by Tj Dixon
“Sor, don’t attack the last Maou when you’ve killed yours. Just let me know.” I tell her by mental link.
“Ok…” Sor replies clearly confused. I sense father’s suspicion but right now he’s busy dealing with the Maou. Once it is dead it will be too late. If I approach him directly though, he’ll definitely prioritise killing me.
All of my friends are afflicted now and all of the faeries are dead. I reduce my own body to ash and possess Cherry. Within her body I can now sense the poison. I fight it. As her body recovers I sense Cherry’s despair. Her sister was just reduced to ash.
“Trust me. It’s not too late to save everyone. Take me into father, into the sun, but avoid his attacks.” I tell Cherry.
“Sherry can be saved?” Cherry asks me desperately.
“Yes, but only if you hurry and don’t get hit.” I tell her.
“I trained under you, so I won’t get hit.” Cherry says as she races towards father. Father still targets the Maou. He hasn’t sensed me yet. We can do this. He’s suspicious though and a moment later he sends a barrage of fireballs at us. He still hasn’t noticed me though, because he isn’t using soul fire.
Cherry dodges the fireballs magnificently and continues on towards father. The heat radiating from father begins to permeate the dimensional bubble, making Cherry swelter. Outside the bubble she would of course be reduced to ash. Sweat pours from Cherry’s body in streams and her vision is blurred as the sweat runs into her eyes, but she closes her eyes and ignores it, continuing to evade the fireballs using her senses.
“It’s dead.” Sor says through the mental link.
“You managed to kill it!” Cherry exclaims, as the link now connects via her mind.
“Sherry?” Sor asks in shock.
“Cherry.” Cherry corrects her.
“But I thought I was talking to Peter.” Sor says in confusion. Unfortunately her words remedy father’s confusion and he suddenly targets Cherry with a ferocious bombardment.
“Cherry, dodge. Sor, kill the last Maou.” I tell them urgently. Maybe I shouldn’t have told Sor to let me know, but it’s too late to worry about that now. Cherry dodges the incoming balls of soul fire splendidly, literally dancing around them one after the other and continuing to close the gap between us and father.
“Two minds in one? You’re possessing Cherry?” Sor asks.
“Yes, now kill that Maou.” I tell her.
“I’ve already trapped it. It got overconfident when Ikarus stopped attacking it. It will be dead soon.” Sor says.
“Are you serious?” Hades asks me through her own mental link.
“Yes. Do you plan to stop us?” I ask her.
“I love you, but I love father too. Don’t make me choose between you.” Hades begs me.
“Sorry, but this is the only way.” I tell her.
“Then I will stop you.” Hades tells me with a cold flame in her voice that I haven’t heard since before I fell.
“Cherry, incoming!” I warn and Cherry dodges a wall of soul flames that appears directly ahead of us.
As Cherry continues to dodge father’s attacks Hades creates new walls of soul fire, but thankfully they aren’t very big. Hades never was very good at creating soul flames. Hades attempts to surround us with a ball of soul flames but she’s way too slow. Frustrated, Hades begins to fire standard fireballs at us instead, but even if they do hit us we should be fine.
“How much hotter will it get?” Cherry asks me as she continues to dance around the attacks in a style that reminds me of my own.
“You’re almost there.” I say, dodging her question. If I had the mana I’d reform my own body at this point, but when I do reform my body I won’t have any mana left, so I must be inside father already.
“It’s getting hotter by the moment!” Cherry complains.
Desperate, father creates a wall of soul flames over his ‘skin’ but even though it is much larger than Hades’ walls, it cannot possibly cover his entire ‘body’.
“Don’t go through those flames.” I warn Cherry.
“They feel dangerous. What are they?” Cherry asks, dancing around the latest attack.
“Soul flames. They kill the soul as well as the body. You’re dimensional bubble won’t save you from them.” I warn her.
“I was right then. If he surrounds us with them it will all be over.” Cherry says.
“I doubt he can. You’re moving too quickly and unpredictably.” I tell her.
“I can’t port, but can you shift us? That is the word isn’t it?” Cherry asks.
“It is, but I’m afraid that’s impossible.” I tell her.
“Pity.” Cherry says, but then she darts through a gap in the soul flames. As she does so she enters father’s body. The dimensional bubble fails and her body is instantly burnt to ash, but I reform my own body and bite father’s soul. As I bite into father’s soul I feel his pain and hear his anguished voice.
“Wretched son of mine, as you take my life you take responsibility for all the mortals below us. Not just your little friends, but all the mortals. Suffer as I did, for now you rise into the fire of heaven just as your mother foretold. Regret that you did not stay dead when she tried to end your newly hatched life, for now your body shall be a flame that burns your soul forever.” Father screams into my soul as I devour his.
Hades looks on in horror as she sees me murder our father. Sor, Helski and Emi watch in suspense, unable to tell what has happened. My body is consumed by flames and my soul burns in agony. True to my father’s words my body becomes pure fire, but the pain fades. It becomes bearable, though it is still there. I feel like I could get used to it and like I will have to get used to it.
Now my fiery body is fully formed I am the new sun. I extend my senses and realise they are much wider and more detailed than before, though much slower. I can sense what is going on below across the whole world. I can also sense the entire battle between the fire angels and the demons. Many of the fire angels are dead just like my friends.
I push Cherry’s soul out of my body and bring her to rest alongside our friends and create an air bubble around them. I then ignite my soul flames over the faeries and my friends’ souls and reform their bodies. As I do so I make each of my friends immortal, so at least I don’t have to watch as they pass away mere decades from now. I then use my soul flames again, this time to heal the fire angels’ souls and reform their bodies. Unlike Ish and my father’s soul flames, mine are the flames of resurrection and no matter what happens, that will not change.
The demons know despair as the angels they have killed return from the dead. Even as the demons continue to kill the angels, my flames simply resurrect the angels as often as I need to. This is the power of a true god. Not my father’s deadly flames. Anyone can kill. A true god should be able to bring back the dead and that is my power.
When the time is right I will resurrect Ish too, but I must hide him from Lucy. For now I can simply tell her that he is already dead so there is no need to kill him. It’s not even truly a lie.
“Hades, do you hate me now?” I ask.
“Yes, but I still love you.” Hades tells me tearfully.
“I am sorry, but for my friends sake I do not regret my choice.” I tell Hades.
Epilogue (Rin)
Side by side Tabi and I are scouring the icy floor of hell for mana crystals. Less than a year ago that would have sounded so crazy. If someone had told me it would happen I’d have looked at them funny and decided it was safer not to say anything, rather than confront a potential maniac.
Actually the only person I could imagine having told me that was Peter. If he had told me that, I’d have put the idea down quickly in case he actually tried to make it happen. My heart tightens as I think of Peter. He’s still alive and I can even talk to him, but it’s not the same. Even in his fire angel form he was more human than he is now.
“How’s Midori coping?” I ask.
“She says she’s doing fine. She says
she’s happy, because she’s still with Peter and can still talk to him. She’s lying though. Her heart aches to be closer to him. To be able to touch him, but if she does touch him she’ll be burnt to ash. She’s in pain, but I suppose she’s not the only one.” Tabi says looking at me as she says it.
“I hope we see Elucia again.” I say quickly changing the subject. “Since she went over to Dairon’s dome she hasn’t even contacted us.”
“Have we heard anything at all from the elves?” Tabi asks.
“No, but according to Peter they’re doing well.” I tell Tabi.
“Have you heard anything about Contractia or the Fallen Angels?” Tabi asks.
“Contractia refuses to negotiate with us even though Peter could plunge one of their most important worlds into eternal night. The remaining Fallen Angels haven’t made a move so the war is still stuck at Portalis.” I answer.
“I thought the queen was meant to be very grateful to Peter.” Tabi says.
“She is, but she’s stuck in Portalis so she can’t risk angering the nobility too much. Peter’s main demand is an end to slavery, which will anger the nobility a lot.” I explain.
“Maybe we should just start raiding Contractia to free their slaves.” Tabi says.
“Peter is considering it, but with the remaining Fallen Angels still around we can’t cause too much trouble for Contractia. Contractia has plenty of flaws, but the Fallen Angels are far worse.” I tell Tabi.
“That’s true. Oh, is that a mana crystal?” Tabi asks, pointing down below us. I focus my senses on the area.
“Yes. Sorry, I should have sensed that one first.” I apologise.
“It’s fine. I was distracting you. Just make sure you get your act together if we come across any stray demons.” Tabi warns me.
“When was the last time we came across a demon?” I ask.
“I’m not sure.” Tabi admits.
“It’s funny though. We’re in hell and the thought of coming across a demon seems so unlikely.” I tell Tabi.
“That’s because we killed most of them.” Tabi says.
“Peter killed most of them. Anyway, do you think you can get it out of there?” I ask.
“No. It’s too deep. I might break it.” Tabi tells me.
“We’d better go back and get the dwarves then.” I say.
“They’ll be happy.” Tabi says.
“Helski will be too. One more crystal is all we need to get her that livestock she wants.” I say.
“Doesn’t it feel like we’re being ripped off?” Tabi asks.
“It does, but the dwarves helped us when we needed them. They could have stayed hidden and hoped the Fallen Angels never found them. The angel stones and the dome are thanks to the dwarves. If we end up paying too high a price for the goods we want, I think we can live with that.” I tell her.
“I’ll remind you of that the next time you complain to the dwarves.” Tabi says.
“Don’t you dare! If we don’t complain they’ll rip us off even worse.” I tell her.
“Talking about the dwarves, how’s your mother doing?” Tabi asks.
“She’s enjoying her work in Nirvali. I sometimes wonder whether she’ll ever come back here.” I say with a sigh.
“As long as she’s enjoying herself. I’m sure she’d come back if you asked her to though.” Tabi says.
“I know she would, but that would be unfair. The opportunities she has in Nirvali are a dream to any alchemist.” I tell Tabi.
“So why don’t you join her?” Tabi asks.
“I might one day, but right now I want to be with my friends. Anyway, we need every ice angel we can get right now.” I tell her.
“We’re not actually angels.” Tabi reminds me.
“I know, but don’t tell me you’ve never called yourself a wind angel.” I say.
“I may have.” Tabi admits.
“We do have some real angels though.” I tell her.
“I know. Midori, Yu Kii, Hermes, Neko and Juliet. Other than Juliet they’re all Peter’s angels. They may not all be as obsessed with him as Midori, but they are all dedicated to him. Juliet on the other hand is dedicated to little Misty. I do wonder whether Misty will turn out better this time around.” Tabi says.
“She wasn’t evil, but she’s a new person now. It’s a shame that her soul was too far gone to resurrect her. If you ignored her little habit she was a nice person. Anyway, I never imagined that Juliet would give birth to Misty!” I tell her.
“Neither did I. I did wonder why Juliet took human form, but I never imagined it would be to give birth to Midori! You say she wasn’t evil now, but I remember you saying some pretty nasty things about her at the time.” Tabi says.
“I know and I regret it. It seems so petty now. Anyway, didn’t you ever say anything bad about her?” I ask Tabi.
“Who knows?” Tabi asks innocently.
Author’s Afterword
If you’ve been reading this series as it was first published you’ll know this volume took a lot longer than my previous books. Sorry for the wait! I’m aiming to publish my next book on either 2nd Feb 2017 or 2nd March 2017, so you shouldn’t have such a long wait for the next one.
Thank you for reading the War of Contractia to its conclusion. This book is definitely the end of Peter’s story. The Chronicles of Contractia covers all books set in the Contractia universe but my next book will not be set in Contractia so will not be part of this series. My next book will also not be set in any kind of school environment and will have adult main characters. All of my books will have elements of science fiction and/or fantasy. Beyond that I can’t reveal any further information about my next book yet, but if overall you’ve enjoyed the War of Contractia I hope you will keep an eye out for my future books.
If you want to keep up to date on all the latest information about my books please follow me on my Good Reads author page www.goodreads.com/author/show/2132743
