“No, I am afraid not. That is a battle for another day. And in any case, you are mistaken. You were right about good. All it needs is a single person with a single opportunity at a single moment. But the same is true for the darkness. You cannot have one without the other. Light cannot exist without creating shadows, you know.”
Zelda bit her lip, trying not to lash out at Iblis.
“Why are you here?” she said.
“To congratulate you on your victory,” Iblis said.
“Don’t play games with me.”
“Why would I play games with you? I’m quite serious. The power you demonstrated on this day surprised even me. For you to have conquered the living embodiment of me speaks volumes to your potential. I cannot fight you in the physical realm. Perhaps, someday, when you come, we can duel in the spiritual realm. But not today.”
Zelda, tired of Iblis’ lies and mind games, tried to shake him loose and push time back to normal. But even the sun in the sky did not flicker as she gazed upon it.
“You do realize the level of darkness it took to overthrow Ragnor, correct?”
Tune him out, Zelda. Ignore him.
“You used good to defeat him. But you also used evil. From my perspective, what you did was evil, although certainly impressive in its magnitude. It all depends on your perspective.”
Iblis again let out a gentle laugh.
“I will let you enjoy this victory for some time, Zelda. I will need to think about how to better reclaim what is rightfully mine. Just know this in the meantime, though. You have much good in you. The light shines bright. But the light casts a shadow. The brighter the light, the darker and larger the shadow. Will you let your shadow overtake you? Or will you dim the light to prevent the shadow from growing?”
Zelda said nothing. She kept her mind clear, refusing to indulge in Iblis’ mind games.
“I will return, Zelda. You can be assured of that. I am immortal. You are not, even with the greatest magic any being in Hydor has ever seen. Remember my words, child. They may save you from a path you do not wish to go down.”
With that, time returned to normal. As far as Eric and Yeva acted, it seemed as if they had no idea of what had just happened. They rose into the air with their fists still in the air, Eric letting out a triumphant holler of joy.
“Zelda! You coming?”
Zelda shook herself out of her stupor. Evil might always exist. Iblis might return.
But he would always do so from a position of weakness. Whatever power Iblis had in a moment, it would prove fleeting. If not her, then a future magi would save the world. And now that magi had literally saved humanity—and now that the future ruler of Hydor had fallen in love with one—peace among men might finally come.
“Yes,” she said with a smile. “I’m coming.”
CHAPTER 26: ERIC
As he flew through the skies in a land that had once felt suffocating, on a beast that had once defined his life, to a city that once carried the shadow of death, Eric couldn’t stop laughing.
He couldn’t stop smiling at what he, Yeva, and Zelda had just done. They hadn’t just beaten Ragnor. They’d ended the threat to humanity. Peace would finally come. The thread which had started with Artemia and flowed through the empire and the legendary dragons and ended with the true form of Ragnor had broken.
No more. We’ve won. We’ve won!
Eric let out a triumphant, gleeful shout of victory, not caring for the bemused looks of the two magi. He had a feeling he’d celebrate this one for a long, long time. After all, it wasn’t like he had another dragon hunt to go on. The wild ones simply didn’t pose a true threat—not as Artemia had described them—and the ones Eric rode upon would not turn on him.
He looked down at the seas. Even the beasts that had turned the waters into a journey through hell didn’t appear. He suspected those monsters of the depths still dwelt, ready to strike at any moment, but for now, he wouldn’t worry about that. He and the rest of humanity had no reason to cross the seas in the near future.
Mathos came into view, and a mass of people stood on the beaches. Only then did Eric realize the whole theater of war had been visible from Mathos. They may not have heard the furious cries of dragons or the blasts of magic, but the visual display of magic, flames, and monsters surely made for some compelling and high-stakes viewing.
Then he saw something that warmed his heart.
The people cheered mightily as soon as they saw the three of them riding on the back of the dragons. They danced, they laughed, they cried, they hugged, they kissed. They did everything that they feared they never would have gotten to do again, unburdened by the threat of the apocalypse to the south.
Eric, Yeva, and Zelda landed their dragons on top of a sand dune about fifteen feet high as the people came, applauding, cheering, raising their fists in the air in victory. Eric did the same, and the crowd went silent.
They want me to give a speech? Oh no.
This is going to be harder than anything I’ve ever done, he thought with a smile.
As he looked around, though, he felt at a complete loss for words. What could he say that would best capture the moment?
“Eric,” Yeva said, urging him on. The townspeople waited patiently on edge. Eric had no idea what to say. He wasn’t an orator.
So he did what felt right. He indulged in his emotions.
“We won!” he yelled, raising his fist in triumph. The crowd followed with the roar of victory which seemed to echo across all of Hydor. He turned to Zelda and Yeva, who wore massive smiles. No fear of being magi seemed present in their eyes. No fear of death radiated from them.
The crowd eventually settled down, and Eric realized he would have to give a real speech. He muttered something about being a fighter, not an orator, but did so in jest. When he raised his head, he reminded himself of what so many had told him before.
He had not just become a fighter. He’d become a leader. His life as one had ended. But his journey as the other began with his next words.
“Over the last two months, the world of Hydor has changed in ways that perhaps only a few of us could even fathom in the deepest parts of our imagination,” he began. “To most of us, we had no idea what happened, and even worse, we had no control over it. One day, we’re selling food in the marketplace. The next, dragons, murders, evil, and violence seem to come every day, seeking our destruction.”
The crowd did not so much as murmur in agreement. Eric had their full attention. Better take advantage of it.
“I can say here now, after everything we’ve gone through, that while the war between the magi and the humans may have somehow led to this, it is time to let that war end. Now.”
He spoke as strongly as he ever had, perhaps anticipating some resistance. Again, no one stirred.
“I am not a historical scholar by any stretch of the imagination, but Rufus Syrast got us to the point where it took the miracle of the gods to save this world. I know some of you may feel otherwise, but I stand here having fought in the true battle for Hydor’s soul to say that the time of empires has come to an end. It is time to let the Syrast Empire die. Anyone who wishes to challenge that notion, speak now.”
Eric understood the risk in opening up the question of power for discussion. But he also felt it unfair to replace the empire with someone who had an equal dictatorial streak. Changing the title but not the method of rule would only lead to further chaos and madness.
Despite his unease, not a soul spoke. Even the children of Hydor, who might otherwise not know their place for silence, did not utter a cry or a question to their mothers. The men dressed in the attire of the empire did not question Eric’s statement, either.
Eric’s only concern was that the silence came not from acceptance, but from lacking power. Eric had a dragon, two magi, and the support of the entire town of Mathos on his side. He decided that while he could not control why people supported him at that moment, he would do everything he could as a leader to make su
re their support came out of an appreciation for his actions, not a fear of his reprisals.
“I do not yet know what will rise in place of the empire,” Eric said. “We will—”
“Make him king!” someone shouted from the crowd.
Eric could not see who had spoken. He couldn’t place the voice, and it didn’t help that about a half-dozen others echoed the same sentiments. Within just seconds, the crowd became a discombobulated mess of voices, all of them yearning for the Garland Kingdom to begin.
Eric looked to Yeva, as if she might give permission. She just shrugged. Magic was her domain, not governance. We do need a clear direction in the coming months. Maybe even in the coming years.
Eric again raised his hand, asking for silence. He felt a nice sense of power that he could silence the people with just a single fist, but he reminded himself not to abuse it. He could not become like the emperor.
“If that is what you want,” Eric said. “I will give it. But!”
He still had to go silent as the crowd broke out in cheers.
“I consider this but a temporary measure, for we saw what happens when one person has so much power that they cannot control the power, and the power corrupts them.”
When he spoke, he noticed Zelda bowing her head.
“I will be your king for as long as we need to rebuild our society. I must lay out some fundamental truths before we move forward. First of all. None of us will ever return to Caia.”
No one seemed bothered by that in the slightest.
“Even with our victory, the seas are a dangerous gamble for us to work with. The southern lands, the continent which housed Caia, has split apart from the rest of Hydor. No towns, no cities, no human life remains there. The monsters of Ragnor crawled across the land like ants toward food. We have no reason to go back, and instead will consider it ‘The Forbidden Lands.’”
He swallowed before continuing. He hadn’t told the entire truth. He suspected Yeva or Zelda would want to go back to Caia and find the journals of Garo, for the library, as broken down as it was, still stood, something that all but a couple of buildings in Caia could not say. But they would not go to trade, work, or live. They would go to recover and return. The people didn’t need that detail right now.
“However, to the north and to the west, and even to the east lies land that we have not yet discovered,” Eric said. “Our society has collapsed from three towns to one, but rather than see this as a moment of downfall, I prefer to see it as a moment of opportunity. Just to our left here, the former headquarters of the Dragon Hunter’s Guild stands. At one time, it housed the empire. I have no desire, for that reason, for us to rule from there. Nor do we need a guild to hunt dragons any longer. But what if we turned it into a base to train our soldiers?”
Agreeable nods came. Eric knew he’d have to convene a council of wise men and women to make sure he didn’t make poor decisions, but for now, he just wanted the people to have certainty—even if that certainty changed in the coming months. Flexible certainty beat the perpetual, ingrained chaos which had defined Hydor for the last several hundred years.
“Similarly, our society, our… kingdom,” he said. The word still didn’t sound perfect, but it got a little easier each time. “We need a new capital. I say, instead of building where we once did, we find new land. We build to the west of the mountains, to signify a fresh start. I also say we build more cities, the better to avoid centralizing all of our people in one spot and having a disaster as we did with Caia.”
He didn’t want to get too far ahead of himself and promise things which he could not deliver. But everything that he said made sense to him on some level, and he didn’t want to face the risks that the Syrast Empire had either overlooked or not even known to consider.
But there was one thing that he had not yet stated that he had to.
“Most important of all of this, however,” he said. “We as a people must learn to respect the magi. No, we must learn to embrace the magi.”
No one dared to speak against him, not when he had his momentum carrying him forward.
“For as long as the Syrast Empire has existed, the magi have faced persecution, fear, and punishment not for crimes, but for simply being magi. This will stop, no exceptions.”
He could not have spoken more sternly if he tried to.
“Without the magi, none of you would be here today. I would not be here today. The emperor claimed credit for defeating Indica, but I cannot make myself any clearer. He lied to you. He lied to all of us. He held me up as the hero of the night, and while I played a role, it is the two magi by my side who kept you alive.”
Then, something unexpected happened.
Someone clapped.
Then more people clapped.
Soon, the entire crowd clapped and cheered. Eric looked to the two girls, who smiled so much they looked on the verge of tears. It marked a wild difference from what they had each known for their entire lives. Zelda, especially. I can’t ever know what she went through, but I have to imagine this is just as strong a moment as defeating Ragnor was.
“Though the two girls standing before me are magi, I suspect that some of you standing before me today are magi. In the past, you had to hide that. You may have even hidden it from your loved ones. I am here to promise you that whatever laws declared magic illegal are abolished, now! I promise you that anyone who persecutes a magi without just cause—just cause meaning a true crime against an individual or humanity—will face serious consequences. I promise you that the magi will live with the humans as one, and that I will work to bring peace and prosperity for all!”
The crowd hollered some more. Eric could feel himself running out of steam. He had to wrap up his speech soon, for if he went further, he risked ending on a sour note.
“We have much work to do and little time for words, but before I end, I want to introduce you to someone.”
He looked over to Yeva, who blushed. He had to hold back a laugh as she nervously came over. Eric took her hand in his, and now he was the one who squeezed first.
“This woman is a mage,” Eric said. “I am not. I could not cast magic if my life depended on it—and believe me, I have had several such moments over the past two months. Under the old rule of Rufus Syrast—or any Syrast emperor—we could not stand here together. She would face arrest or death as a mage, and I would face shame and ridicule for allowing a mage into my life. Under the best of circumstances, we would never even meet, because she would have her own town as a mage and I would have my own town as a hunter.
“But today marks a new dawn of society. I see the woman by my side not as a mage, but as a human who happens to use magic. She, along with Zelda, will help guide humanity forward as much as I will. The war of the magi, the war of humanity, the war of Hydor must end today. I know many of you will not easily give up your hatred of the other side, and I do not expect you to let go so easily. But if you cannot let go, open yourself up to the possibility of sharing the future with them. You do not have to like the other side, but you must respect them and work toward building the future together.”
He smiled as he considered his future. Contrary to what he had thought several times since he’d left Mathos for Caia, he had found peace. He had found love. Most certainly, his family had found peace even long before Eric had gone to fight the dragons.
And now, finally, Hydor had found peace.
“Today, the era of empires ends. Temporarily, the Garland Kingdom begins. I will guide humanity to safety and prosperity as your king, and Yeva will do the same as your queen. Long live humanity! Long live Hydor!”
The crowd let out its biggest roar. Eric turned to Yeva, whose face had turned several shades of red darker.
“My queen?” she said, barely able to get the words out.
Eric just laughed as the crowd slowly dispersed back into the town of Mathos, their cheering unending. He had a feeling the celebration of their triumph would last for some time and that all of his stated
goals would have to wait at least a week to even begin planning, let alone executing.
That was fine. He had Yeva by his side.
“Yes,” Eric said, faking confidence to push past his verbal gaffe. “Queen Garland.”
“It’s Fallon, actually,” Yeva said. “But I can live with Queen Garland. In fact, you might even say I love it.”
Eric just beamed. He searched for the right words, but he stopped himself.
He’d thought about it wrong all along. It wasn’t about the right words.
It was about the right action.
He moved in, placed his hands gently on Yeva’s hips, and pulled her in for a kiss.
And so began the Garland Kingdom, with Eric and Yeva as the first king and queen, the dragon riders who had saved Hydor.
CHAPTER 27: ZELDA
When night time fell, the survivors of the war danced, drank, and laughed underneath the glistening stars of the Hydor night sky. Eric, Yeva, and Zelda sat on top of the wall surrounding the former guild headquarters, content to watch the people indulge in the afterglow of their victory.
Zelda watched it all with a content smile. She had no qualms letting Eric and Yeva have the spotlight that afternoon. They deserved to rule Hydor as king and queen. Even before they had spoken to the people as royalty, they had a majestic aura about them each that made them dignified and purposeful. Eric, especially, had developed that in the past couple of weeks, since Zelda had ran into him in the southern lands.
But the day had also overwhelmed her. Being back in a crowd, even one that supported her as it had, had brought some stress reactions that she could not control. She had suppressed her worst instincts, but the act of holding them back left her exhausted and unwilling to socialize. And that’s not even counting that we actually fought the battle this morning.
She needed a break, and it didn’t hurt that she could use giving Yeva and Eric privacy as an excuse to leave.
“Emera,” she said, followed by a gentle whistle.
Legends of the War (War of the Magi Book 3) Page 39
