Legends of the War (War of the Magi Book 3)
Page 37
But she could not maintain control. Much as Chrystos gained control of her mind when she had its essence and at her weakest point, Ragnor, this close, garnered control of Zelda.
Unlike with Chrystos, in which the god’s visions came through clearly, the visions Ragnor gave only came in weak, sporadic spurts. Zelda could only make hazy images out.
But she saw a woman that had to be Mama crying, kneeling on the ground before a large figure. Flames flickered around the figure, who sat on what looked like a throne, although Zelda couldn’t make out any further details.
“Welcome to my realm, Hera,” a voice said in a voice much like Ragnor’s. Zelda could not see any mouth moving on the large figure, so she could not say if the figure on the throne had spoken.
Zelda shook loose and screamed in rage at Ragnor, who just laughed.
“You should not be so angry, Zelda. I am impressed that you even managed to shake free of my control over you.”
“I hate you!” she screamed.
“Ahh, good, good! Let your anger control you. Iblis needs a human in his image. Why not let it be you?”
“No!” Zelda said, trying to get control of herself. She would not let her anger control her. “I am made in the image of Chrystos. I have his power. I will not falter!”
Ragnor just mockingly laughed, a laugh that didn’t seem to end. Zelda, having enough, cast a sudden ice spell that came so quickly, not even she knew she was doing it until it had hit Ragnor. It didn’t do much damage, scraping by the outside of its cheek, but it did silence the great beast.
“You would do well to serve us,” Ragnor said. “So much raw, untamed power! Just what Iblis has long sought. We can give you whatever you want, Zelda. Anything.”
It almost seemed like Ragnor smiled when it spoke next.
“Including the guarantee of love and companionship.”
Zelda’s furious gaze remained, but she held her dragon back. She engaged with a stare-off with Ragnor.
“Oh, yes, child, we know what your weakness is. We know what you fear. Do you really think you will get it in this world? In this era?”
Zelda wanted to shout that she would. She wanted to have the answer in the back of her mind that would defy Ragnor.
But she could not. The fear still remained, even if Garo’s words had placated her last night.
“You will forever be alone if you do not join us. Those two will never accept you. The citizens of Hydor will never accept you. All the other magi are gone from this world.”
“No!”
“No?” Ragnor taunted. Zelda wanted to believe that perhaps somewhere, somehow, among the citizens of Caia, a few magi remained. She’d remained hidden for fourteen years, so why couldn’t someone else hide?
But even if so, Dabira had reduced their numbers from thousands to perhaps less than a dozen.
“Let me remind you of what the world of Hydor, made in the image of Chrystos, has given you so far. Heartbreak. Abandonment. Loneliness. Hatred. Death. Violence. The loss of the only person who ever loved you. And you want to fight for it?”
Zelda still searched for the words to resist Ragnor. But if she fought back, she would do so without words to support her cause.
“Think about what I just showed you, child. I showed you your mother with Iblis. It is true that in your faith, you may find that a terrible outcome. But it’s all a matter of perspective. What you call hell, we call paradise. Where you pray not to go, we hope to arrive. The god you worship is the god we fight. Do you really think Chrystos has made the world pure? You know this is not the case.”
Zelda shuddered, remembering what she had read from Garo’s diary entries. Chrystos was not a god of pure good. He had his flaws. Did that mean Iblis had some good in him, too? Was he revealing it right now?
“Join us,” Ragnor said, its words slowing. “And we will unite you with your mother.”
“That’s impossible,” Zelda said, but Ragnor’s words had reached her. Her rage had vanished in favor of doubt and uncertainty. “I heard my mother die. I heard the guards talk about how nothing remained. She sacrificed herself to save me! She could not be down with Iblis.”
“Oh, child,” Ragnor said.
It held its hand aloft, as if presenting a gift to Zelda. Its hand remained comfortably out of striking distance, but Zelda cautiously moved Emera forward. When she got to about a dozen feet away, she stopped her dragon.
“No,” she murmured.
In the palm of Ragnor’s hand, she clearly saw her mother.
“Zelda,” she weakly said.
“Mama,” Zelda said.
No, stop! This isn’t real! This is a trick!
“Zelda, how I’ve missed you.”
Her mother’s words came not as Chrystos’ had, inside her mind. They came not as Ragnor’s did, a mixture of her mind and to her ears. They came as they had just months before, when they struggled to survive in the streets of Caia.
“Dear child, Iblis has given me this one chance to reach you. Please! Come and join forces. Chrystos is not the god of light that you think him. Iblis is not the king of darkness. We can bring order to this world.”
“Mama,” Zelda’s voice trailed off.
Are you real? Is this what a god can bring?
“Zelda, take my hand,” her mother said, extending her fingers just beyond the grasp of Ragnor. “It will be all right. My little Zel.”
The nickname her mother had given her, the name only her mother knew, shook Zelda to her very core. Almost involuntarily, as if she could not control what her soul desired, she ordered Emera to move forward. Her dragon resisted, but Zelda used a small dose of magic to compel Emera forward.
She stopped just in range of her Mama’s hand.
“My little Zel, come,” she said.
Zelda hesitated, slowly raising her hand. Did she really want to do this? Was this real?
She extended it out.
***
This is insane and stupid and it’s not going to work but if it does…
Stop thinking, Eric, just do it!
Eric and Margol raced toward the reincarnation of Bahamut, which had shifted from a smug, arms-crossed position into one ready to deliver a killing blow.
“Me scared!”
“Me too!”
Eric rose out of a crouch, his sword back, ignited by fire so hot that it felt like Eric’s combat gloves would melt around his fingers. He stared Bahamut down, his vision shaky from the imperfect flight line of Margol.
“Me go!”
In the matter of a single second, Eric leaped through the air. Beneath him, nearly three hundred feet of air separated him from the ground. He had no dragon to ride on, no wings to lift him, and no magic to carry him. If he failed in his task, he had just committed a leap to his death.
Just beneath him, drawing the attention of Bahamut’s spear of a tail, Margol dove, the two taking angles barely a few degrees apart, but one that sent them flying in different directions.
Time seemed to slow as Eric brought his sword back, preparing to drive it into his target. Beneath him, Margol unleashed a torrent of flames, providing some cover fire and just enough of a distraction for Bahamut.
The war raged beneath, behind, above, and around Eric. In the far distance, out of his focus, Ragnor stood facing off against Zelda. In the corner of his eye, Yeva combated the rebirth of Indica.
And all he saw, all he focused on, as time crawled and his body flew purely on the momentum that Margol had given him, was the neck of Bahamut.
“For the magi,” he said, his voice a whisper.
Then, in a flash, time sped up. He roared as he slid his sword forward, piercing the neck of Bahamut. The dragon let out a meek cry. Eric twisted his sword and yanked it free. The dragon’s eyes went wide before its head tumbled off, the body and the head separated.
“Yeaaaaaah ohhhh!” Eric shouted, his triumphant shout turning into a scream as gravity took control. “Margol!”
He looked to the we
st and saw the rebirth of Indica and Yeva continuing their fight, blue fire and real fire trading blows. Eric wondered if the Indica clone had as much strength as the original, for this version of Bahamut felt like nothing more than an average dragon with the coat of Bahamut’s skin upon it. Eric had killed it so easily that it certainly did not qualify as a legendary dragon.
He looked north and saw Zelda and Ragnor at a strange standstill.
Then he heard a scream, a scream from a voice he’d begged not to hear.
Looking back west, he saw Yeva and Luca careening to the ground. Luca had lost its right wing.
“No!” Eric shouted. “Marg—”
Before he could finish his words, a bump came underneath him as Margol grabbed him about a hundred feet from the ground.
“Me save you!” Margol exclaimed.
“No time! To Luca and Yeva!”
Eric turned the dragon at a sharp bank, ignoring the weightless feeling that returned as he briefly felt his body lift up off the ground. He had Margol dive for Luca and Yeva, who twisted and spun out of control. It would be close if Eric could get there in time. If not, he just prayed that Yeva’s magic kept her alive.
“Faster!” Eric shouted.
“Me fast as me can!” Margol exclaimed.
Wish I had some magic right now! A loud roar interrupted his thoughts. He looked to the sky to see Indica coming after him, its jaws wide.
“Oh no you don’t,” Eric said. He held his sword aloft, shooting a blast of fire toward the dragon. It held Indica off just long enough that Eric could turn his attention back to Yeva.
Just in time to see he wouldn’t make it.
“No!” he said. “Margol! Pull up! Land safely! We won’t make it!”
“Me pull!”
A loud thud reverberated through the air as Luca and Yeva crashed into the planet. Eric and Margol only needed an extra second or two to land safely, but it felt like forever. Eric jumped off of Margol, ordering it to hold off Indica if it came, and sprinted over to the rising dust.
“No, no, no, Yeva! Yeva!”
He choked on the dust as he pushed it aside, hacking and coughing. It got in his eyes and in his clothing, but still he continued on.
“Oww,” a weak voice said.
She’s still alive. She’s still alive!
His foot stepped on something squishy and he collapsed, having barely avoided spraining his ankle.
“Yeva!”
“Hi, Eric,” she said. She sounded in a significant amount of pain, but not fatally so. “I can see why you needed a lot of practice dragon hunting.”
“It’s not as easy as it looks,” he said.
He found her. She sprawled out on top of Luca. She had scars on her head, but her body looked put together. She didn’t look injured. He didn’t see any fatal scars or piercings.
“You all right?” he asked, hopeful he got a positive answer.
“Got the wind knocked out of me and it hurts, but I’ll live.”
Never had such words, in their literal meaning, meant so much.
Eric, unable to help himself, pulled her off of the dragon, held her in his arms, and kissed her. Yeva murmured something as she put her arms around him, pulling him closer.
“I take that back,” Yeva said. “I think I died, because I must’ve gone to heaven.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Eric said laughing.
But their romantic moment felt short-lived, for the bellow of Indica arrived as the dragon landed about a dozen feet before them. Margol flew to the side of Eric, and the three stared down the legendary reincarnation that seemed to have more firepower than the one of Bahamut.
“How is this one?” Eric asked.
“Very tough,” Yeva said.
“Probably a good thing I got to the mountains when I did,” Eric said. “Bahamut was easy. Ragnor probably hadn’t finished giving it its powers.”
He took a quick look at the sky. Dragons fell everywhere. Eric didn’t even try to guess what dragons were on his side. He did know that for all of the slaughtering that had happened, it would be a long, long time before anyone ever forgot a battle like this.
“Let’s do this,” Eric said. “Finish this thing off, and then we can take out Ragnor.”
Indica bellowed. Eric held out his sword. Margol roared back. Yeva cried out, magic on the tips of her fingers.
And the battle resumed once more.
***
“Mama,” Zelda murmured.
Her fingers were just close enough that if she lunged forward, she would grasp her mother’s hand. It looked so real.
“Yes,” Ragnor said. “You understand now. You understand what I mean when I say I want to make the world in my image. I want to do it with you at my side. I want you to play a role, Zelda. I want you to have the power Iblis can give you.”
Power.
The very thing I’ve feared this whole time.
She pulled her hand back, though she did not pull Emera back. Her mother looked disappointed but not angry.
“Why, my little Zel?” she said.
“Mama, why?” Zelda said back. “Why do you want me with you? Why do you want me with Iblis?”
“I don’t care about that. I just want you. My only child. My daughter, my pearl, my shining light. Please.”
And then, to Zelda’s emotional horror, her mother began gently signing to her. The song that Zelda sung to herself to lift herself up now came from the lips of her mother.
“You are the star of this world, my little girl,
Little girl, the gift of my life,
You will do great things, my shining pearl,
My shining pearl, the ender of strife.
You shall be a guiding light, my sweet angel,
My sweet angel, the gift of my life.”
The whole time, her mother kept her hand extended. The words brought tears to Zelda’s eyes, who remembered hearing her Mama singing the words after a day without food, water, or any prolonged break from the searing sun.
“Zelda, my beautiful daughter,
Zelda, my grace from above,
May you live in peace,
May you live in love.”
She continued on. Zelda’s tears flowed down her cheeks, practically carving out paths on her skin to take.
“Child,” Ragnor said, almost compassionately. “I know the choice is hard. But your mother wants what is best for you. We want what is best for you. You will never have happiness if you follow your old path. You will never see your mother again, not even in the afterlife, if you chose Chrystos. You will have an eternity of isolation. Do what is best for you. Follow us. Join us.”
Zelda could not shake her feelings. She could not shake the suspicions of Ragnor. She’d spent too long fearing Iblis and Ragnor to consider joining them. Just that she even gave it a thought terrified her and made her wonder if her dark side might control her far worse than it had before.
And yet… her mother before her seemed too real. This was not an illusion. She didn’t hear voices. She didn’t experience or feel anything magical. Her Mama was right there!
“What do you want from me?” she said.
“You,” Ragnor said. “Your power. Your understanding. Your—”
But Zelda had stopped listening when Ragnor said “power.” She understood it now. She might have a reunion with her mother. Iblis might very well have captured the soul of Mama, and that left Zelda so distraught she could not stop crying, even in the middle of this intense battle.
But Mama had become the paragon of perfection to Zelda as much for her selfless sacrifice and words of wisdom as she had because of being her mother. If Zelda turned away from Ragnor and Iblis, her mother would understand. Mama would rather burn in the fires of hell for eternity if it saved the world than be united with her daughter.
It, too, was Zelda’s sacrifice. She would sacrifice being united with the one person she loved so that others could spend their time and lives with the people they loved.
Her Mama’s eyes welled. She smiled.
“I know,” she said. “You are stronger than me. I—”
But then she disappeared in a flash, replaced by Ragnor’s balled up fist. The angriest roar yet from Ragnor deafened Zelda. She looked on with fear as the dragon’s fiery soul seemed to burn with all the hatred of Iblis.
“You defy me?!?” the dragon roared. “I am Ragnor! I am Iblis! You cannot defy me, girl!”
With a single lift of his finger, it launched a furious blast of fire at Zelda and Emera. The dragon lifted high enough that Zelda did not suffer any damage, but the beam of energy erased Emera from existence, leaving Zelda floating in the air. A mysterious power held her in place. She gasped and tried to escape, but Ragnor’s power held a grip on her as her world vibrated.
“Foolish child,” Ragnor sneered. It steered Zelda closer. Ragnor had no more maniacal laughter left within. It only had pure, unadulterated hatred and rage at someone who had defied it. “You surely must know that you will die in the most painful of fashions possible. And then I will take your soul down to the depths of hell—and you will never see your mother in that fiery pit!”
“Ahhh!” Zelda screamed as her whole body felt like it was being torn apart.
She tried to resist, but the mental and physical pain became unbearable. It felt like the hands of demons clawed at her skin, yanked on her arms and legs, and scratched for her mind. Within her, it felt like worms wriggled in her brain, devouring it and leaving her for dead.
She sought the power to fight back, but as she groaned and cried, the pain became greater.
“I will end you, child,” Ragnor said. “I will send you to where you belong. I will destroy this world and everything that lives within it! Hydor is mine!”
Zelda screamed. She had but seconds to live, and no way to fight it.