Infinities' Edge

by Andrew Dobell

  ‘She’s proving to be, problematic. She’s fast and powerful and holding her own,’ Michaels' voice said in her mind.

  ‘We’re way out of our depth on this end, and we have a new player on the island who I would guess is an Arch Magus,’ she said.

  Suddenly, from the clouds of dust and smoke, a hand shot out and grasped the cloaked Magus by the neck. Mr Black stepped out from the storm of Magical attacks holding this figure aloft by the throat and slammed it against the nearest tree. The creature’s hood fell off with the impact, revealing a long, angular, almost alien face that sported a small pair of horns on top of its head. The thing looked barely human, let alone male or female or anything else.

  The creatures own Aegis crackled and hissed as it tried to resist Mr Black’s close proximity and throw off his hand from where it gripped the Cloaked one’s neck.

  ‘Who are you?’ Mr Black bellowed.

  ‘You don’t know do you,’ the thing said, almost amused by the question.

  ‘Don’t play games with me,’ Mr Black said.

  ‘You freed me from the ice, you woke me up when you took that,’ the thing said as it nodded down to the Green Orb embedded in Mr Black's chest.

  ‘Did I?’ Mr Black replied.

  Angel watched and listened closely, desperate to know what was going on here.

  ‘I want it back, and you may call me Lilith.’

  ‘You want it back? Take it,’ Mr Black said, before punching Lilith across the face with a force that made Angel wince. ‘Go on, take it,’ he said again, before punching Lilith a second time. ‘If you can!’

  Then he threw a third punch, and a forth, and more. Punching quicker and harder each time. The Essentia in each of these strikes smashed against Lilith’s Aegis, cracking it and pretty much overwhelming the shield and allowing the force of these hits to break through and hurt her.

  But with a sudden flare of Magic, Lilith disappeared from beneath Mr Black’s attacks, leaving him stood there and looking around for his opponent.

  Having seen enough, Angel knew the time to leave had come and sent out the call for the team to Port away.

  Her two Coven mates next to her called on their Magic and Ported away, leaving Angel stood before her former employer.

  ‘It was fun while it lasted,’ Angel said. ‘But I have new horizons to explore. Maybe we’ll meet again sometime,’ she said before calling on her own Magic and Porting away.

  Back in Milan, Angel walked out of the meeting room, her Coven mates following her out and walking off to go about their business. After getting back from the Island they had convened here to meet and discuss their mission and what they had gained. Each had been filling numerous USB memory sticks with as much data from Mr Black’s servers as they could, and now they would pass the data onto their most trusted Initiated tech guys who would go through the information with a fine-toothed comb and present it back to Angel in a more accessible format for her Coven to use.

  It had been a more dramatic end to their mission on the island than they had planned, but thinking back to the fight and watching Lilith attack Mr Black had been incredibly impressive. You don’t often get to see an Arch Magus let loose and live through it.

  So Mr Black had survived the Nuclear blast on the Atoll and apparently had come through it not only alive but also much stronger and able to fend off an Arch Magus because the Green Orb they had found was now embedded in his chest.

  Things had certainly taken a turn for the strange it seemed.

  She wondered what Mr Black would be planning now that he was back in control of his organisation? It would be much more difficult to keep track of him now, not least because he knew who she was and would be on guard for such things.

  But, Angel had a number of other endeavours underway, so after a bit of time to reflect on what she had just been through, she had plenty of other things to focus on.

  She walked through the modern minimalist corridors of her Coven’s private residence at the top of the tower her company owned and stepped into her private office, glad to have some time to herself. Closing the door behind her, the sudden rush of Essentia and the speed of the attack against her left her no time to defend herself, and within a split second she found herself pinned by the neck against the wall by the dark figure of Lilith, the Arch Magus who had just been beaten by Mr Black only an hour before.

  ‘Hello… Lilith…ack, ugh,’ she coughed as Lilith's hand slowly crushed her throat.

  Deep within the shadows of Lilith’s voluminous hood, her eyes had a red glow to them and bored down deep into Angel’s soul. She knew that if Lilith wanted to kill her, she could, going by the sheer power she had unleashed upon Mr Black earlier on. She had also clearly bypassed the Aegis on this building and followed Angel here, meaning she was not only powerful but very skilled as well.

  But Lilith said nothing, and only held her there for a moment more, before suddenly letting go and dropping her. The strength in her legs had apparently vanished and she fell to the floor in a heap, coughing as she fought to get her breath back.

  After a moment, as her breathing steadied itself, she looked up at the dark figure, its cloak billowing as if there were wind blowing through this room.

  ‘What can I do for you?’ Angel asked.

  ‘You can tell me everything you know about Mr Black,’ Lilith said, her voice deep and powerful.

  ‘Everything, that’s an awful lot to go through,’ Angel said.

  ‘The main thing I want is a weakness, something I can use against him,’ she said. ‘If you know of such a thing, and I do hope you do, for your sake,’ Lilith threatened.

  Her life meant nothing to this Arch Magus, she knew that and Lilith would be able to kill her in a second if she chose. Which meant Angel could only really cooperate and hope for the best. As for a weakness, that was a tough one. Angel knew about as much as Lilith did about this new form that Mr Black had taken, and there seemed to be little if any weakness at all.

  But, maybe that wasn’t what she meant. A weakness could also be leverage, something that you could use against someone indirectly to get what you wanted. Having recently spent a good amount of time with Mr Black and finding out quite a bit about his history and his family, maybe there was a weakness that could be used.

  Angel looked up at Lilith.

  ‘I suppose, there are his daughters…’ Angel said.

  ‘Daughters?’ Lilith repeated back to Angel.

  ‘Yes, Echo and Amanda. Both are Magi and he seems quite attached to both of them.’

  ‘Tell me more,’ Lilith said.

  To Councillor Count Saint-Germain

  I’m writing to you to express my concern about the behaviour of a Magus here in the USA. Specifically, Amanda-Jane Page. It has come to my attention that she has been spending a not insignificant amount of time with a number of undesirables, dissidents and most worryingly of all, Nomads.

  We first noticed this a short time ago and in the interests of security, given her relationship with Councillor Trevelyan and others, we chose to monitor her to the best of our ability.

  Below you will find a list of the incidences that are of note, and the proof we have of each of these meetings.

  I would ask that you look through this list and the proof we have gathered and that you take the requisite action needed to make sure that the council is secure and the threat is minimised. I trust that you will take this seriously and act appropriately.

  Kindest Regards

  Forrest Ward

  About face

  New York

  Jan 16th

  Amanda appeared in the alleyway behind the Jade Palace, Porting into the quiet gap between the Palace and the surrounding buildings that Yoh tried to keep as clear as he could, knowing that Magi such as Amanda and others he knew used it to visit here quite regularly.

  Amanda came here most weeks, often several times a week to see Yoh and Maya and also because Liz worked here with Yoh’s apprentice and PA, Stella, who was als
o a Magus but pretty much ran this building for him.

  It had been a couple of days since she had last spoken to Liz. She seemed to be taking pains to purposefully avoid her at the moment and it occurred to her that maybe Liz had spoken to Yoh or Stella about what had been going on and it might be that she could get an idea of what was wrong with her through talking to them.

  When she had first arrived in New York, back when Lucian ruled the city, travelling around had been tough and they had to pretty much Port everywhere, and certainly they always Ported here.

  Yoh had managed to keep such a low profile that Lucian had no idea where he was in the city. The Jade Palace had remained an innocuous café, restaurant and spa throughout Lucian’s reign, and to keep it that way you only visited it if you Ported there. No one was to follow you to the Palace.

  That had changed with the death of Lucian, and Amanda often walked to the Palace now, enjoying the street life she saw on her walks. But today would be different and reminded her of those days hiding from Lucian. Only, she was hiding from Lucian’s mentor now instead.

  It was entirely possible that Nymira knew of the Jade Palace and was watching it, so she Ported in with as little fuss as possible and appeared in the alleyway around the back of the building.

  She looked in either direction along the alleyway and seeing nothing, approached the doorway.

  The feeling that something was about to happen was enough to alert her and to reflexively pump some of her stored Essentia into her Aegis while she tried to move as quickly as she could into the building and inside it’s protective Aegis. The huge kinetic blast slammed into her as she turned the key in the door to the back of the building. Unlocking the door created a hole in the buildings Aegis to give her access.

  Amanda was knocked flying through the doorway. The door itself, a thick metal affair, denting under the power of the attack. Hitting the wall of the room on the other side of the outer door, Amanda saw the cloaked figure of Nymira drop to the floor of the alleyway as her Magic reached in and caught the swiftly closing hole in the Aegis and leveraged it open, rupturing it, the conflicting Magic emitting sparks and lightning-like bolts of energy that arced about the room.

  Amanda worked her own Magic and quickly split her mind into several parts that would allow her to Multitask and cast several Magical effects at the same time.

  From outside, the huge bin that stood on casters in the alleyway, suddenly flew through the air and crashed through the door, the force of its movement ripping it apart as it took out the wall as well and crashed into Amanda’s force shield. The interior wall behind her gave way as she crashed into the office on the other side, her unyielding Aegis protecting her from the attack.

  Amanda tried to Port, wanting to take this fight away from the Palace, but clearly Nymira didn’t want her going anywhere as the Nomad countered the effect, dissipating her Magic, while simultaneously Amanda felt an Aegis, a new one, spring up around the building.

  She couldn’t see Nymira for a moment as she lay in the office at the back of the Jade Palace. Around her, there were several people in here looking terrified, a couple of them were screaming in panic. The collapsing walls with the debris of the huge bin from the alleyway pretty much blocked everything between her and Nymira for a few seconds, until Nymira’s Magic reached out and ripped everything apart, splitting the debris and opening a gap between Nymira and herself.

  Amanda jumped up, disliking the idea that she was sat on her rear and very much on the defensive in the fight so far, and registered the renewed screams of those around her. These were probably normal Riven Mortals who had never seen Magic before, and from the corner of her eye, she could see a few of them were now hurt from the flying debris of Nymira’s attack.

  Amanda wanted to do something to help these innocents, to stop them from getting hurt, but Nymira was too quick and sent a powerful spike of Essentia at her that stabbed at her Aegis, attempting to crack it and break through. Amanda concentrated on her shields, putting as much effort into protecting herself from this skilled Magus as she could.

  ‘Run!’ Amanda screamed at the mortals in here. They backed off in fear as strange energies sparked and flew about the room.

  At the same time as the Essentia attack, more of Nymira’s Magic ripped the ceiling directly above Amanda down on top of her, the heavy wooden beams splintering as they broke against her force shield.

  Striding into the room as this happened, Nymira glanced around, noticing the five or six mortals cowering away from the fight and trying to open the doors that had been partially blocked by the debris.

  Amanda was vaguely aware of more Magic flickering about the room but found she could only concentrate on keeping her shield fuelled as filing cabinets and desks flew from where they rested and hit her as if they had been fired from a cannon.

  With a sudden break in the objects that Nymira had been firing at her, Amanda looked up at the smirking Arch Magus, feeling only anger towards this Nomad.

  When the first of the office workers threw herself at Amanda, a face filled with rage, Amanda suddenly realised what Nymira had done. The mortal woman jumped at Amanda with no thought to her own safety. Landing on her she grasped Amanda’s hair and clawed at her with her fingernails. Amanda tried to push her off, grateful that her force shield protected her from any real damage as another worker piled on trying to bite her face. Within seconds Amanda found herself buried beneath the workers, all of them clearly under the mental control of Nymira and all of them wanting to rip Amanda apart like a pack of wild dogs. When another huge chunk of concrete hit the brawl Amanda found herself involved in, she wondered about the depths that Nymira would sink too to have her revenge. The concrete didn’t really hit Amanda but did break the leg of one of the attacking office workers, not that it slowed the woman down in the savagery of her attack.

  Amanda tried to Port out of the brawl and into the Abyss, but once again found her Magic blocked by the Voodoo Queen, who laughed at her predicament.

  ‘You will die here tonight Amanda, I promise you that,’ she said, her voice ringing out loud and clear through the snarls and inhuman sounds the mind slaves were making as they ripped at Amanda.

  Unable to Port away, Amanda concentrated on her Force Shield and with a concentrated working of Magic, pushed it out, expanding it and shoving the rabid workers away from her. They fell backwards and away from Amanda who looked up at Nymira who only laughed.

  Amanda jumped up and ran at Nymira. She used all of her minds and Magic on keeping her shield up and intact, but she had plenty of Essentia stored within her that she could use if only she could hit her.

  As Amanda ran at her, Nymira cocked her head to one side and with a look that said, “Really?”, hit her with a powerful Kinetic blast that sent Amanda flying backwards and through the next wall and out into the Peace Garden in the center of the building. Hitting the floor, Amanda rolled and looked up, the bruises and scrapes on her body starting to become a little more debilitative.

  Nymira laughed again as she walked towards the hole in the wall that Amanda had created, the office workers under her control scrambling through the gap in the wall snarling and running at her wanting only to tear her apart.

  As she looked up at the Nomad, feeling that she might not actually get through this, a dark shadow appeared behind Nymira in the office, followed by a flash of shiny black claws that raked across her back, sending Nymira falling forward through the hole in the wall to land on her knees in the Peace Garden as Horlack stepped through the office wall behind her, widening it with his bulk. Amanda backed off, her stomach doing flips upon seeing this creature of nightmare from her past up close once again.

  Stepping out into the Garden, Horlack rose to his full height. Twice as tall as a man, and nearly as wide, his dark heavily muscled skin was covered in patches of coal black hair. He looked like a demon from hell with his Bat like head, huge tusks and the cancerous looking single twisting horn that grew from his forehead.

 
; The huge talons on his right hand dripped with blood, Nymira’s blood, as he looked down at Amanda and paused for a moment, before turning his attention back to Nymira. The office workers who had been running towards Amanda had also stopped to look up at the demonic Werewolf, waiting to see what would happen.

  Horlack reached down and grabbed Nymira by the legs, his huge hand able to wrap around both, picked her up and proceeded to slam her back down onto the floor again, and again and again, as if she were a hammer he was hitting a nail in with before throwing her in a fit of rage at the far wall of the building.

  But she never hit it, porting away suddenly in a flare of Magic and the soft pop of air that rushed in to fill the vacuum she left behind.

  Around her, the office workers suddenly regained their minds and collapsed to the floor, most of them in pain of some kind, at least one of them nursing a broken bone. Those of them who were still alert enough to take notice of Horlack screamed in fear and backed off away from the demon.

  Amanda looked up at him, not entirely sure what was about to happen. This thing had tried to kill her in that alleyway several years ago, and had forced Amanda to have her Epiphany. She retaliated with Magic, using it for the first time in her life, blasting Horlack with it.

  She had thought she had killed Horlack, but after the Nomad at the Nuclear Power Plant a few months ago had brought him back, it became clear that maybe she had only pushed him into the Abyss.

  Sitting prone on the gravel, Amanda looked up at Horlack, who’s huge black eyes, hunters eyes, they eyes of a shark, looked back at her.

  She had no idea what Horlack was doing, but shifting as much Essentia into her shield once again, healing the damage that Nymira had done, she waited for Horlack to make his move.

  As she watched, healing herself and her defences, he sank down into a crouch and offered her his hand.

  ‘May I help you up?’