by Jared Teer
This was Darion’s first training session in Destructive Applications—combat uses of the Essence—in the Hall of Destruction. Darion took particular interest in the creation of elemental golems: gigantic automatons created of elemental properties such as fire, water, earth, metal, and elemental darkness. Like most Creative Applications, golems have their uses in combat and Destructive Applications as well—as supporters set against an opponent, or as adversaries in training scenarios. He used his creation skills to form the massive opponent that stood before him. He delegated the golem with the most base of instincts, rage. The behemoth wouldn’t stop until either it, or Darion, was utterly destroyed.
“Create to destroy, Darion,” Hughes coached, floating high in the air, observing with his arms folded.
The surroundings were hellish. The sky was grey and hot. The landscape was dotted with magma-spewing fissures and volcanic cones and mountains. Hughes thought a volcanic wasteland would be a fitting venue to embody the devastation of Destructive Applications.
Darion dropped into a low stance with his hands close together by his side as if holding an invisible ball. “Solar”—whitehot plasma began to swirl and coalesce between his hands—“canon!”
The orb of plasma shot toward the golem’s face and detonated on impact in a blast of light and debris. The golem didn’t break stride and continued to advance toward Darion. The smoke around its head cleared to reveal a crater in its midst, giving an ominous feature to an otherwise expressionless visage.
“You have to do better than that,” said Hughes. “You have the technique down, but your Essence isn’t potent enough to produce a solar canon sufficient to stop it. Try something else. Think. What about the surroundings?”
The golem was now bearing down on him. It raised its pillar of a leg high and sent it crashing down. At the last moment, Darion sprang to the side and rolled away. The golem’s foot smashed into the charred earth, its impact causing magma to gush from nearby fissures. The golem turned toward him and dove through the air in a belly flop. Darion remained in a crouch after the roll and didn’t expect such a quick follow-up attack. He thought to teleport but attempting to conserve his Essence decided to try and outrun the behemoth’s descent, which might have worked had he run widthwise instead of lengthwise. The golem splashed into the earth, crushing Darion underneath its chest. The ground shook and magma spewed triumphantly.
The golem pushed itself up and then got to its feet, leaving behind a crater in its likeness and Darion buried in rubble. Darion managed to get to his hands and knees but was then seized in the golem’s grasp. With Darion in the center, the golem strained its fist to crush him. The golem clasped its fist with its other hand for added pressure. Hughes considered intervening, but decided that Darion had to overcome on his own. It sounded as if rocks were being ground together as the golem tightened its fist.
Then, golden light began to shine from between the golem’s fingers. The golem gave a surge of crushing force that stopped the light from escaping, but then its clasping hands suddenly exploded in a shower of dust and stone.
Impressive, Hughes thought. Darion hovered before the golem, his entire body, including his robes, radiated with blinding, white-hot light. He figured out how to let the Essence consume him, infusing him with the brilliance and heat of a star. Undaunted, the mindless golem swiped Darion with its right forearm stump. The stone was no match for the heat and Darion went right through the golem’s forearm, burning his likeness clear through it.
Hughes considered informing Darion that his Essence was insufficient to maintain his radiance, but he figured Darion would discover as much soon enough. The golem continued to swipe at Darion, with Darion burning through its limbs each time. Then, Darion’s brilliance began to flicker, and he returned to his normal state. A follow-up swipe from the golem smacked Darion and sent him sailing into the horizon.
At that moment, Hughes received a telepathic hail—a blue halo formed above his head. “Hughes,” he said in acknowledgement.
“Hughes, this is the commander,” came Enoch’s voice. “I need you in the Command Center, ASAP.”
“Roger, Commander,” Hughes returned.
Darion regained his composure and resisted the inertia caused by the mighty blow, slowing to a halt in midair.
“Darion, keep practicing and mix it up a bit, and conserve your Essence,” Hughes said, projecting his voice through the great expanse. “I’m needed in the Command Center.”
Hughes materialized in the Command Center where the mood was solemn. Enoch, along with the head masters of the four halls—Adam Jones of the Hall of Creation; Clay Conner of the Hall of Might; Hawk Chhim of the Hall of Destruction; Lillian Oliver of the Hall of Conception—the Archascended Solomon Sadler, and the demon Overlord Armanon, were standing around a circular terminal with a rotating holographic projection of Israel in the center.
Armanon, a formidable demon of ten feet, whose face of shadow still maintained the angular aesthetics of angelic beauty, spoke with a gravelly voice. “I’m warning you, interloper,” he said to Enoch, “he cannot be free to interfere in our plans.”
“He sounds upset,” Hughes said as he approached, “that means it must be good news.” The demon looked at Hughes and issued a low growl.
“Not entirely,” said Enoch. “We have a situation, Hughes. There’s been a seismic event at Mount Bental, an explosion. Problematic, being that Mount Bental has long been extinguished.”
“Kagan?” said Hughes.
“It appears so,” said Enoch. “Apparently, your old teacher has returned from exile.”
“Where is he?” asked Hughes.
“He hasn’t made contact with anyone, us or his family,” said Enoch, “and so far we have been unable to track him. We must discover his whereabouts. If Kagan has returned to continue in his old ways, there could be dire consequences,” he looked at the demon and added, “for all of us.”
“Dire consequences for you, interloper,” the demon returned. “If you don’t rein in that loose canon, we will intensify the torment of your fellow primates on earth.”
“That’s nothing new, Armanon,” said Enoch. “But I’ll take it under advisement. If there’s nothing else, you can be on your way.”
“Don’t presume to dismiss me, monkey,” said Armanon. “Surely in folly or jest the Creator left you in charge of the Host. Does he really expect us to deal with you primates? The mere fact that I must consult with you is an outrage and an affront to my distinction as one formed of primordial fire.”
“To answer your question: yes,” said Enoch. “Now, if that’s all, Armanon … ”
The demon looked around at the stern faces of the Ascended, gave a low growl, and disappeared as a whiff of smoke.
“All right,” said Enoch. “Thoughts … anyone?”
The Archascended Solomon Sadler, a general in the Host—an intense-looking man with curly brown hair and a trimmed beard on his square jaw, wearing robes similar to Hughes’s, but with a golden cape—replied. “We know from his past exploits that Kagan operates predominantly in and around Israel, and we have to watch for any anomalies in this region. We know that Kagan targets the enemies of Israel, so we must monitor them as well. I’m sure Armanon and the demonic forces will inform us if Kagan makes contact.”
“I doubt Kagan will afford them the opportunity,” said Clay Conner, Sky’s older brother. He had green eyes and sandyblonde hair like Sky’s, but was slightly taller and a bit bulkier. “It’s wishful thinking to think that we can prevent his actions when it’s most likely the aftermath that we’ll find.”
“I disagree, Conner,” said Hughes. “We know the scenarios in which Kagan intervenes—anti-Israeli radical and state-sponsored aggressions. The Enemy forces won’t let us in on their plans, so we must intensify surveillance of anti-Israeli forces and be ready to confront Kagan.”
Confront Kagan? Clay shook his head and laughed at the notion.
“The Creator said things would get a
lot worse before he returned,” said Enoch. “Kagan’s return is a testament to that assertion. We will intensify our surveillance in Israel and the Middle East in general. You’re all on notice. If Kagan surfaces, you must all be ready at a moments notice to confront him. Take heed that his powers have most likely grown considerably since his exile. You are all quite aware that Kagan is phenomenal in all aspects of ethereal combat. Prepare yourselves.”
Hughes materialized in the volcanic wasteland that was the training room in the Hall of Destruction to find that Darion had made little progress in stopping the golem. The golem appeared to be unscathed except for the small crater in its face and its destroyed hands. Darion had expended a great deal of his Essence in radiating himself and was forced to evade the golem until his Essence was regenerated to a degree that would facilitate a significant attack.
“Welcome back! Got any suggestions, Hughes?” Darion asked desperately as he ascended away from another savage swipe.
Hughes didn’t answer, standing well away from Darion and the golem, and appeared to be in deep thought. Darion looked down at Hughes questioningly and the golem took advantage of his momentary lapse. A mighty backhand swipe caught Darion and sent him crashing to the ground, sliding and digging into the earth until he came to a halt just in front of Hughes in a mound of charred rubble.
Debris pelted Hughes back to awareness and triggered him into action. Hughes clenched his fists and let out a roaring battle cry that seemed to shake the entire expanse. The ground beneath the golem began to split, revealing the magma beneath the surface. The fissures began to gush and suddenly exploded in a massive geyser of soot and magma, enveloping the golem. The geyser erupted for about twenty seconds, casting magma and black smoke hundreds of feet into the air. When the gusher subsided, all that remained was a massive, sunken pool of magma.
Darion rose to his feet, futilely attempting to dust the soot from his robes.
Hughes relaxed his hands and spoke in his calm, instructing tone. “You must learn to use the surroundings to your advantage, rather than relying solely on the Essence.”
Darion cleared his throat and spat debris and soot. “Yeah … sure,” he said, still taken aback by Hughes’s display. “Is everything okay, Hughes, if I may ask? What did they need you for?”
“I’m sorry, Darion,” said Hughes. “Please forgive my outburst. I just found out that my teacher has returned from a long … hiatus, and that I may be reunited with him shortly.”
Darion detected the somber tone in which Hughes spoke. “Uh, that’s a good thing, right? I mean, shouldn’t it be?” he said.
Hughes laughed. “It should be, indeed,” said Hughes. “But Kagan can be a harbinger of destruction.”
“Destruction? Kagan is your teacher?” Darion asked.
“Yes, Hans Kagan,” said Hughes, “the most powerful of the Ascended Host. Kagan was a German-born Jew. He was a young man when Hitler came to power. Kagan was a world-class boxer and a shoo-in to medal in the 1936 Olympic games—he was called the “Puppet Master” for his ring generalship and masterful control of his opponents. The Nazi Party’s official policy was that only members of the Aryan race could compete for Germany, to promote their supposed superiority. Kagan, though, was the best fighter in his class, and the Nazis knew this.
“The Nazis made Kagan a proposition: he would compete as an Aryan for Germany in the Olympics and win the gold medal, or … his family—his wife and daughter—would be killed. Kagan took the silver.
“The Nazis brutally murdered Kagan and his family. When Kagan ascended, he forsook living in peace with his family in favor of serving in the Host. Kagan focused his intense rage into determination, and with his extensive fighting background, quickly mastered all forms of ethereal combat, and proved himself to be the most powerful of the Ascended Host. For Kagan though, the power was only a means to an end: the destruction of his enemies on his terms.
“He became openly active in the affairs of earth, revealing himself to people who he considered enemies and killing them. During the bombing of Dresden in 1945, Kagan walked openly through the burning streets of the city, administering his own punishment on its citizens. You can imagine the horror and astonishment of those who survived the military fire bombings to witness the approach of a being of Ascended splendor casually walking through flame and carnage. They thought he was an angel coming to save them: they were wrong. He killed thousands—many with his bare hands, and others with fire issued from his eyes.
“Enoch admonished Kagan for his actions, but was always sympathetic to Kagan for what he’d suffered at the hands of the Nazis. Kagan always claimed that he would no longer actively interfere on earth, but he did. During the wars of Israeli independence in 1948, the Host officially played a role in the Israeli victories. This involved such actions as revealing buried minefields to the Israeli forces by unearthing them with gusts of wind, to whispers from Ascended in the ears of tank troops regarding the locations of enemy forces, which, of course, the soldiers considered hunches of their own. Kagan was discontent with playing such a subtle role and desired a more hands-on experience in the destruction of Israel’s enemies.
“Israeli scouting parties began to discover apparently abandoned enemy camps in the desert. They found weapons and supplies, but never any enemy personnel. What they’d found was the aftermath of Kagan’s wrath. He’d come in the night to an enemy camp, and like an angel of death, completely wiped out their forces.”
“There were no traces of enemy personnel?” Darion asked.
“Kagan later admitted that he’d disposed of the enemy troops: disposed of them by casting them into black holes that exited on the surface of the sun.
“Kagan’s actions began to cause grumblings in the ranks of the Ascended Host. Many who adhered to the rules of ethereal combat saw Kagan’s actions not as condemnable, but as justified. So, to maintain order, Enoch implored Kagan to take some time off from field work and take on an apprentice. Kagan was skeptical at first, but deep down he longed for peace, and decided that an apprentice who embodied his ideals might alleviate the pressure of his vengefulness.
“Kagan took Solomon Sadler as his first apprentice. Solomon was an Israeli soldier killed in the Suez War of 1956. Under Kagan’s tutelage, Solomon became extremely powerful in his own right. After Solomon, Kagan took Adam Jones as his apprentice after Jones was killed in Vietnam. I ascended shortly thereafter and was taken on by Kagan as well—both Jones and I studied under Kagan at the same time.
“Kagan was an outstanding instructor and Jones and I became quite powerful ourselves. With Kagan’s guidance, we conducted several successful missions, freeing many from demonic oppression. Everything was going well until 1967 and the Six-Day War.
“Again, the Host would play a clandestine role in ensuring that Israel prevailed against the combined might of its enemies—implanting strategic suggestions into the minds of Israeli commanders and manipulating weather and terrain so as to complicate enemy maneuvers. Such subtle assistance led to decisive Israeli victories in the war.
“But Kagan had bigger plans for Israel and its enemies. The chief agitator against Israel was Egypt, with Syria and Jordan at the ready at their respective fronts. Israel decimated the Egyptian forces in the initial attacks, which should have been the end of the conflict. It wasn’t enough for Kagan. He went to the Egyptian capital in Cairo, where he disposed of the demonic forces influencing President Nasser, scattering their Essences throughout the universe. Kagan then affected Nasser’s mind with delusion, causing him to believe that his Egyptian forces had been victorious and that Israel was on the verge of defeat.
“Nasser conveyed this to his allies, who subsequently attacked Israel. With the help of the Host, Israel again prevailed decisively against its enemies, crushing the Jordanian and Syrian forces. The carnage of the fighting rekindled Kagan’s bloodlust. Hundreds of Egyptians had retreated from the Israeli assault and fled into the dessert. Kagan became the very sands of the deser
t, washing over the fleeing Egyptians. They were found asphyxiated, their lungs and mouths filled with sand.
“The commander had finally had enough. He relieved Kagan of his duties and implored him to embrace heavenly peace. Kagan refused. ‘I’ll have peace when Israel does,’ he said. Kagan then dematerialized and wasn’t heard from again, until now.”
“Why do you think he’s returned?” asked Darion.
“I really don’t know, Darion,” said Hughes. “The fact that he hasn’t made contact with anyone isn’t helping to alleviate my concerns. The commander has put everyone on notice, and we just have to be ready to confront Kagan when the time comes.”
“I got your back, Hughes,” said Darion.
“You just focus on your training, Darion. I’ll worry about Kagan.”
With his Essence replenished, Darion informed Hughes that he was ready to continue training. This time, Hughes formed the stone golem, imbuing it with special properties.
“Remember what I said before,” Hughes said, “and always be ready. If one method fails, adapt and overcome.”
Hughes monitored the training from a spot high in the air, away from the action. Darion recalled the lessons of the previous encounter—conserve Essence and use the surroundings.
The golem stomped forward, intent on destruction. Darion flew, always outside of the range of the golem’s savage swipes. Darion backed away even further and held out his arms, palms forward, focusing a particularly concentrated ball of plasma. As Darion was nearly in arm’s reach of the golem, he sent the solar canon right into the center of the behemoth’s torso. The golem continued its advance as the plasma burned a hole through its body, exiting at its back and continuing into the ground far to its rear.
