Blood of Mages (Rift of Chaos Book 3)

by A. J. Martinez

“Naunet and Jairo…are dead?” she repeated.

  “Yes,” Hertha whispered and sobbed. The girl removed her white mask and stared down while frowning.

  Ember had sensed their maju vanishing moments before the tower had slightly tilted. She refused to believe that her lover, Naunet, had been killed. She refused to believe that Jairo, her little brother, had been destroyed. She did not know how to feel about it. She could not even shed a tear and felt something hollow in her chest.

  “It’s hard isn’t it,” Akielas said. “When you lose someone you love so much. When the people you love are killed. Feels as if someone tore them out of your heart.”

  “Shut up,” she replied hoarsely. “Auron, kill him. Hertha! Summon more fiends. It’s not over yet.”

  “Gladly,” Auron responded.

  The Amaranth vertically smacked Akielas’ sword and disarmed his master. The sword spun in the air, Auron caught it then his golden spear contracted in his hands as a magical way of sheathing his weapon.

  “It ends here, Akielas,” Auron declared, looking down at the man who raised him.

  “Go on, finish him,” Ember commanded. She wanted to do it herself but she still felt stiff having been struck by Akielas, lightning and could not move as quickly as she wanted.

  Auron spun and plunged the omnithium sword in Hertha’s chest. Ember panicked and hopped back. Her body shook nervously after seeing her sister killed before her eyes. Auron then slashed Hertha’s mask. The girl dropped to her knees and her mask fell in two halves. A red line of blood ran from the middle of her forehead down to her chin. She opened her mouth as if to whisper her final words but instead she collapsed with her eyes open and gaped.

  “No! Hertha!” Ember screamed. “Damn Amaranth, I was so convinced that you were truly on our side.” Her body shook as anger seethed.

  “Not a bad performance, don’t you think,” Auron replied and smirked. “Did you really think that I was going to kill my own father. The very man that raised me. It was all part of my plan. As soon as I sensed Naunet and Jairo’s maju vanish, it was time to take you and Hertha down for good. Of course, I would not be able to defeat all of you at once so I waited for Akielas and my friends to show up. And now, even after the tri-eclipse, you won’t be able to cast the final spell on Odealeous. By the time the eclipse is over you will be dead and your so-called goddess won’t be able to do anything about it.”

  Auron lunged at her with a battle cry. He paused in midair as if frozen in time, unable to move. Ember had paralyzed him and had some control over the Golden Sun. Auron squirmed trying to force his body to move, but it was futile.

  “What did you do to me?” Auron asked, stuck in midair.

  “I was not sure when, but I knew you would betray me,” Ember said. “I thought we could get rid of you before the tri-eclipse, but we failed.” She then removed her mask and opened her right eye. It was her omiack eye, given to her by her goddess, Arkana. The eye shone and a dark aura engulfed her body. “When I trusted you with the Golden Sun, I had already marked it with my own maju so that I could have some control over it. I was not going to allow you to rule alongside the Specters. I was going to make you my servant, but now you are useless to me.”

  The Golden Sun shone then contracted. It shrank back in the medallion that hung around his neck. He was then released from the paralysis and fell. Ember reached into the darkness of her cloak and pulled out her twins swords. Auron stood up and faced her. He clutched the Golden Sun medallion but it did not work, it was not listening to him.

  “I sealed the magic of your Valiarmos,” Ember said. “You won’t be able to use it as long as I breathe.”

  “No problem. I will just have to kill you myself,” Auron replied before he rushed forward.

  Ember vanished with a poof of smoke then reappeared on Auron’s right. She swung and cut off his right arm with one sword then his right leg with the other. Auron fell and rolled to the edge of the disc platform. Ember then levitated him using cosmo magic and blasted him off the tower with a purple beam.

  “Auron!” Akielas yelled.

  Ember sheathed her twin swords inside her cloak then took the omnithium sword from Auron’s detached arm. The stiffness from the lightning spell had worn off. She turned to Akielas and grimaced. The three people she had grown up with were gone. She never imagined that she would be all alone in the end. In the visions that the goddess Arkana had shown her, she saw herself with Naunet, Jairo and Hertha. The four ruling the world from a fortress in the sky. Things were not turning out how she had planned and Ember began to feel foolish and hopeless, but she dared not show it. At least not now, not in front of Akielas and not when the tri-eclipse was here for her to deliver the final spell on the world.

  “You killed my friends and I kill yours, Akielas,” Ember said.

  Akielas jumped off the platform. Ember went and looked down to see where he would fall. Akielas rose again atop his white dragon. It thudded its wings and growled with white flames in its mouth. The dragon sneezed a white sphere of fire. Ember used her cosmo and deflected the attack with a purple beam. She then saw the dragon flying away, down to the lower tower. For a moment she thought it would destroy the needle and ruin her plans.

  “Is he giving up?” she wondered.

  Suddenly, she sensed Eckxio above her. She looked up and saw the Elf launching a wave of white energy at the needle. She cast a wave of darkness to block the attack then flew up towards the Elf. Eckxio’s sword shone with divine light and before it could affect her she disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and reappeared behind him. With the omnithium sword she hacked off both his wings and he tumbled from the sky.

  “Stupid Elf, I should have killed him the same day we took his girlfriend’s soul,” Ember said and descended to the disc platform. “No one is going to stop me and…ah… there it is.”

  She gazed up at the white moon and in front of the moon appeared a dark purple sphere. A smaller moon aligned with the previous two. Looking up at the purple moon her omiack eye shut on its own and she felt her cosmo weakening.

  “It is releasing its wave upon the world,” she whispered.

  “Ember!”

  She was not sure who it was this time and when she looked back she saw the demigod. Caim was flying once again. His hair white, lavender eyes glowing, his body had healed and glowed with a purple aura.

  “Who let you off the cross?” she asked nonchalantly.

  “It ends here,” Caim said. “I am going to blast this tower to oblivion.”

  And the demigod tried to use his power but Ember knew that with the third moon above, all cosmo on Odealeous would be postponed until the eclipse was over. The demigod’s aura vanished and he was unable to launch his attack.

  “With the third moon all cosmo magic is canceled,” she explained. “That includes demigod energy.”

  Black smoke billowed from her cloak and from its darkness she pulled out two omnithium spears. She hurled both at Caim. The demigod dodged the first while in the air but the second one went through his chest and he fell from the sky.

  “Not even a demigod can stop my plans,” Ember said. “I will rule the word and pass judgment.”

  “It is time,” the voice of Arkana echoed.

  Ember looked up and saw the ghost of her goddess hovering around the needle.

  “We must merge,” Arkana said.

  “Merge?” Ember questioned.

  “Caim was able to recuperate his godly state. I won’t be able to possess his body. I must use yours,” Arkana explained.

  Ember was dumbfounded. She was not sure how to respond to her goddess.

  “I must give up my body?” she asked.

  “Yes. Caim was going to serve as a vessel but his friends managed to free him. So now I must use you as my vessel,” Arkana answered.

  “Forgive me, my goddess, but I wanted to rule the world by your side, not become a vessel,” Ember protested. “There must be something else we can do. I cannot give up my body.”r />
  Arkana descended to Ember’s level and stared at her with that mirthless face, no iris and no pupils in her eyes. “You will serve me and give me your body. Once the eclipse releases its wave you will cast the final spell using the omiack eye that I gave you, then I will use your body as my own. You will become a goddess.”

  “No. Liar! You lie. I won’t become a goddess,” Ember snarled. “You were going to take over my body and get rid of my soul like you were going to do to Caim. You lied. You said I would rule with my brother and sister and Naunet by my side. You did not see their deaths in the future. Which means you lied about everything else.”

  “This is no time for regrets,” Arkana said. “Look at the moon. It is going to launch its wave shortly. Are you going to give up everything we have worked for? You can still rule the world. As long as you have me you can rule as the only magic user in the world and pass judgment. This has been your dream all along. Don’t give up on it now.”

  “No…I now realize, after losing Naunet, Hertha and Jairo, that this was never my own dream. This was your goal from the start. I accepted it as my own to fill a void.” Ember’s tears trickled down her face and she dropped the omnithium sword.

  “You are going to regret this,” Arkana remarked. “You are giving up the power that all mages wished they had.”

  “No. I am giving up the power that you wish you had,” Ember replied.

  Ember heard a humming sound coming from above. She gazed at the moon and saw it releasing its wave upon Odealeous. The four cosmo jewels began to shine and the grand needle started to absorb the energy of the moon. The beam from the moon struck the entire area of El Nido which was the center of the world. Ember’s island was north of El Nido and was illuminated by the beam of the moon. A purple wave penetrated the center of the world. The grand needle vibrated as it absorbed the energy. It was really happening. The last day of all mages had arrived. The tri-eclipse would shift the energy of the world into a new age, the age of twilight. Ember gazed up at the moon enjoying its beauty. The world around her was black and white and the only hue was the light of the moon. Purple, the color of cosmo, the color of infinity, the color of ultimatum.

  “This is the tri-eclipse,” she whispered. “Magnificent. I feel…I feel…a shift in my heart.”

  “Ember, do it now,” Arkana commanded. “Before it’s over. Cast the final spell!”

  “I changed my mind,” Ember answered.

  “You fool,” Arkana rasped.

  The four cosmo jewels released their rays in different directions, north, south, east, west. The rays seemed to have gone beyond the horizon. Soon the four jewels would use the cosmo absorbed from the grand needle and cast a wave of negative energy that would cause all mages to lose their magic.

  Suddenly, the Emerald Cosmo Jewel ceased its ray. It was still glowing but the ray had stopped. Ember looked up and wondered what had happened. Whatever it was, at this point she really did not care.

  “I told you I would be the one to stop you,” a voice echoed.

  That voice. Ember knew who it was. She had never forgot and now it came back to haunt her. The voice of the soul she had stolen.

  “Willow,” she whispered.

  The ghost of the forest girl appeared. Willow’s spirit reigned over the grand needle. The emerald jewel seemed to have summoned her but Ember knew that the girl sought revenge.

  “Ember!” Willow’s voice echoed. “Your rift of chaos ends here. You will no longer cause destruction upon this world. You will pay the ultimate price for putting the world in danger.”

  Ember had no words for she knew what she had done. She expected no forgiveness from anyone.

  “No, the tri-eclipse is ending,” Arkana alerted.

  The beam that the purple moon had cast began to vanish. Its light dimmed and within a short time the purple moon disappeared. The world returned to its original state. Everything returned to its original color. Ember looked at her hand and noticed that she had regained her skin color. The emerald jewel broke through the center of the grand needle and dropped downward. Ember did not bother chasing after it. She flew up and took the three cosmo jewels that remained from the center of the needle.

  “In the end, it was not what I thought it would be,” Ember concluded. “However, these jewels are still useful to me. Akielas and his friends can keep the emerald jewel.”

  “You have ruined our only chance to save humanity,” Arkana said.

  “From now on, I will make my own plans and forge my own future,” Ember replied. “No longer will I listen to a god of any kind to tell me what my future will be like. Find someone else that you can fool. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

  “I am not done with you yet, Ember,” Arkana responded. “If you will not willingly surrender your body then I will take it by force. You ungrateful human, just like the rest of them.”

  Suddenly, Ember’s eye started to ache. She covered her eye and groaned. She dropped the three cosmo jewels and they floated over the disc platform. Her head started pulsing with pain, then everything began to blur. The sky, the ocean and Arkana, it was all blurry and finally she lost her sight.

  “My vision! I am blind!” Ember screamed, nearly panicking.

  “Since the very beginning, when I gave you the omiack eye, I had control over all four of you,” Arkana confessed. “However, I trusted you and loved you enough to let you act of your own free will. You wanted power, I gave you power. You wanted to do something great for the world and so I gave you my vision, I gave you a purpose. Now, since you no longer wish to pursue our dream of conquering the world as the only magic users, I shall take what is mine. Your entire life. The life that I created for you, which includes your body.”

  Ember could hear Arkana but she could no longer see and now she was not sure if she was standing, lying down or flying. She could not feel anything. It was as if her consciousness was all that remained. Then, something started rising within her. Something was invading her space, her soul.

  “No, no, get out! Get out!” She screamed. “This is my body! This is my soul! You cannot have it!”

  “I have been more than merciful, my dear.”Arkana’s voice echoed in her head. “Have you forgotten. When I gave you the omiack eye, you surrendered yourself to me. Your body and soul is mine as well as your friends. Naunet, Jairo and Hertha. All four of you exchanged your body and soul for power, the power that I gave you. Now that you are of no use, it is time to take it back.”

  Arkana began to take possession of Ember. For a moment she felt her own body again but then something tugged her back and a cold presence filled her up and imprisoned her. Then she was able to see again. She could see the sky, the ocean, the grand needle and the three cosmo jewels floating around her.

  “Ah, yes, finally,” Arkana spoke using her lips. Ember tried to speak, she tried to control her body but could not feel anything. “Not the most comfortable body, but it will do.”

  Her body started moving. Both hands were brought up to her face. Her fingers moved then her arms extended. She could feel none of it, only look as if through a window. Arkana had possessed her body and all she could do was watch while her soul was chained away.

  “And now that you are out of the way, I can do as I please without limitation,” Arkana said.

  “Give me my body back you bitch,” Ember snarled but her voice was merely an echo that could only be heard by Arkana.

  “You are my prisoner now,” Arkana said. “There is nothing you can do.”

  Controlling Ember’s body, Arkana used her own cosmo and levitated the three jewels. The orbited her and enchanted her with both maju and cosmo. Her power began to increase, and as the energy flowed, her muscles began to ache, unable to withstand the amount of power that was beyond human potential.

  “This body is too weak. I needed Caim’s body to fully use my godly powers,” Arkana said and became frustrated. “I don’t have to embody the power of the jewels in this meek human body. I can simply channel
their maju to cast spells.”

  She now had two omiack eyes shining purple, overflowing with cosmo. She picked up the omnithium sword that belonged to Akielas then levitated.

  “Ember!” Akielas yelled.

  He approached riding on his white dragon. When he was close enough, his dragon stopped and he stared at her with one hand chirping with enough. His dragon flapped its wings and white flames filled its mouth as if ready to fire.

  “Ember! Your plan has failed!” he shouted. “Willow prevented you from using the moon’s maju. Naunet, Jairo and Hertha are dead. You are all alone and you cannot run forever. There is nothing else you can do to put the world in such chaos again. I will give you one last chance before I kill you. Relinquish or die. The choice is yours.”

  “Yes, Akielas,” Arkana replied. “The choice is mine, now more than ever.”

  “That voice. You, you are not Ember,” Akielas realized. “Who are you? What have you done with her?”

  “I am Arkana. The one who granted Ember all of her powers,” she answered. “Now I am taking it all back, along with the remnants of the dragon gods.”

  Arkana raised her hands over her head, palms wide open. The three jewels spun over her hands and began to create a sphere. The sphere swelled and swelled until it was large enough to block the light of the moon over the dark tower. It was colossal and Akielas flew away in fear of what it might do. It was like a shining crystal ball and inside of it was the night with stars sparkling in many colors.

  “No matter what it takes, I will have my own world in this life. I will wait no longer,” Arkana said and flew into the sphere, into a realm of stars.

  Akielas

  One nightmare ended and another one began. When Akielas saw the tri-eclipse after he flew away from Ember, he thought it was over. He thought that they had all failed. He thought that Ember had won but a miracle happened. Somehow Ember’s plan had failed since he and the Effeelions still had their magic and all the fiends had vanished after the eclipse. He had seen the third moon appear in front of the white moon and cast its wave upon the world, bathing it with its cosmo.