. He then began issuing orders and every Caster began trying to crack the shield and every weapon hacked relentlessly.
“Elaine!” Floa shouted as she recovered.
She went to take off till a large hand enclosed around her. She struggled till she heard Ethan growl “No! There is no way you’re going off alone. If you haven’t already forgotten, our backup can’t get in. Right now we are alone. We need caution since you left the rest of our team behind.”
Forgemaster (Book 1 in the Spirit Guide Saga) Page 47
