The Blackbird's Song

by Billy Wong

  Moments later when he looked below, he glimpsed what she probably had. Being disoriented and hurt, she might've dismissed it as a possible hallucination, but the rest of them now confirmed what they saw. In a huge chamber hidden under the church, a giant, seemingly inert metal humanoid loomed.

  They climbed down and walked towards the hunched over figure. Close up, they could see it appeared to be made up of numerous artifacts connected together in a metal framework. "I wonder what this is for," Andrew said. "I'd guess they probably meant to use it to do battle at some point, but against us or something else?"

  Kara touched its leg. "It looks like it would be pretty dangerous if activated. Maybe we should destroy it?" She readied her axe.

  Henry shook his head. "No, don't do that yet. These artifacts might prove useful, so we shouldn't recklessly damage them. But I wonder how tightly joined they are..." He gripped one that looked distinct amidst the mass, which resembled a flute making up part of the calf, and gave an experimental tug. Suddenly a beeping sound was heard, and the titan stood straight up as golden light filled its eyes.

  "Even though I am incomplete," the Archcardinal's voice boomed from its immobile mouth, "I can still replace God."

  Kara replied, "No, but you can try to replace the keeper of the dead... when you meet him in hell!" She made her axe light and threw it at the head, then turned it heavy just before it hit. But it was stopped by an invisible shield much like the one Demetrious had generated from his hand and fell harmlessly to the ground.

  "Well, that didn't work," Andrew said.

  "Dammit, that would've been a good line if it did."

  "What I thought I saw," Blackbird revealed, "was something leave his body just before the scepter exploded and fly into the ground. He must have transferred his spirit into this thing somehow..."

  The giant took a step forward, energy blazing from multiple parts as it raised its arms. In one metal hand materialized a normal sized sword, dagger-like for it. Everybody prepared to fight, then Henry had a different idea. "Wait! You talk about replacing God, but who will you replace him for? It's already been months, and a lot of people have accepted that He's dead. Others who don't cling to their faith, or put their hope in His future resurrection. You predicted wrong, society hasn't fallen apart in His absence. The world moved on, and our conflict has become irrelevant."

  "Is this so?"

  Henry's friends stared in surprise at first, then Blackbird joined in. "Yes, we've proven stronger than you thought. Even if you can revive the church to vie for control of the land again, what's the point? The secret's already out, and continuing to fight will just cost more lives. Is that what you want, to tear humanity apart after ostensibly trying to protect it?"

  After a moment, Demetrious lowered his arms. "No. But then what should I do? This body..."

  Henry replied, "It doesn't matter. No matter what you look like, if your soul is human, you are human. So you can still help everyone get ready to face whatever it is that killed God, if needed. I'm sure you have plenty of knowledge in that old head which can be useful to us."

  "Fine," he finally said. "For the sake of mankind, I will give your proposal a chance. But will your allies accept my existence?"

  "After all this feud has cost both sides, it's time to let bygones be bygones. We'll make sure all parties have an understanding of the situation."

  "But if you're the one who turns on them without provocation," Blackbird added, "then I'll come right back to kick your butt again. I-we're giving you another chance, so don't screw it up."

  They explained to the marshal that the Archcardinal in his new form was no longer hostile, and would help prepare humanity for the possible coming trials. After working out the details about where he would stay and how they would inform the prince of this new development, the friends stuck around unknown to Demetrious for a bit to see if he would attempt any violence. When nothing happened, they left Batrecar.

  "Pointless battle averted!" Kara said cheerily as they departed. "But do you think you could have taken him if need be, Blackbird?"

  She touched her chin in thought. "From what we saw, namely the invisible shield and strangely undersized normal looking sword, it seems likely his body is made of the same artifacts the Sovereign absorbed with their power returned to them after it was destroyed. So I figured the fight would be pretty similar only he's bigger this time, but I doubt he could heal his artifact parts as they're destroyed.

  "Yeah, I probably could have handled him, though I'd have tried to let you guys contribute. Like Andrew, you could have shot him in the face with your tube once I got his shield down."

  "I'm so thrilled to hear that," he said sardonically.

  "But anyway, since even our greatest enemy wound up not being so unreasonable and was willing to set aside differences in the end"—Blackbird paused—"I've decided I too should stand together with the rest of humanity and stay instead of running back to the wilderness!" Henry felt overjoyed. "As for losing my strength, I guess I can just exercise to keep it up even though it won't come as naturally."

  "Great to hear that, little beast!" Henry beamed. "And we'll try to be more active in searching for worthy artifact bearers and such so you won't be as bored, too." He picked her up to spin her round and round despite her protests that she should be the one doing that, then threw her into the air. Unfortunately his control was nowhere near as good as hers and instead of tossing her straight up, he managed to hurl her into a thorny bush.

  "Ow ow ow ow you bastard!" She ran back and flung him into the air, caught him on her shoulders and made to spike him into the ground.

  Kara grabbed him and tried to pull him down. "No don't, you'll kill him!"

  "Well, wouldn't want that." She set Henry on his feet. "By the way, boyfriend, you throwing me into that type of bush reactivated the extremely contagious groin rash I had as a kid." Everyone ran fast as they could in separate directions. Left alone, Blackbird said, "Hey, it was a joke... What, do all of you want to play tag?" She set her sights on the fleeing Andrew. "Then, here I come!"

  Alternate Ending

  (starts after the group leaves Septapolis for the last time)

  When they arrived in Batrecar, the marshal in charge led them to a mortuary. It stunk, and Henry wondered what was so important that they needed to be brought here. The man pulled a slab out from the wall and uncovered it. Revealed was a corpse, the grisly rotting features of which made everyone step back. It looked to be smallish, likely female, and its clothes somewhat... familiar. But no, it couldn't be...

  "It looks kind of like Blackbird," Andrew said, his voice baffled. Kara only stared, as if bewildered to the point of silence.

  Henry turned to her. It did seem just like her, all the way down to the heat-twisted circlet on its head, but she was right here. She couldn't be-

  "I guess I died after all," she said. "I thought I saw my body after the Sovereign blew up, but dismissed it as a hallucination. Turns out it wasn't, and I've been with you as a ghost all this time."

  He gulped. "You're a ghost? But how's t-that possible? We did things together, you felt plenty solid and even carried me around—heck, you brought Demetrious onto the roof and cast him down in the dust in front of everyone! You can't be dead, you can't..."

  "Ghosts can affect the physical world to varying degrees depending on how strong they are, like that dead hero I beat for my sword. I suppose my spirit is so strong, I could stay tangible full time and function as a person despite being dead. But I think it's time for me to leave now."

  "No wait, why, can't-" But she was already fading, growing more transparent until there no trace remained of her having ever been there. Henry fell to his knees and cried, barely noticing his friends as they sought to comfort him. He still couldn't believe it. How could that dead thing, so awful and chilling to behold, be his Blackbird... life couldn't be this unfair. She couldn't be gone. Learning God was dead was nothing compared to finding this out. Only now did he realize how muc
h he loved her. He thought about dying to join her, but she wouldn't want him to. She'd wish for him to live a happy and full life without her, and thus he'd try his best to, no matter how hard it was. He pulled the circlet off her empty husk. This, he would always keep close to his heart to remember her by.

  They took Blackbird to Septapolis and held a funeral for her there, during which all three of the friends shed their share of tears. Andrew became choked up reminiscing about the times she'd cut off his arm, and Kara proclaimed between sobs that nobody could ever inspire her again as she had. Henry couldn't even compose himself enough to give that much of a speech. "I miss you so much, Blackbird," was all he could say before going back to weeping and sitting down.

  After everyone had left except the trio, Henry touched his forehead to her gravestone. "I'll never forget you. I hope you're watching me from somewhere, and that I can make you proud."

  "Hey, don't sound so down," Blackbird's voice said from nearby, "I'm not gone." They all looked to see her step out from behind a tree. "I decided to stay around. I figure you guys will probably need my help sometime, after all."

  "So you're just going to act... like you never died?" Andrew asked, blinking.

  "I passed for alive for a couple months before we found out. I can keep doing it."

  Henry broke out into a huge smile and hugged her. She felt just as solid as she ever had. "So since you're not 'really' dead, for all intents and purposes, can we still date?"

  She grinned. "Find yourself a living girl. I probably can't make babies, or age, or other things non-dead people do."

  "You won't be able to get more scars either. But I'd still like to be with you even if..."

  "I have enough scars. As for the other thing, if you're sure you really want that, I'll consider it."

  That was all he could ask for. He took the circlet out from his inner shirt pocket and raised it to her head, which no longer bore a spectral copy of it. "So, do you want this back?"

  "Nah, you can carry it. You were closer to Uncle Pete after all, and—actually since a piece of jewelry would kind of go to waste in your pocket, nevermind, put it on my head."

  He did, happy to see how great it still looked on her. "So, how did you make your sword disappear with you if it was the real one? We didn't find it with your body. Um, the cape too for that matter."

  Blackbird wagged her index finger. "Now that is a secret. Anyway, what are we going to do now?"

  "I guess we'll continue on with finding worthy users for the artifacts. We can keep searching for your family too, since I'm sure they'd want to meet their grown daughter even if she is, well, you know. Is that all right with you?"

  "Of course it is, why wouldn't it be? Now let's get going!" They left the cemetery, the future yet bright before them.

  Cover design copyright © Littera Book Designs http://litterabookdesigns.blogspot.ca

  Author Billy Wong is an avid fan of heroic fantasy, with a special love for strong female warriors. He draws inspiration from the epic legends of old, and is on a quest to bring over the top deeds and larger than life heroes back to prominence in today's literary world.

  http://bklynbill.blogspot.com/

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