Legends of the War (War of the Magi Book 3)

by Stephen Allan

  Chrystos. The god of the magi.

  “I am here to inform you that you are the last hope for keeping humanity alive. Should you fail, Ragnor will destroy the world and all of its inhabitants, at which point Iblis shall emerge from the spiritual realm. Only then can I intervene.”

  “Why?” Zelda found herself saying aloud. She felt glad no one else saw her talking seemingly to herself.

  “When gods interfere, dangerous things happen,” Chrystos said. “You have the power of a god in your possession, though. I cannot guarantee you will defeat Ragnor, for it holds the power of a different god within. But you, Zelda, have an advantage. You hold my power of a peaceful god, but the mind of a human with all of its characteristics.”

  “How is that an advantage?” Zelda said. “All its flaws? That would seem to hurt me.”

  “You must take advantage of all parts of you in this victory. Your conscience. Your morality. Your power. And even your dark side which I do not have. A side which, not held in check, will turn you into a danger as much as Ragnor is. You have already seen one such example of this.”

  Tetra. And perhaps Artemia.

  But I thought Garo said…

  Was he wrong? Or does Chrystos not realize his own darkness?

  “You must rigorously protect yourself from your worst impulses and the world. But you must not protect yourself so much that you lose the ability to use such powers in times of need. For you see, Ragnor and, by extension, Iblis has no limitations on what it will do. If you do not do the same, you will fall. But you must know when to lose your limitations and when to enforce them. Do you understand?”

  Zelda wanted to say no, she did not. How could one have limitations one moment and not the next? And how did her darkness give her an advantage against evil? That made no sense at all.

  But if Chrystos spoke it, then Chrystos would surely have a reason for doing it. Her god would not steer her wrong. Even if my god may have his own darkness within.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Then return to the ships in the sea,” Chrystos said. “I have used what exertion I can without compromising my place to keep the ships safe. But the monsters that you have seen, along with others, threaten their existence. The power of Bahamut and myself will help you get them to safety. But hurry! Wait no more!”

  Taking the instructions to heart, Zelda mounted Emera, waiting until she’d gotten in the air to contemplate the words of Chrystos. It still felt surreal to see a massive gulf of a sea, separating the mountain where she’d fought Bahamut from the continent containing Mathos.

  She knew, though, if she fought Ragnor and won, perhaps she would have to unleash power similar to that. She could not count on Ragnor falling to her normal powers. She would have to bring up a power that she had not yet unleashed.

  But she’d already damaged its face and one of its feet already. Did she really need to do what Chrystos said?

  You doubt a god? You would do such a thing? Mama would slap me if she knew what I’d just thought.

  She didn’t doubt Chrystos on the principle of legitimacy, though. She didn’t doubt Chrystos because she thought he was wrong.

  She doubted him because she feared what listening to him would do to her. What would it mean if she embraced her flaws? What would it mean if she embraced her flaws, won the battle, and then had to live the rest of her life with those flaws?

  The thoughts terrified her. She couldn’t spend more than a couple of minutes thinking about them before they became too much.

  She instead focused on the changing landscape. Water had come to fill the gap between the two newly formed continents. Zelda wondered how much the seas had dropped as a result, how much new land would become beach area for Mathos.

  A short time later, she got her answer—a significant portion. The docks from Mathos looked silly in their current position, merely jutting out and coming short of the water by several hundred feet. They looked like they belonged in an exhibit, not at a functional port.

  But she never stopped to examine too closely, remembering what Chrystos had said about the citizens. When she reached Eric and Yeva, she didn’t wait for permission from Eric. I have to lead this part.

  “Gather all of the boats together as quickly as you can,” Zelda said. “I can teleport all of us, but we need to move them together to make it easier. I don’t want to leave anyone behind.”

  “Understood,” Eric said. “Yeva, take those six boats on the east. I’ll corral the ones on the west.”

  The two split apart, flying Margol and Luca to their respective sides as Zelda hovered in the middle, keeping track of it all. Once again, she found herself alone. Part of being the leader and apparently the savior of Hydor.

  She wondered what had happened between Eric and Yeva in the time she had gone to Bahamut. Night had all but fallen, with only the last remains of the sun’s light illuminating the far west. There was surely enough darkness that if they wanted to keep their presence hidden from Ragnor, they could do so.

  Focus, Zelda, focus. Worry about that later.

  The dragons had the entire ships rallied together as tightly as they could within about a dozen minutes. Zelda ordered Emera to fly north to Mathos after dropping her off on the northern most ship, the better to defend the humans when they had finished teleporting.

  “Eric, Yeva, fight off anything that comes this way. As soon as we teleport, leave whatever is here and fly to Mathos. The ships aren’t valuable enough to escort north.”

  The two dropped back, scouring the seas. Zelda closed her eyes.

  “Let me work in silence,” she asked.

  No one dared to fight back. Even crying babies went silent, only the crashing of waves filling the air.

  Zelda could “see” the connection between all the ships and all the life around her. Unlike before, when she needed a literal physical connection to teleport anything or anyone besides herself, it now felt like she saw a spiritual connection between everyone, the kind of bond that only Chrystos might tap into.

  She strengthened her bond with them as she sought the strength to teleport. She pulled from the essence of Bahamut as she felt a surge of energy. Sweat poured down her forehead. She grunted and gritted her teeth.

  Then, beneath the surface, she felt a massive monster approaching, its fists raised, prepared to knock the ships out of the ocean.

  “NO!”

  She shrieked and, just a second before two of the ships would’ve exploded, teleported the entire fleet about thirty feet forward.

  She hadn’t gotten them even an hour closer to Mathos, but she had saved them from destruction. Out of the depths of the water rose the monster that she had seen on her last journey across the sea, the one with the oval head, the tentacles for a mouth, two gargantuan wings, and two hands. It looked like a golden-skinned Ragnor of the seas.

  I know what you are. And you will not stop us.

  “Yeva! Eric!”

  Zelda used her communication skills to reach out. She didn’t need a response. She didn’t even know if Eric’s mind would hear Zelda’s magical telepathy.

  She just needed action. She just needed Yeva to take the lead so that Eric would know what to do.

  She closed her eyes and heard the roars of Luca and Emera, along with that of the monsters. People around her screamed. She had trouble concentrating.

  “Silence!” she bellowed.

  Her voice carried far further than she anticipated. She had not meant to speak with such anger. But she needed it. The people around her needed it.

  She knelt, concentrating with all of her strength. She once more established the spiritual connection with all of the humans around her. She began to shake as she sought the power from Bahamut.

  She tried to tune out the battle before her between the two dragons and the beasts, but their roars pushed past her audible defenses. The battle to teleport those on the ships also turned into the battle to concentrate.

  She grunted as the power of Chrystos becam
e overwhelming. She felt like her body would catch fire for how hot it was. She felt like she would collapse and die. She felt like she’d burn the monster before her in a fit of rage.

  Then all went silent. She screamed and pushed the magic of Bahamut and Chrystos around her.

  In utter silence, she felt a light levitation. In that brief moment where gravity did not pull her down, she thought she saw a flash of the face of Chrystos.

  But just as quickly as it had happened, the teleportation ended. Zelda opened her eyes. The ships did not bob and weave as they would have on the seas. Instead, they rested on wet sand. Zelda, for her part, had landed about a dozen feet in front of the first ship.

  “We made it!” a man cried out, laughing deliriously.

  Roars of triumph emerged as Zelda collapsed to the sand, exhausted beyond all measure. She didn’t even want to think about what she had done, how far she’d transported the people, or how many people she had moved. To put what she had done into quantifiable words would make her even more exhausted.

  But even as she rested, she felt a force compel her to rise. She felt shoved forward, out of her resting position.

  “Your battle has just begun. You have saved humanity, but it will not matter if you cannot effectively plan for what is to come.”

  Zelda understood. With some struggle, she rose to her feet just as Emera appeared behind her, resting comfortably on the sand.

  Around her, guards helped the citizens off the ships and onto the sand. Multiple people kissed the ground in disbelief, laughing as they moved and hugging their loved ones. It brought a small smile to Zelda’s face. For a brief moment, she could celebrate.

  She, Eric, and Yeva still had a long way to go, and that path had no guarantees of success. But for a brief moment, they could let humanity revel in its victory. Zelda couldn’t imagine that the odds favored them getting many more.

  CHAPTER 23: ERIC

  Eric, Zelda, and Yeva sat in Eric’s old home around the wooden kitchen table. He couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten in his house. The memories had come rushing back once he sat down, but before that, he had forgotten how the wooden chair felt to his body.

  Not knowing if he would get another chance to eat in his home anytime soon—or to eat, period—he had to take advantage of the opportunity.

  Once everyone had returned to Mathos, they had as many survivors as possible make their way to his old guild’s headquarters. He knew they would run low on supplies such as food and water within weeks, but for now, he just wanted them to have a place to sleep. They could worry about the rest in the morning.

  But on this night, Eric didn’t think he’d get much sleep anytime soon. He had too much to worry about with Ragnor, Hydor, the people, the two girls before him, and the legacy of his family.

  And that didn’t even account for trying to understand what the young witch before him had just explained.

  “So, let me understand,” he said to Zelda. “You got the essence of Bahamut, or Chrystos, and you said the god spoke to you and said you have to embrace your flaws to win.”

  He didn’t speak condescendingly. He didn’t speak to show Zelda the error of her words. He just spoke to understand. He knew, however, he would probably not understand how it had happened.

  “Yes,” Zelda said. “I don’t know what that means yet, but I’m sure I’ll know at some point.”

  Eric sat in his chair, arms crossed, the last bits of bread in front of him. He felt stumped. Why would a god tell a human to embrace their flaws?

  After about half a dozen seconds, he gave up.

  “I’m sure not going to know what it means, but here’s what I do know. We’ll fight with you, Zelda.”

  “Agreed,” Yeva said.

  “We will fight with you to the very end. If we all die fighting Ragnor, well, so be it. It’s that or die passively here. Whether Chrystos looks upon us or heightens our flaws or whatever, I’ll just control what I can.”

  Zelda smiled but didn’t say anything else. Eric had to hope that her explanation answered a question that had bugged him from the moment they left the northern mountain. The unspoken question consumed Eric.

  How?

  How would they defeat Ragnor? How would they use the resources at their disposal—two magi, three dragons, three magical crystals, and Eric’s experience with dragons—to defeat what amounted to the devil itself? Could they push it back beneath Hydor, or would they need to kill it? Could they even kill it? Was that a possibility, or a delusional wish of a human who went beyond himself?

  “I…”

  Zelda started to speak, then paused. She looked terrified to utter her next words, as if they might break her. But she also looked like she had no choice but to speak.

  “Go on,” Eric said.

  Zelda sighed and bowed her head.

  “I don’t think you can help me.”

  It felt like the entire world had stopped. Eric’s mind stopped racing. “How” got replaced by “why.”

  “I think I’m the only one who can defeat Ragnor,” Zelda said.

  Well… maybe… but…

  Eric struggled to find words, stuttering before finding himself.

  “Well, as much as I’d like to believe I can just chop its head off, I don’t think that’s possible, so, yes, I sort of agree,” Eric said. “But we can still support you, Zelda. We’re not going to let you fly into battle solo.”

  “I understand that. But I think we need to make it clear. Based on who I am… This is my battle. I don’t want you to feel excluded. But I’m the mage made in the image of Chrystos. I’m the one with the full power of two dragons and some amount of the third dragon. I… I…”

  She looked too overwhelmed to handle any of it. Yeva came over and put an arm around her. Zelda never cried, but she seemed on the verge of having a breakdown of some kind. It’s not just your battle. It’s all our battle. All of us have a reason to fight.

  “I didn’t ask for any of this,” she said. “I just want Mama back. I just wanted peace between humanity and the magi. I never sought to upend the world order. I never sought to kill dragons. I didn’t even know about the legendary dragons until recently. I just… why did I have to be the one to do all this?”

  Eric opened his mouth to respond, but reality shut him up. Could a boy without magic kill a dragon like Ragnor? Could a mage without the essences of the dragons defeat Ragnor?

  No.

  But could a girl with the essences of all three dragons, made in the image of Chrystos, pull that off?

  Maybe.

  Eric wished he could produce a better answer. He wished Yeva could produce an answer. What he really wished was that one of the older warriors had survived the battle against Bahamut and Artemia so they could provide an answer. Maybe they’d circle back to the same conclusion Eric had reached, but at least it would’ve affirmed their consensus.

  But no. He had nothing. The best he could give were empty platitudes, words which would mean absolutely nothing to Zelda. They might comfort her for a spell, but when she got alone, she would realize they meant nothing.

  Eric, too, began to feel frustrated. He hated that Zelda was right.

  And when he thought about her disgust with the circumstances, he began to feel some self-doubt as well.

  He didn’t mind becoming a leader, not after it had come down to saving Hydor or watching it burn with his family from the spiritual realm. But circumstances had forced him into becoming a leader. He didn’t feel qualified at all. He’d never led a unit of hunters. He’d always followed.

  Followed his guild master. Followed his mentor. Followed his impulses and quest for vengeance.

  Leadership? He could speak words that sounded like leadership. But did that actually make him a leader? No one had ever declared him fit for leadership. Abe did, but his dying words felt more like encouragement than an announcement.

  “I don’t know, Zelda, I don’t,” Eric said. He sought a way to present confidence, but anyone w
ould see right through it. “I don’t know why you have to be the one to do this. I’m sorry. I don’t know why any of us have to do this.”

  “It’s not your fault,” she said. “It’s no one’s fault. There isn’t even fault to share or go around. I just… I don’t know. All I ever wanted was for a simple life with Mama. I wanted to eat, sleep, and sing without worrying about the empire trying to kill me. And now, suddenly, I have all this power?”

  She gulped. Her words went from sadness to foreboding.

  “When I had the essence of Bahamut first in my grasp, I saw terrible things. I saw my power destroying an entire town, an entire swarm of dragons. Am I going to do that? I saw visions that had already happened. Am I going to kill even more people? I would never. But if it’s already happened… I worry about what I’m going to become. Chrystos wants me to embrace my flaws, but what if my flaws lead to chaos?”

  Eric grimaced. Again, he had no answers. And I probably never will.

  “Let’s just defeat Ragnor,” Yeva said, the voice of calm in the room. “We can all agree that that’ll bring a level of order and stability, right? It may be your fight, Zelda, but if Ragnor produces dragons, we can play a role.”

  Eric and Zelda nodded, though Zelda took much longer than Eric to respond. She seemed unwilling to let go of making it her fight.

  “Then let’s do that. We’ll worry about the rest later. One step at a time.”

  Zelda didn’t raise her head. She took an audible breath. Eric shook his head to himself. Why did leadership and a battle like this involve so much self-doubt?

  “OK,” Zelda said, though she didn’t sound entirely reassured. She just sounded like she wanted someone to tell her what to do so she had a reason not to dwell on the worst possibilities. I know that feeling all too well.

  “Eric,” Yeva said. “You’ve led us this far. You got as much of Caia safe as you could. What do we do now?”

  “If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked so many questions,” Eric said with a resigned laugh. “What do you think? Let’s make this a discussion.”

  Yeva shrugged.

  “You’re the leader, you’re supposed to know these things,” she said with a subtle smile. “You did a fine job at the battle at Caia, though.”