The Last War (Book #9 of the Sage Saga)

by St. Clair, Julius

  “Once you’ve processed him,” Violet said. “We would really like to talk with you about his memories. You might have insight into the Sorcerers and their possible weaknesses as well as the location of the key.”

  “We’ll still continue the research,” Red said. “I’ll have you meet the other Knights that survived today and they can tell you anything you want to know. I know they would also like to pick your brain since the Sorcerers might have insight into the theories behind time that we don’t. Still, none of this matters if we don’t get that key back.”

  “What does the key do exactly? Just open a lock to it?”

  “It powers it,” Violet said. “Without it, we can’t even power up the machine to tweak it to the right specifications. We’re dead in the water.”

  “You have half of it, right?” James asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then use me as the other half. The power I’m about to acquire…it should me more than enough, shouldn’t it?”

  “I suppose,” Violet said with bright eyes. “I mean, we would have to come up with a device that would use you in accordance with the key, but it should work, I think. We wouldn’t even need to go after the Sorcerers!”

  “Awesome,” Red said with a big smile. “That sounds good to me.”

  “Then let’s get to the machine,” one of the Cimmerian generals said. “The Sorcerers will still be looking for the machine.”

  “That’s why we’ll need people to still go out there and distract them while we figure all of this out,” Violet said. “But with James’ help, it shouldn’t take too long. We thought long ago of capturing a Sorcerer as a way to power the machine, but we didn’t think the opportunity would ever present itself.”

  “Let’s wait until we can disperse the armies properly,” Red said, “and then we’ll head over to the machine. James, I can’t thank you enough. You’ve just ended the war.”

  “No problem,” James said. He wasn’t sure what to say. He looked in Catherine’s eyes and studied her carefully. “Did I do okay?” he asked. She didn’t say anything, but then she forced herself to smile a little.

  “We’ll see,” she said. James nodded. That answer would have to do for now.

  He was about to ask her a question when he felt a pang in his head. It was so sharp that it paralyzed him. His vision went black for a few seconds as he heard a voice echo throughout his skull.

  “Hi, there,” Donovan replied.

  * * *

  The underground tunnel leading to the Ancient Knight’s headquarters was impressive. Twelve checkpoints with a number of guns, explosives and armaments designed to cause cave-ins were all along the wall, creating a narrow dirt walkway in which they had to keep their arms close to their sides. For miles, they walked without a word, for otherwise it would be a sign that the guards hidden along the walls were to attack without restraint.

  Red and Violet took the lead, and it wasn’t until they came across a steel vault-like door that Red tapped it four times and nodded to the group behind him. The door shuddered and was rolled to the left, allowing them access to the grand hall inside.

  James whistled as they entered. The room was gigantic with various rooms cut out of the cave wall in which Knights zipped in and out as if it was one big beehive. They were all adorned in different outfits and styles. Some wore armor, others were in robes similar to that of the Sages. They were all of different sizes, ages and ethnicities. Like the Delilah, they were a myriad of different walks of life, come together for one cause.

  “Where’s the machine?” Catherine asked.

  Red shook his head. “One step at a time. I’ll have you all meet some of the higher-ups first so you can get a proper debriefing. I trust you all, but I want to make sure none of you are spies or working for the Sorcerers like Thorn is.”

  “Makes sense,” Scarlet muttered.

  “For now, I want to ask you all to head to the right where the visitor’s lounge is. We’ll call for you when we’re ready and then I’ll give you the grand tour of the place.”

  “Lounge?” Chloe chuckled.

  “Our leader names the rooms,” Red said. “Anyways, we’ll be back for you. See you soon!”

  They waved reluctantly as they filed one by one into the room. Kyran rubbed his hand against the rock cave wall as they stepped inside the lounge. One half-moon couch was in the middle of the room, and there was water in paper cups on a table along the wall. It was almost as small as the chambers they used to deliberate in back at the Sage Academy in Allay.

  “Well, we’re all here,” Chloe said happily as they all sat on the couch one by one.

  Catherine smiled as she looked at them all.

  James, Kyran, Scarlet, Chloe. Four of the people she trusted most in the world.

  “I wish Arimus was here,” Catherine said. “I don’t know what he and his group of Sages are doing, but I’m sure it’s fantastic.”

  “Or Marie, Talia and Daisy,” James said. “You know they’re still out there trying to help us in some way.”

  “Yeah,” Scarlet said.

  “I haven’t relaxed like this in so long,” Catherine sighed, leaning in.

  “Do you think the Knights will trust us with their secrets?” Scarlet asked. “I know that they took us down here, but that doesn’t mean the machine is actually here.”

  “One day at a time,” Kyran said. “After all, we still have to see what absorbing Donovan will do to our friend here.”

  James looked up at him and then back to the floor. “As long as we stick together, we’ll be okay, and I would love it if you all keep in check as we move forward. I don’t know what this particular absorption will do to me.”

  “Will do,” Kyran said a little too quickly.

  “Of course,” Chloe said. “That’s what friends are for.”

  “I’ll always be by your side,” Catherine said. “Even if you became another person, I’d still be in your life.”

  “I’ll kill you if need be,” Scarlet said, giving him a big smile.

  “And I will too,” Donovan said from deep within the recesses of his mind. “I’ll keep you in check as well. Don’t you worry.”

  James looked up in surprise, but his face didn’t give anything away. They gave him warm smiles or a sense of encouragement. It wasn’t that he was now undoubtedly the strongest among them, or that he possibly held the secrets to the Sorcerers and the time machine.

  It was because he was their friend.

  He should have found comfort in that, but whenever they stopped talking. Whenever he was left alone to his thoughts and there was only silence in the room, he could hear the laughing—inaudible at first, but then growing with fervor until it reached a crescendo that James couldn’t even bear. His own thoughts were already beginning to lose to that of the Sorcerer’s, and that scared him more than anything in his entire life.

  He had feared losing his friends and his wife, but that was nothing compared to having an imposter inhabiting his body.

  James found himself closing his eyes in exhaustion.

  He let himself fall asleep because he knew he needed it, but his last thoughts were not of comfort. They were of the realization that the next time his eyes opened, it might not be him looking out from the other side.

  The End of An Era

  (Book #10 of the Sage Saga)

  Is now Available for Preorder!

  Spring 2016

  Dear Reader,

  It’s been a while since I’ve written to you, but I feel that now is the time since we are at the end of our first major arc. The next book, The End of An Era, is exactly that. At the end of the first trilogy, a lot changed as time moved forward five years with Catherine sitting on the throne in Allay. It brought forth a new protagonist in Bastion, and a lot changed at the end of that trilogy as well. The Great Collision, and the arrival of the three worlds changed the landscape drastically. It brought forth new enemies and friends, a few old ones, and even a spin-off series through Remi in The
Seven Sorcerers Saga. Now, we are reaching the end of another arc, and once again, the Sage universe will have changed in significant ways.

  The Sage Saga will continue after book Ten, but the focus will shift to a new era and time within the universe. I hope that you’ve enjoyed it as much as I loved writing about it. If you have any comments on the series and/or its direction, feel free to email me at juliusstclair@yahoo.com. I’m curious to hear what you have to say! Also, for all of you wondering, the blog is currently under maintenance, but it will be back right at the beginning of the new year, which reminds me…

  Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

  - Julius St. Clair

  An Excerpt from:

  The Sorcerer’s Ring (Book #1 of the Seven Sorcerers Saga)

  Now Available!

  [Just click on the image below]

  Chapter 1 – Remi

  She never got complacent looking up at the stars.

  And it was not because of the mysteries they were known to possess. How they only revealed a miniscule amount of their true brilliance and potential from afar, or how the light that the planet enjoyed was years old and no one has truly seen their current state.

  No that wasn’t it. That wasn’t why she gazed at them.

  It was because of how ordinary and insignificant they now were since the worlds connected.

  Remi Fonteyn took another deep breath, and tried to ignore the burning in her lungs. She could fight the frost a little longer. But it wasn’t worth it.

  Paragon—or what used to be called Paradise—was now before her and on full display, as if it was her own private show. As she sat on the edge of the cliff and stared out beyond the grass and flower filled canyon, she could see the fears and hopes of her people manifested before her eyes.

  Every day when they woke up, the concepts tugged at their hearts.

  That Paradise and Oblivion/Paragon and Cimmerian—were not as eternal as they previously believed.

  “REMI!” a sharp yet sweet voice called out to her from behind. Remi wrapped the wool blanket tighter around her and adjusted her seat in the hardened and ice kissed grass, just enough to turn her head. Olivia was marching up the cliff with clenched fists, huffing and puffing out tufts of chilled breath. She must have come in a hurry for she wasn’t wearing her poncho.

  “Oh, hey!” Remi laughed, waving her friend over. “I was wondering when you would arrive.”

  “When I would arrive?” Olivia scoffed. “Sitting there and acting like you invited me out here…what are you doing? You’re going to get sick again.”

  “Oh, it’s not that bad,” Remi huffed, turning back around to face the dancing lights. They were only wisps of Paradise, but they were enough to make her sneak out of her house whenever she had the strength. Waves of baby blue, neon green and violent red swept across the night sky as if the colors were made of water and someone was moping them up. Pinks and yellows swung back and forth as if they were listening to music only known to them, and the violets and oranges remained still and steady, as if waiting for a partner to invite them to the dance floor. The lights only appeared on a clear and cloudless night so she wasn’t going to miss the show now. Not for anything.

  “You’re going to get sick again,” Olivia repeated, plopping down next to Remi. “You do that, and there’s no way you’re going on the next raid.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to go on the next raid,” she muttered.

  “Then what’s the point of all that training I see you doing? It’s not for your health.”

  “I’d rather not talk about my health while we’re out here.”

  “I just worry.”

  “If I’m okay, then you should be too,” Remi replied, still facing the light show. “It’s my life after all.”

  “I don’t know what I would do without you though.” Remi faced her friend and saw the grief in her eyes. She didn’t look like the Olivia she knew. That Olivia was more optimistic and kind. She was beautiful and had the voice and physique of a pixie. She was tiny in stature but strong in spirit. The Olivia before her now was on the verge of tears, and her face was worn and sunken low, as if her skin was being pulled at by tiny hooks. It only took a few seconds for Remi to realize the truth—her friend had already begun the mourning process.

  “Stop it,” Remi whispered, cupping her friend’s left cheek. “I don’t want you worrying about me.”

  “You’re all I have, Remi,” Olivia said in her thick drawl. “And when I see you out here like this, it doesn’t help my nerves.”

  “You sound like an old lady.”

  “You look like an old lady,” Olivia retorted. Remi chuckled under her breath as she stared down at the scratchy wool blanket around her.

  “Yeah,” she laughed. “I sure do.”

  “You know…if you didn’t come out here so often, we could go on raids together.”

  “I’m aware,” Remi chuckled. “But it’s not my thing. Seriously. I like to think of myself as more of an explorer than a fighter.”

  “You’re not going to be doing either without me.” Olivia stretched her hands out in front of Remi and closed her eyes. Remi watched curiously as her friend’s hands began to pulse a deep, dark red, so dark that it made her fingers appear frostbitten. After a few pulses, a crack was heard and then a miniature fire appeared in front of her, the sole flame rising every time Olivia moved her fingers in a wave-like motion as if she was playing a piano. The warmth made Remi feel better immediately, and she even thought about removing the blanket so that she could really get close to the fire, but she knew that Olivia would scold her. She kept it on.

  “That never gets old,” Remi sighed, allowing the tips of her fingers to get close to the flames. She could feel her skin regaining its vitality.

  “So,” Olivia began. “When do you want to leave this place?”

  “Why do you say that?” Remi laughed. “Am I that obvious?”

  “Painfully.”

  “Well, when I think that we can make it on our own…we’ll head out.”

  “It might be too late then. There hasn’t been a conflict in twenty years. Not a single one. No one wants to risk getting killed.”

  “Our town raids others.”

  “It’s different. They only steal supplies, and usually little things. Nothing serious. The towns nearby raid us too and there’s rarely any violence. I think it’s all a farce if you ask me. Raiding each other back and forth to make it look like we’re tough.”

  “We’re no different than everyone else,” Remi replied. “Just stuck in limbo, waiting for the chance to make it out, one way or the other.”

  “If you had the strength now…would you go to Paragon…or even Cimmerian?”

  “In a heartbeat,” Remi grinned. She clenched a fist and raised it over her head, examining her frail and gaunt arms. “I’m going to die anyways…might as well see some fantastic things before I do, you know? All I need is a little more time. A year, tops. And I’m gone.”

  “What do you think those worlds are like?” Olivia whispered, rubbing her hands together. She was staring hard at the light show in the sky now, but it was apparent by the distant gaze in her eyes that she wasn’t paying much attention.

  “Much like ours, I suppose. Just fancier. There’s probably castles and royalty and powerful warriors out there, just waiting for their chance to strike. The war for dominance of the three worlds will start, many people will die, and then things will go back to how it is now. Lots of peace and quiet until people start increasing in numbers again.”

  “I wonder what it feels like to not exist,” Olivia replied.

  “Probably what it feels like when you sleep and don’t dream.”

  “You think the Sages of Legend are really out there? Paragon’s warriors?”

  Remi turned to her friend and scowled. “What does that matter?”

  “I was just thinking that if they’re around, they’re going to be the ones that determine how the war is going to go.”

&nb
sp; “Maybe…but we don’t know what kind of warriors are in Cimmerian or Paragon. There could be warriors from centuries ago that are far more powerful, and that’s why everything is at a stalemate. No one knows who has what on the enemy’s side. And since we cease to exist when we die now, it’s a lot harder to take risks.”

  “Still, the Sages will be valuable.”

  “The Sages are just stories,” Remi scoffed. “And even if they’re not, their power isn’t so great. Using their souls as swords…it’s not practical.”

  “I think it sounds pretty cool.”

  “You would. All you can do is make your body warm.”

  “At least I don’t need a blanket to do it for me,” Olivia retorted, snatching Remi’s blanket off of her and throwing it to the side. Remi yelped at the sudden chill that imprisoned her body. Barely able to move, she slowly stretched out her frail arms until she was able to retrieve the source of her warmth. Once the blanket was back upon her shoulders, she noticed that Olivia had walked away. She didn’t bother standing to her feet. She was already exhausted from the sudden cold. Breathing heavily, her eyes began to sink as she glanced back at the colorful light show in the distance, now beginning to fade as the sun slowly rose in their place.

  Dawn had come, and with it, she would once again be painfully visible.

  Her hair was beginning to fall from her scalp and it was already malnourished—thin and brittle to the touch. Her parents had told her that it had once been a full head of magnificent strawberry blonde hair. Now it was merely a shade of its former glory. Her body was as thin as bones and her face was as disturbing as a skeleton’s bare smile. Some would say she was beautiful, if only she could gain a little weight and maintain it.

  On most days she slept twice as much as anyone else, and it was only at night, when she was invisible again, and her physical features were not easily seen, that she felt the most alive. When her thoughts were solely her own and not echoes of her peers.