The Knowledge (The Circle Book 2)

by Lee Isserow

  The ocean below was swiftly approaching, and as he came within metres of crashing down upon the surface, light washed across his vision, and Three teleported him back to the peak of the mountainous creature, a quarter mile to the left of where he had previously cut into it.

  However, on this descent, the ancient fiend was prepared for Kahgo's assault. Tentacles thrashed through the air in attempts to bat him away, or crush him against its side. Shaman did his best to dodge the oncoming attacks, but the light from his skin was not as bright as it had been when he first arrived on the battlefield. As much as he did not wish to acknowledge it, he had lost a great deal of strength and magick by using the blade for so long.

  He was blinded momentarily, as Three teleported him out of the way of a tendril that was heading right for him, then again, as they helped him dodge another.

  “Thank you,” he grunted, as they teleported him yet one more time.

  “Conserve your strength,” they whispered as they relocated him once more.

  The creature's bulk shifted, pulling out of the blade's path, sending Kahgo into a freefall.

  “It's dodging the blade. . . send him back up top again,” Tali instructed.

  “It is not a dodge,” Three informed her.

  Kahgo was teleported closer to the beast's body, and he he growled to himself, throwing all he had into taking to the air once again, whipping around the width of the damn thing, slicing straight through its gargantuan belly.

  “If it's not a dodge, what the hell is it?”

  As she heard Three's response, she could picture each of them saying the words over lumps in their throats. “It is an inhalation. . . preparing for a breath.”

  She bit her lip and positioned her scrying pools to catch a better look at the array of the myriad mouths, each of them was sucking in air. . . and as soon as it had filled its colossal lungs, it would expunge a noxious breath upon the world, killing all mundanes who had the misfortune to come in contact with it.

  “We need to stop it. . . it can't be allowed to breath!”

  “We are well aware, Talika Rei, but what strategy do you suggest to do such a thing?”

  Tali scanned the scene, her eyes passing over each of the massive mouths. Most were were the size of double decker buses, some were larger. And all of a sudden, she had a plan.

  “We're going to pull a Jonah.”

  “To put Shaman Kahgo in a position to be eaten seems somewhat unorthodox. . .”

  Tali pulled her view of the mouths closer, staring right down one of the gargantuan throats. It was lined with teeth for the first few metres, but after that, appeared to be no different to a human oesophagus.

  “It's bloody unorthodox,” she admitted, as a smile came to her lips. “And that's why it's going to work.”

  60

  It's bloody name

  There was no time to lose. Three took hold of Shaman and teleported him above one of the mouths. He gripped the hilt of the God's End as tight as he could with what was left of his strength, as he fell into the creature's gullet. He threw his shoulders around and put a spin on the descent, the blade of the weapon cutting clean through the meat, its heft helicoptering him around as he was swallowed by the Old One.

  The scream from deep within the beast punched through his ribs, he could practically feel the fractures as they formed, but would not allow himself to succumb to the pain. They were so close. . .

  Light pored around him and he found himself above another mouth, falling with the continued momentum of the first descent, cutting clean through the flesh. This time, Three teleported him away before the scream came, and he found himself above a third mouth, then a fourth, each torn to shreds one after another.

  As he was dropped above the fifth mouth, it closed before he could slip through the slimy lips, and he slid down the side of the great beast. Kahgo flipped the blade around and jabbed it into the monster's flesh, dragging it through its bulk yet again.

  Tali stared with wide eyes as she watched from her six perspectives. Her jaw dropped.

  “It's retreating!”

  Kahgo let out a sigh of relief, it was almost over. . . but he could not let his assault stop now, if it got the slightest indication that it was no longer under attack, it might decide not to turn back. . .

  As a massive tentacle whipped through the air towards him, Three teleported him out of its reach, and he tried with all his might to dig the blade in again. But it was taking everything he had just to keep hold of it, he no longer had the strength to lift it aloft.

  Three could feel his struggle, and relocated him again, higher this time, so that he could fall straight down and the blade would hit flesh without any effort on his part. Kahgo wrapped his arms around the hilt to increase his hold on it as it tore into the beast. This time, he did not fall down the side of the cosmically proportioned creature, instead, the blade cut directly down into the core of the damn thing, sending him deeper and deeper into the mammoth monster's guts.

  It continued to retreat, slithering faster, throwing everything it had into escaping from the Natural World. The slit in the veil began to close behind it, metres at a time, then tens of metres, then hundreds, the faster the creature pulled back, the faster the tear between the realms closed in on itself.

  Three teleported Kahgo out of the beast's guts and set him on a patch of reclaimed land. The blade fell from his hands as he collapsed to the ground. “Cannot. . . stop. . . now. . .” he growled,. The words were slow to leave his lips, and short, shallow breaths punctuated each of them. He reached towards it, and caught sight of his own hands. They were withered, the skin paler than he had ever seen it, sagging from the bone. He forced himself to move, to get closer to the God's End, and saw his reflection in the blade. There were lines upon lines carved into his face, even his wrinkles had wrinkles.

  He found his lip trembling, his eyes welling with tears. He had lived for so many years, walked the land for millennia, and yet he had never truly understood what it meant to age. His father had called it 'the folly of youth', and he dismissed it outright. He had lived for longer than most who resided in the Natural World, and thought himself knowledgable of all things. But this, ageing, was something he had never truly known. Until now.

  He turned his aching neck towards the rift. It took time for his eyes to adjust to the distance, to focus so far from where he had been looking moments earlier. It still appeared as though the creature was retreating, but as he watched the edges of the veil sew themselves back together, it felt as though their momentum was slowing. . . as if the beast was not in such a hurry to leave since the attacks upon it ceased.

  “I. . . must. . . continue,” he grunted.

  “We've won, Shay!” Tali told him. “Everyone on the field is coming out of their mesmerisation, we're almost done!”

  “It. . . is. . . not. . . dead.”

  “The thing's the size of a damn moon, we were never going to be able to kill it, not really. . .”

  Kahgo narrowed his eyes, and grit his teeth. the Circle might not have the magick to kill the damn thing. . . but the Natural World did. He tried to force himself to his feet, but his legs wobbled, betraying him, sending him back down to the silty ground. He crawled along the sands, edging slowly towards the water, his eyes still fixed on the rift. It looked as though it were no longer sealing up behind the Old One, as if it had just experienced the change of heart he feared.

  Holding in the pain as best he could, Shaman lay a hand on the line between the earth and the water, raising the other hand to feel for the air. He took a breath, and was perturbed at how short it was. Exhaling, he tried again, forcing his lungs to work harder, to take in more air. He closed his eyes, and lay out a silent apology to the realm, as he set his intent.

  The sand beneath his palm began to lose its golden hue, becoming grey and lifeless. The water his fingers were soaked in started to lose its azure sheen, and took on a dull monochromatic tone that radiated out from where he touched, as if all the
life was being sucked from it. And the air around his hand that was held aloft no longer buzzed with the activity of billions upon billions of molecules. It too ceased to live. For the innate magick that flowed through the Natural World was being sapped from the very elements around him. Put towards one grand and final gesture, a last stand, a warning to all things that lived beyond the veil. A message that was to be delivered loud and clear, to let them know that this was not a realm to dare attempt to conquer ever again.

  Kahgo's eyes burst to life, a glow washing across them as they were rejuvenated, if only for a short time. But this was not the natural green glow of magickians of this age. His irises swirled with a vortex of emerald that gave way to yellow, the same colour as that of the eyes of his forefathers. Their blood flowed through him, and he had put every iota of his borrowed magick into igniting that blood.

  He reached towards the God's End, wrapped his fingers around the hilt, and rose to his feet once again. The breath was still weak in his chest, but Shaman Kahgo paid it no mind. He was going to make the damn sword earn its bloody name.

  60

  Last stand

  Kahgo rocketed across the surface of the ocean towards the rift, the God's End held tight ahead of him as he closed in on the ancient beast.

  “We're done Shay, no need to keep at it. . .” Tali told him.

  “We are not done. . . It has slowed its retreat, and is going to turn back. This cannot be allowed to pass.”

  *

  Tali had been distracted checking in with all her assets on the ground, and glanced at the scrying pools. He was right, its movement had slowed.

  “Alright. . . but you're not doing this alone, I'm going to have everyone back you up.”

  “That is not necessary,” he whispered through her mind. “I and the God's End shall do what needs to be done. . .”

  “But. . . it's killing you. . .”

  “I shall not die this day, Talika Rei. But as you said, this beast must learn not to trifle with this realm.”

  She chuckled at his choice of phrasing, and acquiesced to his decision, allowing him to embark upon one final assault.

  *

  The blade tore into the Old One's flesh, and Kahgo turned sharply through its guts. In his mind's eye he pictured the distance he had travelled, and made sure not to get too close to the line of the rift. Light gleamed from his skin as he wound and weaved his way through the beast, emerging back out of its meat only for air, and to slice whole chunks clean of its gargantuan mass.

  Back in he went, darting up and down the great beast's form, tearing it apart so as to dissuade it from returning.

  But the more he cut through the creature, the more he became aware that something was wrong with this final onslaught. There was not less of the monolithic monster to slice through. . . there was more.

  Kahgo emerged from the beast's body, and watched in horror as the rift tore open once again. The attack had not worked as intended, it had not dissuaded the damn thing to relinquish its desires of infiltrating the realm. It had incited it to try again, to reverse course and do so just out of spite. His grip on the God's End faltered, and he latched on to it as the massive blade almost fell from his grasp. This was his fault, his hubris had put the entire realm at risk. . . despite the damage the great thing had taken, all he had done was give it a reason to seek vengeance, damn the consequences to its physical form.

  “Shay. . .” Tali stuttered in his periphery.

  “I am sorry, Talika Rei. . . I have. . . I made a mistake. . .”

  “I'm going to send in the cavalry. . .”

  He nodded. This was not a fight he could win alone. His grip on the blade tightened as he took a deep breath, and tore across the sky, ploughing straight back in to the monolithic creature's guts.

  “Troops! Hope you're well-rested,” Tali shouted to her people on the ground. “Because we're not done yet!”

  A torrent of light and shadow cast out across the battlefield, joined fire and water, earth and sound. The blasts assaulted the creature's bulk, tunnelling through the holes that Kahgo had made in its slimy hide. The beast screamed, and its wails were turned back upon it―but still, it did not shy from its re-attempt to cross over into the Natural World.

  “Tali!” Faith shouted, as the barrage continued. “Might have to send this thing off Nevada style!”

  She didn't want to agree, wished there was any other way to end the skirmish, but knew deep down that there was only one way this battle was going to be won.

  “One more salvo, then everyone hang five. . . We're going to blow this bitch back to the Outer Realms!”

  Kahgo heard the words, but was not prepared to pull out from the beast's body. Not yet. . . not while there was still damage that could be done. He was safe there, he reckoned, deep inside it and far from the blast that was to come after a prolonged casting. When the moment came, he would pull out, and fly free. But until that moment, there would be no one else laying out damage upon the damn thing. . . and so, he resolved to continue to carve it up until the Circle was ready to act.

  Across the battle site, Tali orchestrated the grand casting, as magickians from every discipline and adept threw everything they had into the intent, each a link in the chain that was to call on the elements and the very realm itself to blast the damn thing away. In Nevada the resulting explosion had the force of a myriad nuclear weapons. . . It had decimated the surrounding area and contaminated it for generations to come. But at this site, they were closer to the radius of the blast than they had been there, and they would have to coordinate with Three to evacuate everyone as soon as the casting had been sealed.

  *

  The time came all too soon, and Tali swallowed over a lump in her throat. She had never imagined herself being the one to make the call for such a drastic action. But there was no other course they could take.

  “Shay, we're about to go for this, get yourself clear.”

  “I shall be clear,” he told her.

  She wanted to berate him, to have Three drag him from the damn beast and teleport him to the other side of the world. But she could not make herself do that. . . he was the only reason they had got this far, and she respected his decision.

  “Everyone ready?” she asked, to nods and muted confirmations across the battlefield. “Then let's do this.”

  The intent was set, the casting sealed. And in an instant, Tali's scrying pools showed nothing but the brightest, blinding light. The entire realm had been turned against the incursion. And until the dust had settled, there would be no way to discern whether their last stand had been a success.

  62

  Accounted for everyone

  It took close to an hour for the smoke to clear. Tali stared at the scrying pools, not daring to blink until she could see with her own eyes that the threat was over, that the beast had been blown back into its realm, and the rift in the veil had been sealed.

  As she watched, Three chimed in her periphery.

  “We would like to let you know that all of your assets that were involved in the casting have been accounted for.”

  She let a slim sliver of a smile crawl across her lips.

  “And we no longer feel the presence of the Lurker at the Gates.”

  “Thanks, but I'll believe it when I see it for myself. . .”

  “As you wish.”

  Her stomach dropped, as something awful dawned upon her. “Wait, you said you've accounted for everyone involved in the casting. . . What about Kahgo?”

  “He refused to allow us to evacuate him, he was going to make his own way out.”

  A shiver rocketed down Tali's spine, and she fell into her chair, cutting off the call with Three, frantically dialling through the air. “Shay? Are you there?”

  There was no response.

  63

  A damn bit of difference

  Tali and Shana returned to the battlefield to see the fallout for themselves. A casting kept them safe from the residual radiation that hung in
the atmosphere, and as Three had said, there was no sign of the Old One. The rift had indeed been sealed, and the realm was safe once again.

  “He's still not answering,” Tali huffed, as she cast to search the water below for signs of a body.

  “I am sure he will answer when he is ready,” Shana told her.

  “Can you just. . . y'know. . . give me a re-enactment ?”

  “Are you sure?”

  Tali nodded, and Shana did as instructed, exhaling a series of breaths of thick, grey smoke. At her command, it took the form of the final minutes of beast at the rift, recreating it as the air remembered. She thinned the smoke that made up the creature's body, to allow them to see the figure within, it coalesced in the form of Shaman as he darted around through the insides of the massive thing, slicing it up with all his might.

  “Spin on,” Tali instructed, “to the blast.”

  Shana glanced over to her friend, her lover. There were tears in her eyes, as she watched Kahgo battle the damn thing, every second he cut it taking time from his life. She took hold of her hand, and did as she had been asked.

  The blast tore into the hide of the creature, the myriad holes Kahgo had made in its side allowing the huge explosion to penetrate deep inside it. His form rocketed upwards, as he tried to escape from the eruption of energy that was tunnelling through the flesh he was inhabiting. He flew faster and faster, but the wave of the blast that pursued him was catching up all too quickly. . .

  He flipped in the air, seemingly not of his own volition. The blade in his hand whipped around him, and Shana paused the smoky playback.,

  “You do not have to watch this,” she told Tali.

  The tears in Tali's eyes were now flowing freely, but she could not dare to look away. “Play it.”

  “But―”