She rose to her feet, an awkward feeling as the wind adjusted to her feet. It felt like she had blocks attached to her feet that moved with every step that she took, and she could not quite shake the feeling.
But Tetra, whether she had heard her or not, did the right thing. She followed Zelda.
Slowly, as Zelda gained confidence, she moved forward to save Hydor from the death of the king of kings.
***
When Eric first raised his sword against Artemia, he thought not just of how this was his battle. This was not just his vengeance.
He fought for all whose death had come as a result of Artemia. His mother. His father. His sister. Abe. Romarus’ daughter. The hunters who came to Caia to fight Indica. Everyone else who had believed in her lies.
Artemia had brought about much death in her time on Hydor. Eric carried the sword that would bring her downfall, but he had the souls of all who had perished before her holding the blade as well.
With this in mind, Eric knew that he could not fail.
At the last second, then, Eric pulled up. He did not seek mercy for his former master, but he did want knowledge. He wanted answers to his questions.
Artemia swung her fist at him, but her movement looked clumsy and awkward. Knowing that he would not fail, Eric spoke.
“Why?” he asked. “Your own brother. You killed him?”
“For someone who never knew him, you sure know a lot about him,” Artemia sneered. “He was the worst kind of man. A bully. A liar. He would punch me. Kick me. Mock me. He’d tell me I’d never be as good as he was. He’d lie to me about what he’d do to me. Everyone followed his lead. I never heard him say a true word to my face. I take no sorrow in killing him. And you’re this man’s son. How does that make you feel?”
“It makes me feel glad I have a chance to atone for his sins,” Eric said, punctuated by a shoulder ram that sent Artemia stumbling back. “But you seem to have taken the opposite approach. You would see the world burn. Do you have any idea what defeating Bahamut would do? Do you know how much chaos would come?”
“I don’t care!” Artemia shrieked. “Auron swore I would never amount to anything. Now look at me! The monsters I’ve tamed from defeating Ragnor aide me in the defeat of Bahamut. You think I’ve built myself up to nothing?!?”
“Except you didn’t kill Ragnor,” Eric said.
That brought an enraged cry from Artemia, but her eyes yearned to know more when her voice had gone silent.
“You didn’t kill anything. You got knocked out in the fight. But not even I believe I killed the evil that Ragnor stands for. I spoke to the magi. They know the truth about Ragnor. Bahamut prevents Ragnor from rising. If you kill it, Iblis rises. Iblis would destroy the world in retaliation against Chrystos.”
“Then good!” Artemia said. “This is a cruel and vicious world. Man and magi kill each other without realizing their differences are superficial. Man seeks to control what he cannot control. This is as corrupt a world as I can imagine. It doesn’t deserve to live. It deserves to burn under my iron fist. I deserve to rule the world and bring order!”
“And you think you aren’t corrupt?!?” Eric shouted, but he reminded himself to control his emotions, not vice versa. “You sent dozens of men to their deaths against Indica knowing they stood no chance. You lied to me for years about my family’s killer. You tried to kill me in the cavern of Ragnor. And you think you aren’t corrupt?”
Artemia simply spat at him in disgust. Blood mixed with saliva as it landed on Eric’s boots. He looked down and shook his head.
“Tell me, Artemia, who do you think you are?” Eric said. “A conquerer of worlds? Or a woman trapped in a world of hurt, unable to escape the hell of her childhood—exactly like me, except without redemption?”
Again, Artemia spat, but this time, her spit landed on Eric’s cheek. With hatred in his eyes, Eric wiped it off of his face.
He’d gotten everything he could have out of Artemia. She had chosen to embrace chaos and madness, and now she needed to die.
“This is the end, Artemia!”
Eric charged. Artemia weakly held up her fists to defend, but when Eric came within striking distance, she turned, narrowly dodging the attack. She tried to run away, but she stumbled. She wound up backing up on the ground.
“You know you will never win,” she sneered as Eric advanced, his sword engulfed in so many flames he could not even see the steel blade. “You may kill me, but Bahamut will fall. I can hear its dying cries even now. And you can never kill my legacy, Eric. I will go down as a legend of the war, the war against dragons. I killed Indica. I killed Ragnor. And I will have killed Bahamut. I will go down as the greatest hunter in the history of Hydor!”
“No,” Eric said. “You’re wrong. You won’t get to write history. The survivors will. And we, unlike you, will tell the truth.”
Artemia’s bloody face had never looked so ugly. Blood seeped out of her mouth, her lip cracked open, her eyes had swollen nearly shut, her nose looked broken, and bruises lined her face.
“I hope your family is rotting in their graves now,” she said, her voice becoming a sadistic, shrill, bubbling cry. “I hope your family burns in hell. I will die happy, thinking about their deaths—”
Eric impaled Artemia, silencing her. Her eyes went wide. The crystal around her neck fell to the ground. Eric pushed the blade further in. It felt as if a thousand hands guided the blade into the deepest parts of Artemia’s soul, destroying not just her body but her spirit.
Not just me. Mom. Dad. Rey. Everyone who died. I have avenged your souls.
“Your soul will never know peace for what you’ve done,” Eric said as Artemia clung to her last moments of life. “My soul may not know peace for some time either. But at least now, I’ve finally avenged my family’s death. I’ve given them the justice they deserved. And the world will know peace.”
With that, he pulled the sword away. Artemia fell to the ground. She did not move or take another breath.
Eric bent down and grabbed the essence of Ragnor—or whatever he had killed in that cave. He looked at the corpse before him and shook his head.
For all of the chaos and madness Artemia had caused, it left her alone, on a battlefield, killed by one of her own men.
Perhaps, Eric thought, this is what she had wanted all along. But if that was so, then the greatest tragedy about Artemia was not that she had fought a losing battle. It’s that she had willingly taken on a losing battle. Perhaps she had won the battle against dragons and she had won the battle for power.
But in doing so, she’d lost the battle for her soul and her place in the world of Hydor. By the time Eric’s generation had passed away, no one would look upon the name of Artemia with awe. They would shun her, consider her the worst that humanity could become, and swear to never repeat her mistakes.
Mom. Dad. Rey.
You are free.
Before he could contemplate much more, though, a loud roar from above raised his eyes to the sky.
***
Zelda began in a walk toward the monsters, fearful that if she moved too fast, Tetra would not keep up and she would fall to her death.
But as she quickened her pace, she saw that Tetra had no difficulty keeping up. She soon broke out into a sprint, coming to within a couple dozen feet of the battle.
At this spot, she had a clear shot. And she knew which target she would take on first.
She eyed Shiva, her back turned to her, burn marks surrounding the blue-skinned woman’s body, and prepared her strongest fire spell. She didn’t have the wall of power from before, but she could concentrate a potent force all the same. She created a massive fireball roughly the size of her own body and launched it at Shiva.
The attack struck the monster in the back, knocking it off course. She shrieked and turned in defiance.
“You,” she sneered, her voice weak and raspy. “You just don’t know what’s good for you, do you? Fine. Just as I killed—”
But her voice wen
t silent as Bahamut had whipped its tail and impaled Shiva from behind. The monster’s eyes went wide as she gurgled up what looked like blue blood. Shiva turned her head to Bahamut, which roared in triumph, before dispatching the monster to the ground. Shiva cratered into the ground and did not move, her body splintered where Bahamut had pierced her.
Zelda looked back, and sure enough, Yeva began to move. Thank Chrystos. We did not yet lose everyone today!
“You dare to kill my wife?!?” Ifrit bellowed from the side. “I will see all of you murdered today!”
The brown-skinned monster caught fire, as if turning itself into a massive, indestructible flame. Zelda tried to cast an ice spell on the beast, but the flames spun around Ifrit, a kind of hurricane of fire that protected the monster from all spells.
“The power of Iblis consumes me,” Ifrit growled. “Nothing will stop me from killing all of you!”
Then, in lightning speed, Ifrit shot like a comet toward Bahamut. The great dragon veered to the side, but Ifrit caught one of its feet and part of its tail, burning it to ash. The great dragon screamed as it shot blasts of energy that Ifrit easily dodged. Ifrit came out of the hurricane with its body on fire, but that only seemed to make it more dangerous.
“Your fight is hopeless. Had you killed me first, perhaps you would’ve had an easier time defeating Shiva. But you didn’t, because you are weak and human.”
A massive column of fire emerged from Ifrit’s back.
“Goodbye, pathetic—”
Then it stumbled forward in the air, a spear of ice having struck its back. Zelda looked down to see Yeva standing on the cliff, a look of singular determination on her face, her hands raised from having cast a spell. Zelda got an idea.
She ran toward Yeva, motioning down to Tetra. Tetra’s face looked a little strained, but she had managed to keep Zelda at the necessary height to do battle. She would hold out for just a few more minutes.
Yeva looked down, grimaced for half a second, and then nodded to Zelda. Zelda had a feeling Yeva felt a tremendous amount of fear just as she had, but in a moment like this, there was nothing that they could do to alleviate that fear. They just had to fight on.
They charged toward Ifrit, which had resumed its hurricane mode.
“We have to stop it from doing that!” Zelda shouted.
Both girls unleashed as much ice magic as they could. Bahamut, in turn, fired his own spell upon Ifrit. Zelda couldn’t quite ever tell if Bahamut fought with them or just happened to appreciate the extra help, but she would take it however she could get it. So long as Ifrit fell, she’d worry about the next step when she got there.
“I will not be stopped!” Ifrit exclaimed, but Zelda saw the hurricane barrier getting smaller and smaller. “I cannot be stopped!”
The barrier shrunk. Zelda just needed a little bit more time…
In a last ditch fury, Ifrit fired toward Bahamut. Unlike last time, when it struck, it bounced off its chest. The hurricane vanished, and Ifrit floated in a daze.
“Now!”
Together, Zelda and Yeva cast an ice spell that formed deadly spears. The spears shot toward Ifrit and violently pierced the monster, pinning it against the mountain. Ifrit tried to remove the spears, but the ice instead expanded. Ifrit roared in pain as its struggling movements slowed. After about a dozen seconds, it did not move.
But then Bahamut let out a loud cry of pain. Zelda looked up in horror to see that Ifrit’s attack had created a hole in its chest, revealing its broken ribcage, punctured lungs, and glistening essence.
“Bahamut!” Zelda shrieked. “No!”
The dragon let out a puff of air before falling to the ground. Zelda motioned for Tetra to slowly release her magic, and she and Yeva descended to the ground.
Once they reached their footing, Tetra ran with Zelda and Yeva to the fallen dragon. Eric joined them. The dragon still breathed, but its wounds looked fatal. It gasped for air and let out pitiful cries.
“No, we have to save it, we have to save it!” Zelda cried out.
She could not let Artemia win. She could not let the world become imbalanced. She could not let Iblis rise to power.
“Come on! Come on!”
She placed her hands on the dragon, but the guttural cries, a rattling sound, told her that the dragon had but a minute to live.
“Tetra! Yeva! Help me!”
But no matter what she did, she could not fight off the death that was coming for Bahamut. She had failed.
“Bahamut! No! Please. Please!”
Tears formed in her eyes. She did not want to see the world devolve into chaos.
“Zelda,” Tetra said. “It will be fine.”
Zelda looked over. The life from Tetra’s eyes had begun to fade.
Now her, too? It was becoming too much. With what little strength she had, Tetra handed the essence of Indica to Zelda before collapsing to the ground.
“You will have the strength of all three dragons and Chrystos,” Tetra said, her voice becoming weaker. “Even if it is not the essence of Ragnor… you must—”
Suddenly, her eyes went wide and her body arched. It’s what Garo saw. He saw Chrystos. Talk to me, Tetra. Tell me what you know. Please don’t die like Romarus did. Come back.
Come back!
She waited for several seconds. She ignored Eric’s question about Tetra being dead, letting Yeva explain what was happening. It went on long enough that Zelda began to wonder if she would not awaken.
Tetra! Please!
Then, with a loud gasp, as if she had just emerged from the seas, Tetra awoke.
“Ragnor… it is coming… Zelda… you can win. It’s not… a god. Just… a form. You can win. Zelda. Yeva. You are… the future. Go…”
With one last breath, Tetra took her last gasp of air.
***
Eric hurried over to the fallen dragon and met up with the three remaining magi. The battle had already taken enough lives, and it appeared that it would take two more.
Tetra.
Bahamut.
Ironic, he thought. Ironic, but sad.
He’d fought all his life to eradicate the existence of dragons whenever he could manage it, and now he’d fought to prevent the death of the greatest dragon of all. But he had failed.
He watched silently as Tetra spoke to Zelda. When she went into what looked like some final position, he asked Yeva if she had perished. But Yeva grabbed his hand and pulled him back.
“She’s having a final vision,” she said. “Magi usually get this before they die. It’s Chrystos’ way of imparting final advice. Sometimes the advice is a simple word of wisdom. Other times it’s practical. I don’t know what she will say.”
They heard Tetra’s gasp. Yeva let herself fall into Eric’s chest, tears streaming down her face, and Eric wrapped his arms around her. He held her tight as Zelda tearfully placed her hands on Tetra. He tried his best not to cry, but thinking about all that had happened today and in his life—to say nothing of the magi’s lives—he couldn’t help it. Even as tears fell into the hair of Yeva, he didn’t wipe them away. He just didn’t have the energy left to.
Finally, Zelda stood. Yeva opened herself up but kept one arm around Eric. He, in turn, kept his left arm around her shoulders. He felt exhausted beyond all measure. He wanted to take a long, restful nap in the middle of the valley. He wanted some solitude to reflect on what happened.
But the way Zelda spoke, it sounded like the battle had not even ended.
“We’re what’s left,” Zelda said. “We’re what’s going to stop whatever comes next.”
CHAPTER 20: ZELDA
The world trembled beneath their feet.
It shook not as the ground had when one of the monsters had collided from above. It shook not as an earthquake might. It did not even shake as if a god had grabbed it from the heavens and moved it.
Instead, the very world seemed to shudder with fear, as if something dark had awakened and sought to destroy it, and the planet could do n
othing to fight it.
“At… last.”
A demonic voice filled Zelda’s mind, sending repeated shivers down her spine.
“Yes. Yesss. Hahaha. At last!”
Where had she heard it from? It didn’t quite sound like something someone had said. She looked over to Eric and Yeva, but their faces remained down, making it difficult to say if they had heard the demonic, twisted words. But Zelda could not mistake the words for her imagination.
“For thousands of years, I have waited for the downfall of Bahamut.”
Ragnor. The true form of Ragnor.
Or Iblis. It’s a terrible situation no matter what. Hell has come to Hydor.
“Several times in the past, I believed I had a chance. I thought that your mage might do me a favor some two hundred years ago, but instead he failed. Something as trivial and manipulatable as love consumed him. Chrystos showed him the way, and I stewed.”
The demonic voice then let out an evil laugh. Did it speak to them directly? Did everyone in the world hear this? It sure seemed like the voice spoke directly to her, or perhaps her and Yeva with the words “your mage.”
“But then, I received a blessing. Yes. Hydor granted me hope in the form of Artemia. Iblis will reward her, that there can be no doubt about.”
So it’s Ragnor. Not Iblis.
But then how is it speaking to us? And where is it?
And why won’t the ground stop shaking? Stop!
Zelda felt as if the world of Hydor was coming to an end. Trees near the edge of the cliff fell over. Snow from the mountaintop cascaded down. Birds shrieked as they remained in the air, trying to stay above the chaos. She was going to die not because of Artemia or one of her monsters, but in the apocalypse of Ragnor’s return.
Zelda could only shudder at the thought of Artemia going to Iblis. It made too much sense.
But it also left Zelda feeling pity, even as she sought to rationalize it away. She had a feeling whatever rewards Iblis provided, he would also provide an equal amount of pain and torture that not even Artemia deserved to experience.
Legends of the War (War of the Magi Book 3) Page 27
