Blood of Mages (Rift of Chaos Book 3)

by A. J. Martinez

  They wiped each other’s tears and held hands.

  Suddenly, Zarviack flinched and began to survey the skies. She whipped her head left and right and around to find something in the sky. The diamond spiral on her forehead glowed.

  “What is wrong?” Serena asked.

  “I sense danger approaching,” Zarviack answered. “A murderous intent. Dark maju.”

  “Dark maju?” Serena questioned and then remembered the black creatures that had attacked her city. “Fiends?”

  “No, not fiends. Something else.” Zarviack then looked up at the lower cave on the wall of the ice canyon. “Akielas!” she called. “Akielas! Come out! Hurry!”

  Shortly after Zarviack called him, Akielas jumped out of the cave and glided down using aeromancy. Then Auron came down and Eckxio donned his shining armor and hovered aloft.

  “What is the matter?” Akielas asked and drew his sword.

  “I sense dark maju infused with cosmo,” Zarviack said.

  “The Specters,” Akielas assumed. “It has to be them. Who else would follow us here?”

  Serena looked up at the sky and saw black clouds moving in circles. It was a horrifying sight, like a storm coming to curse them. The dark cloud trailed to the top of the canyon and when the smoke cleared, a white masked person clad in black stood there staring down at them. The mask only had one eye and the hood was tight around the head of the dark figure. The mask had five horns warping upwards, mimicking a crown. Then another black cloud landed on the canyon. A second person in black stood there. This one had a broken horn on their mask, again with one eye. Another cloud crashed at the top revealing another stranger in black. This one had horns on the side of its mask warping backwards.

  Three masked figures stood above, their blacks cloaks billowing. Serena and her friends gazed up at them. She was not sure how to react. She had never seen them before but she was sure that they weren’t friendly.

  “That is them,” Akielas said. “The Specters.”

  “So these are the Specters,” Serena responded.

  “Well, well, well.” One of them spoke. It was the one with the five warping horns. “Thank you, Akielas for leading us here to this wonderful wilderness of ice. It is quite romantic actually. I like the solitude and isolation of this place.”

  “Ember!” Akielas yelled. “What are you doing here?”

  “You should know by now, or did I strike you so badly that you forgot,” Ember remarked.

  “No, Ember, I was able to regain my magic,” Akielas responded.

  “Yes, I know and I cannot wait to close your gates once more,” she replied.

  “What? How did you know?” Akielas asked.

  “Akielas, what do they want?” Zarviack whispered next to Akielas.

  “They want the Sapphire Cosmo Jewel,” he answered. “You must hurry and quietly seal the entrance to the higher cave. If they get their hands on the jewel it is going to be over, for all of us.”

  “You mean it’s here?” Serena asked.

  “Quiet!” Akielas snarled. “The Specters must not know.”

  Serena looked up at the Specters and she sensed something familiar about the one with the broken horn. A familiar maju and her intuition once again told her who it was.

  “Samird! Is that you?” she shouted.

  “Here I thought you would never find out,” said the one with the broken horn. He took off his mask and the hood from over his head. When she saw those dreadlocks falling on his shoulders her heart immediately broke.

  “No,” she whispered.

  “Princess, my princess. Behold, my real name is Naunet,” he said. “I must say it was fun while it lasted. Pretending to be your lover for the past six months was not easy.”

  “You are a Specter!” she rasped. “You lied to me…all this time. You were a fake and how…how did I not see it? How could I not even sense it?”

  “Honestly, I thought you would figure it out by the time Akielas and his friends appeared,” Naunet replied and chuckled.

  “Why did you do it?” she asked, eyes red with tears.

  “To find out where the Sapphire Cosmo Jewel is of course,” he answered. “Your family were the bearers of the sapphire jewel, so I thought you would show it to me if I made you fall in love with me, and it was working. Sadly, the jewel was nowhere to be found. The Laguans also claimed to be the bearers of the jewel. However, I remained patient because once you met Akielas I knew that he would help you find the jewel, and he has.”

  “Damn you!” she yelled at him, and her pupils thinned, her fangs peeked from her mouth and her nails grew longer. She scowled and hissed, seething with rage, and her friends stepped away from her. The man she was falling in love with had been using her the entire time. “I am a fool,” she rasped. “I was blind. How could I not sense it? There was not even a hint of darkness from you. Tell me! How did you hide your true self from me?”

  Naunet laughed and put his hood and mask back on. “My dear, you still have much to learn. I have traveled the entire world learning new magic and tricks. Thanks to Akielas I had found a way to conceal my maju. I disguised my darkness from you. Only a more advanced mage like Akielas would be able to detect my real essence. Don’t feel bad. You weren’t the only one that I managed to fool.”

  “I am going to rip your heart out and make you eat it,” Serena swore.

  “Please, do your worst,” Naunet replied.

  “Enough of this talk!” Ember rasped. “None of you will stop us from taking the sapphire jewel.”

  Suddenly, Akielas jumped using aeromancy, shouting a spell towards the Specters. His blade bathed in flames and his roar echoed in the ice canyon. He reached the cliff and clashed blades with Ember. The other two Specters scattered. Eckxio dashed through the air, crashed against one of them and took them into the air. Serena kept her eyes on Naunet and saw him flying in the form of a dark cloud.

  Naunet orbited her, blinding her with his black smoke. Serena called upon the ice creating a twister of snow, then expanded it and cleared the smoke. The moment she spotted Naunet she lunged for him. Naunet thrust with his spear but she caught it, kicked him then took his spear. Naunet launched a ray of cold energy from his hands and she retaliated with her own. As both ice spells collided it created a crystal tower. With all the rage in her beast form she bashed through the tower of ice and lunged the spear at Naunet. He leapt into the air and Serena jumped after him, she caught his foot before he could fly away and pulled him down.

  “You are not leaving alive,” she rasped and lashed out with her spear wounding his leg.

  While he was aloft, Naunet thrust his palm downwards and pushed Serena with an unknown force. She was thrown back with great impact and crashed into the walls of the canyon. Her body broke the ice and, thanks to her beast form, she was able to endure the pain of the collision. She groaned then fell face down but got up again, refusing to be weak and thirsty for vengeance.

  “Serena! Are you hurt?” Zarviack shouted as she ran towards her.

  “I am fine. Don’t worry about me, just protect the sapphire jewel,” Serena said and panted.

  “So, you finally found your mother. How lovely,” Naunet remarked, hovering above. “Tell me, how does it feel to find the person who abandoned you for their own selfish reason.”

  Serena only hissed back like a cat as her legs wobbled. Naunet then created a sphere of darkness. It ballooned in his hands until it was twice his size.

  “This is for you, my love,” he said and launched the dark sphere at her.

  She gaped as the dark sphere painted the canyon in black. Zarviack jumped in front of her and shouted, “Illums swey tegas!” She cast a crystal barrier. Serena was shocked to see her mother using white magic. When the dark sphere crashed against the crystal barrier it was redirected back toNaunet. Naunet yelled as the sphere flew towards him and was sent into the air with his own spell.

  Serena gazed up at Naunet, amazed at how easily her mother had reflected his attack. Sh
e looked at Zarviack in awe and was speechless.

  “That was white magic. How did you learn that?” Serena asked.

  “It’s just one of the many things I have learned in solitude,” Zarviack explained and smiled.

  They both looked at each other then Zarviack looked up at one of the caves in the canyon. Serena followed her gaze and saw Auron standing inside the higher cave…holding a blue crystal in his left hand.

  “The jewel!” Zarviack shouted. “You cannot allow them to take it. Return it to the cave.”

  But Auron did not respond. He just stood there holding the jewel as it shone, painting the canyon in a deep ocean blue. He then began to chuckle and that chuckle then turned to a laugh. Auron jumped down from the cave, landed roughly then walked around the canyon. The snow reacted to the jewel. Water started drifting towards it, snow elevated and whenever Auron took a step, ice spikes grew in his footprints. The jewel vibrated in his hands and Auron seemed to struggle holding it.

  “Give it to me,” Zarviack demanded and reached for it. “It is safer in my hands. I am the bearer of the jewel.”

  “I don’t think so,” Auron said and his lips stretched into a smirk.

  “What! Who’s side are you on?” Serena snarled.

  “I am…on the winning side,” Auron replied. He then looked up and shouted, “Ember!”

  When he shouted the Specter’s name, a black cloud trailed down from the sky and landed right next to him. The one called Ember had a staff of soft grey color and gleamed from how glossy it was. Ember quickly caged the sapphire jewel in the top of her staff. Five metal fingers wrapped around the blue jewel and its shining light dimmed as if it had lost some of its power.

  “Ember!” Akielas voice echoed from atop the canyon. “You won’t get away!”

  Ember then pulled another staff from within the darkness of her cloak. It was a similar staff. only this one held a red jewel. Ember used that staff and released a red beam that destroyed the cliff on which Akielas stood. Serena gasped believing that Akielas had been killed.

  “I won’t let you take my family’s jewel, you bitch,” Serena rasped but was not sure of what to do.

  “Do you really think it belongs to you, stupid princess,” Ember replied and launched another red beam at Serena.

  Serena heaved a wall of ice. She then saw her mother leap towards Ember’s attack and a purple aura glowed from her body. Zarviack hovered over the ice and with both hands was able to fight against Ember’s red beam. Serena was sure that it was not maju that her mother was using. The energy was purple and Zarviack’s entire body glowed in that color and even released steam of the same hue.

  “I will not allow anyone to take the sacred jewel of Oceamus,” Zarviack swore. Her voice echoed when she spoke and her eyes glowed.

  Serena was not sure of what was happening to her mother, but it gave Zarviack more power. Finally, Ember’s red beam ceased, the white masked ghoul was pushed back and crashed against the ice wall. Zarviack’s purple glow began to dim and she fell to her knees. Auron then attacked her mother shouting, “Aerous pulse!” But Zarviack simply slapped the spell away.

  Ember stood up again and launched another red beam, this time much larger. Zarviack was able to push against it with her purple energy, but she was weaker than before. Her feet began to slide over the ice as the beam pushed her back until she could no longer hold it. Zarviack managed to avert the beam when she dipped and it streamed over her head then crashed and destroyed the ice structure in the center of the canyon. Zarviack fainted. Serena ran to aid her and cradled her head. She scowled at Ember then at Auron.

  “Traitor! I thought you were friends with Akielas,” Serena rasped.

  “I was,” Auron replied.

  “He has made a wiser choice,” Ember said.

  “Serena!” She heard Akielas’ voice. He jumped down from above the canyon and joined her with her mother. “Is Zarviack still breathing?”

  “Yes, and I can feel her heartbeat,” Serena answered. “I think she used too much power.”

  A Specter fell from the sky and crashed, creating a crater in the ice just a dozen feet away from Serena. Eckxio descended from the sky flapping his wings and his sword shining.

  “That was for Caim!” Eckxio yelled.

  The Elf then landed next to her. Her new friends stood beside her except the one whom she had disliked from the beginning.

  “You know, Auron, I knew there was something wrong since the first day I met you,” she confessed. She held Zarviack in her arms, still in her beast form. “You were always rude and impatient.”

  But the red haired man only laughed at her. Serena felt defeated and all hope seemed lost.

  Auron

  “It was about time I switched sides,” Auron said and laughed. “I am done babysitting you, Akielas.”

  “Auron, how could you?” Akielas replied with a sad tone. “Why would you join the Specters? You know what they are trying to do. You know what is going to happen. Look what they have done to all your friends. Have you really given up hope?”

  Auron chuckled and stared at Akielas. He felt sorry for the man who raised him but he had no regret for his decision. He was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice even if it meant betraying his own friends, his own father.

  “There is no hope with you Akielas,” he said. “I am going to help the Specters rid the world of magic.”

  “But why?” Akielas rasped and punched the ground. “You are… my son. How could you betray me? After all we have done. After all the effort we put into stopping the Specters, you are just going to turn your back on us. This must be a joke. I know you are not serious. I know that…”

  “Shut up old man,” Auron interrupted. “I am tired of your motivational speeches. I am tired of relying on you. Everything that has happened up to this day is because of you. At least by joining the Specters my people have a chance of survival.”

  “Is that what they promised you?” Akielas asked. “You fool. The minute she gets the chance Ember will turn her back on you and murder everyone you love. You are better than this, Auron. I know you are not evil.”

  “I don’t care,” Auron said. “I have made my decision. Ember promised to leave my family and friends in Burnahdujf out of harm’s way. Besides, she is right about Prodigus Kollos. Magic is the real sin of mages. Without magic the world will be at peace and everyone will be equal.”

  “You idiot! I cannot believe you are agreeing with Ember,” Akielas said. “Just a few days ago you tried to kill her and now you are on her side following her philosophy.”

  “Actually, if I remember correctly, this is your philosophy,” Auron said and laughed. “All those years that I lived with you in Burnahdujf. In my youth you pretended like none of that ever happened until Ember took the Crimson Cosmo Jewel from me five years ago. You know that I have always stood for peace and now I see that Ember will bring true peace to this world. It might not be the most romantic way, but, there will be peace.”

  Ember laughed boisterously holding two omnithium staffs with cosmo jewels. Jairo rose from the crater after being struck by Eckxio. He walked, limping towards Ember while Auron lectured Akielas.

  “At last,” Jairo said. “With all four jewels we can complete our plan, and it’s all thanks to this redhead.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself,” Auron remarked, crossed his arms then turned his attention back to Akielas. “I have nothing else to say to you, Master Akielas. You have taught me many things but I have made my final decision. It was an honor being your apprentice and son, but the world will be much better without magic.”

  “Auron, you know that siding with the Specters means that we will have to fight,” Akielas said. “You won’t stand a chance against me. If you get in my way, dear son, I am going to have to finish you.”

  “We will see about that, old master,” Auron responded with a smirk. “You could not kill Ember or your other apprentices when you had the chance. What makes you think you will have the hea
rt to kill me?”

  “Things are different now,” Akielas said. “Before the tri-eclipse, my hands will be red with the blood of my own children. If this is how I must save the world, then so be it. I will bear this sin and have accepted the outcome.”

  “Auron! You traitor!” Eckxio yelled from above. The Elf dove from the sky, wings closed like a hawk to its prey.

  The heavenly light that radiated from the Elf’s armor blinded Auron but then saw Ember took a stand in front of him and launched a red beam from the crimson jewel. Auron did not see the result of the attack, all he heard was Eckxio screaming and armor shattering. When the light of the Elf vanished, feathers rained down on the canyon. Auron saw Eckxio falling from the sky, at least, a mile or more away.

  “No! Eckxio!” Akielas yelled and took a stance, ready to attack.

  “Ready to die, Akielas?” Ember called out.

  “Forget him.” Auron clutched Ember’s shoulder. “It’s time to go. You got what you wanted. There is no need for further harm.”

  “Indeed,” Ember agreed.

  Another Specter came down from the sky in the form of a dark cloud. It landed behind Auron. He looked behind his shoulder and saw that it was Naunet. Simultaneously, all three Specters spread open their cloaks and released black smoke. Auron held on to Ember’s shoulder and teleported back to their hideout. Akielas dashed with a roar. Auron was not sure if Akielas was trying to attack him or Ember but they had already teleported to the skyscraper of the Specters before Akielas struck. I am sorry, Auron thought. But this is the only way.

  Serena

  Moments later, after Auron and the Specters had disappeared, Serena cradled her mother and her friends surrounded and supported her. Zarviack had fainted after being engulfed with strange purple energy. Her mother could have been killed defending her and she could not stop crying. Zarviack was still breathing, heart beating and Serena could feel maju slowly flowing in her mother’s body.