by Tj Dixon
“My brother was the same age as me.” I tell her.
“That’s just too sad. I really am sorry.” Emma says.
“There’s no need. You didn’t do anything. I just hope Peter’s land without slavery will one day be much bigger than this new home we’re moving to.” I tell her.
“I hope so too.” Emma says.
“Do you think Peter will be in charge or will it be the Kuroneko?” Charlotte asks.
“I hope it’s Peter. I can’t imagine living under the Kuroneko.” I say.
“Hopefully Peter will be in charge of us and the Kuroneko will rule her followers.” Emma says.
“The portal closed. We must have everyone here now.” Charlotte says.
“How long do you think it will take the dwarf to get to our new home and open the gate?” I ask.
“The dwarves over there are looking at you strangely.” Emma warns me. I glance over at the dwarves. They couldn’t have heard me from there. Everyone’s talking together so it’s really loud. But they are looking at me strangely.
“They couldn’t have heard me. Maybe they’ve never seen anyone like me before.” I suggest.
“They only started looking at you like that when you said that.” Emma warns me.
“Maybe it’s coincidence.” Charlotte suggests.
“I don’t believe in coincidence. Just watch what you say.” Emma warns me.
“I will, but now I want him to hurry up and open that gate even more.” I say.
“It’s odd that we want to get to hell sooner, but I feel the same way.” Emma says.
“Hell isn’t normally an attractive destination.” I agree.
“Some people believe you end up in hell if you live a bad life.” Emma says.
“Most Contractians don’t believe in souls or the afterlife.” Charlotte says.
“When you die your soul rests for a long time and then you get reincarnated. You’re a totally different person when you reincarnate. You don’t remember anything from your past life and you’re not conscious whilst your soul rests, unless a god or demon interferes with your soul.” I explain.
“That’s your belief?” Charlotte asks.
“It’s not a belief. It’s just the truth.” I tell her.
“How do you know?” Charlotte asks.
“My people studied it and recorded their findings. Even for a six year old it was common knowledge.” I tell her.
“Who are your people?” Emma asks curiously.
“Sorry, but I can’t tell you their name.” I answer apologetically.
“Their name’s a secret?” Emma asks in surprise.
“No. It’s embarrassing but the secret is that I’ve forgotten.” I tell her. Emma looks at me in shock and laughs.
“Sorry, but I didn’t expect that!” Emma apologises in a hurry.
“Don’t worry.” I tell her.
“Excuse me.” A female dwarf says looking at me a little strangely.
“Is something wrong?” Emma asks her.
“We were just wondering how to get our hair to look like that without magic.” The dwarf says.
“Like mine?” I ask in relief.
“Yes.” She says.
“I was born with rainbow hair. All my people looked like this, so I’m afraid I can’t really help.” I tell her.
“Oh, I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.” The dwarf says and hurries back to the other dwarves.
“Maybe I was wrong.” Emma admits.
“It still doesn’t hurt to watch what we say.” I tell Emma.
“That’s true.” Charlotte agrees.
“I really am looking forward to getting there though.” I say.
“Me too. I wonder what it will be like. It’s hard to imagine from what we’ve been told.” Charlotte says.
“I wonder how big it will be. It feels like we’ve been cramped inside somewhere forever. First the academy, then the temple and now here. I hope our new home is big enough that it doesn’t feel cramped too.” Emma says.
“Me too. I want to feel free not locked away inside somewhere even if it is for my protection.” I say.
“I hope there’s nice food too.” Charlotte says.
“Something spicy!” I say.
“I don’t think I can manage your idea of spicy.” Charlotte says.
“I don’t think anyone can.” Emma says.
“You humans have such a weak palate.” I say shaking my head in resignation.
“Everyone, please go through.” The male dwarf calls out appearing from a swirling mass of metallic colours surrounded by a large black stone gateway. It wasn’t there when I last looked but it must be the gate to our new home. He then walks back into the gateway and disappears. Midori rushes after him and dashes through the gate before anyone can even speak, let alone follow.
“Let the Contractians go first and then follow.” The Kuroneko tells her followers and then leaps through the gate too.
“Let’s go everyone.” Emma calls out and then leads the way towards and then into the gate.
I’m sixth to enter the gate, behind only Grunti, Midori, the Kuroneko, Emma and Charlotte. As we enter it we’re entirely surrounded by the constantly swirling metallic colours. My body feels like it is being pulled on from every direction and at the same time pushed forward.
As we move forwards the colours take on a purple hint and eventually we are entirely surrounded by dark purple. Then the purple takes on hints of blue before becoming a dark purple and blue swirling mass. As the dark blue becomes stronger the purple fades until it is entirely gone. Then the blue becomes paler and paler. Just before it fades entirely the blue is replaced by brown below and orangey red straight ahead and above. A few moments later I can see clearly.
In the distance there’s a huge fiery dome above and around us. The ground is soft brown earth and behind us is a gate of ice. In the gateway is a swirling mass of pale blues, greys and whites. Most importantly though, in front of us are our friends. They’re wearing their school uniforms just like we are, except Yu Kii who is wearing her miko outfit and Peter who is just wearing scales. It may seem odd to be wearing our school uniform even though we are no longer at the academy or even on the same world, but we don’t have anything else to wear.
As we approach our friends I can’t help feeling intimidated by Peter. I knew he looked different. I’d even heard exactly what he looked like and the description was certainly accurate, but this is still my first time seeing him in person since he changed his body. There were so many of us in the room when he ported us to the temple that I missed the chance to see him then and haven’t had a chance since. Midori and the Kuroneko are busy talking to Peter though, so he probably won’t even notice me.
It’s not just Peter that’s intimidating. Seeing all my friends here is wonderful, but there’s nobody here who is waiting mostly for me. I can’t help being nervous. I can’t help being embarrassed. What to say? Who to say it to?
“Niji!” Tomo calls out. Tabi and Mirai wave at me eagerly. Perhaps I didn’t need to be nervous after all. I was sure they’d be more interested in talking to Midori, but I suppose Midori is too busy with Peter. I’m about to rush forward when a small girl runs past me. She seems familiar but she looks too young to be at the academy. She’s also wearing plain white mage robes instead of the academy uniform. Who is she?
“Peter! Asuna!” The girl calls out and Peter looks up at her.
“Hinata. It’s good to see you again.” Peter says happily. Hinata… She was Asuna’s little sister, wasn’t she?
“My people! Can I bring them here?!” Hinata asks urgently.
“Of course, though getting them here may be a little tricky. They’re still in Utopia Camerona aren’t they?” Peter asks.
“No. It seems Mayor Perry was planning to use them as hostages once she got inside the temple. They were captured by the dwarves when Perry was defeated.” Hinata tells him.
“I’m sure the dwarves will be happy to releas
e them.” Peter tells her.
“The dwarves said they wanted to discuss what to do with all their prisoners with you and their king.” Hinata says.
“I’ll be happy to do so and I’m sure Grunti will be reasonable about it.” Peter says. Then I reach my friends and Peter’s conversation is drowned out by everyone’s greetings. Tabi, Tomo and Mirai are all especially eager to see me.
“So what was Nirvali like?” Tomo asks.
“We didn’t see much of it, but the dwarves really did look like little girls in armour. You couldn’t tell the difference between a human girl and a dwarf.” I tell them.
“I wonder whether we’ll ever get to see them.” Tabi says.
“If there’s a gate between our home and theirs maybe we will get the chance.” Mirai says.
“I hope so.” Tabi says.
“It would be nice to see their city.” Tomo says.
“Did you see any other male dwarves?” Mirai asks.
“No. Just Grunti.” I answer.
“I wonder whether they all look like him.” Mirai says.
“He does look a bit like I imagined dwarves might look like.” Tomo says.
“Except he doesn’t have a beard. I had heard that all dwarves had beards. Even the women.” Tabi points out.
“I’d heard that too.” Mirai says.
“Me too. Having seen the female dwarves now though, I just can’t imagine them having beards.” I say.
“A little girl with a beard would look odd.” Mirai says.
“That’s true. By the way Niji, we all have makeshift homes at the moment. We saved you one right next to ours. I hope that’s ok.” Tomo says.
“That’s great.” I say.
“We’ve saved one for Midori too just in case, but I’m sure she’ll take one closer to Peter.” Tomo says.
“She’d complain if we didn’t save her one though.” Tabi says.
“I doubt she’d even notice.” Tomo says.
Chapter 28 (Multiple) – The Battle of Portalis
(Gregory May)
I look behind us again and see the sun is close to setting. It will not be long before we start our feast. Waiting for sunset is only symbolic but a feast of mortal souls is best enjoyed with the right atmosphere. Sunset and nightfall will give us that atmosphere.
The elves seem restless, but soon they will be able to put their energy to good use. If any elves don’t fight hard enough, their Envoys will ensure that they are killed as punishment. Normally I’d eat one or two before the battle too as an incentive and more importantly as a snack, but there will be plenty of souls to gorge on today.
The city of Portalis is surrounded by our human scum. I don’t bother counting the filth, but there must be at least half a million humans in our army. Only about a tenth of them are mages, but they still provide good fodder for the enemy to waste mana on.
We could gather more, but there’s no need. We could win this battle with just me and Azrael. The humans are just to keep the enemy from relaxing whilst we keep them waiting. Having the elves is useful though, because they can take the sting off of the enemies’ attacks. Not that the enemies’ attacks could ever be anything more than that. Even their queen struggled against a single Death Bird! The old queen would have eliminated a mere Death Bird with a single attack.
The wall of Portalis is tall enough to obscure the city behind it from where I am, but a wall is useless when your enemy can fly. The moat around the city is wide but like the wall it cannot protect the city against us when we can fly.
What gives the people of Contractia confidence is the shield surrounding Portalis. Azrael tested the shield and it was as strong as the rumours suggested. Apparently they have a spell breaker too. The combination is a pain. No wonder the Contractians think their city is invincible. If their old queen hadn’t been paranoid enough to create a backdoor to avoid getting locked out of Portalis, we might never have broken through its defences. As it is the Contractians are about to get a shock, right before we kill them.
“When the feast is over meet me at the top of that mountain.” Azrael tells me. There is only one mountain in Portalis so our meeting place is clear.
“To view our new trophy?” I ask.
“To take control of the shield.” Azrael answers.
“Is that where it’s being controlled from?” I ask.
“Isn’t that where you would control it from?” Azrael asks.
“Yes, but do humans think the same way?” I ask.
“I don’t know about humans, but their old queen certainly did.” Azrael says and as he says it the sun begins to set. I don’t have to look behind us to see it. I can already feel the red light bathing us in all its glory. Azrael turns his body black and shrouds himself in darkness. The elves hide their presence too.
“My turn.” I say with a grin. I don’t hide though. Far from it.
I take to the sky and summon a thousand Death Birds. After all the time I spent creating Death Bird after Death Bird I can now finally enjoy releasing them on the enemy. Sadly they can’t penetrate the city’s shield, but there is no way the enemy can ignore them. The mere name Death Bird is enough to fill a mortal’s heart with fear. A single touch of a single feather means death. The sight of a thousand Death Birds even on the other side of a shield will fill their hearts with terror.
As if that was not enough I form storm clouds over the city. Lightning strikes naturally but it only hits the shield. Rain falls but like the lightning it hits the shield. The storm clouds still darken the sky and the rain and thunder can be heard throughout the city.
With the setting sun behind me I then return to my true size. I was already in my true form except for my size, but now everyone in Contractia can see a red leathery giant with huge muscles, white bone horns, razor sharp long white teeth and black leathery wings. They can see the red fire of my eyes. They can see their death approaching.
“People of Contractia, despair!” I boom.
Mages quickly line the city’s wall and strike at me with dozens of lightning bolts at a time. I send their lightning back at the casters, but the city’s shield blocks the lightning before it can strike them. Then one lightning bolt leaps out at me with a force that cannot be compared to the others. I dodge but even though it misses me by a few feet my closest wing is singed.
It seems I have the queen’s attention and she seems to have grown stronger in the mere months since my Death Bird tested her power. Or was she faking weakness back then? Had I known that a weakened Sky Lord was helping her back then I would have sent more than just a single Death Bird with the emperor’s messenger. To have further weakened the Sky Lord when he was still in that weak human form would have been a prize far greater than killing a young queen. To have killed him would have been the ultimate prize.
My singed wing regenerates from the damage almost instantly. I am now very careful to avoid her next attack. This time it is a hail of ice. The other mages use ice as well, but their queen’s attack is easy to sense, because the difference in mana is huge. Even knowing where her ice is though, I cannot evade every shard. That’s not because it’s fast but because it’s vast.
The humans behind me are instantly frozen to death even before it reaches me. I block the ice that is about to hit me with my wings, but the shock is agony as the ice crashes into my wings. My entire body freezes up and I crash to the ground. The only time I have felt pain worse than this was when I fought the Sky Lord.
Azrael should have contacted me by now. What’s taking him so long? I was only meant to get the queen’s attention so he could get inside before having to face her. I know I told him that she wasn’t a threat, but he didn’t need to leave me facing her for this long.
“The elves have betrayed us!” The shrill voice of an Envoy cries in my mind. Betrayed us? The impudent fools, I will wipe their race from existence!
I sense a lightning bolt shot straight at me by the queen. I unfurl my wings and jump into the air to dodge, but this time the bot
tom of my wing is hit and the entire wing is burnt to ash. It takes a few moments to regenerate and in that time she fires another lightning bolt.
Whatever’s keeping Azrael, if the elves have betrayed us and the queen is this powerful I cannot afford to waste any more time here. If I keep this up I may even get killed. I dodge her next lightning bolt and leap through the air straight towards the backdoor. She sends another lightning bolt which again misses but this time singes my left horn.
She sends yet another lightning bolt at me, but this time from just up ahead of where I’m leaping to. She must have ported. Perhaps she thinks I’m simply running away. I manage to dodge to the side of her attack without even getting singed and then continue on towards the backdoor. She manages to get in one more attack before I reach it but again I dodge, though this time my right wing is singed.
The backdoor is now right in front of me. It’s a tiny gap in the shield covered by an illusion. There’s a weak shield covering the gap too, but knowing exactly where it is I cover my right fist in flames and then punch the weak shield. It isn’t as weak as I expected and takes two punches to break, but having penetrated the shield I reduce myself to human size and dart through the gap just in time to avoid the queen’s next lightning bolt.
As I shoot through the gap and into Portalis I find a terrifying sight hovering over the wide moat. For a moment I am convinced it is the Sky Lord of Ishki, but after a moment I notice that the fiery eyes on this green scaled fire angel are red like mine. Though the eyes are different the sharp white bone claws and fangs, and the green metallic tail and green spiked leathery wings are just like the Sky Lord’s.
“Stop dodging.” She says and sends another blast of lightning at me, but this time it is black soul stealer lightning. I quickly dodge to the left and attack with a flurry of black feathers. She’s not the only one who can steal souls. To my shock my death feathers turn white before they can reach her. As far as I can tell though, she didn’t use any magic to do it. So how did she do it?
As I’m trying to work out how she did it she attacks again with her soul stealer lightning. Again I dodge, but her attack is followed by regular lightning that is harder to dodge. My left wing, arm and shoulder are all reduced to ash. Roaring in agony I return to my proper size before she can entirely reduce me to ash. Unlike fire angels I am only able to regenerate my body if something is left of it. My advantage is the greater power of my soul stealer magic, but right now she seems immune to it.
