"Well, now . . . aren't we the clever one," Epidime struggled to say.
The effects were subtle at first. Epidime's struggles slowed. He became heavier. As Myranda lowered him to the ground, the spell finally took full effect. His complexion grayed. His body turned to stone. After a few moments of stillness, a twisted shadow separated from the petrified form. First it launched itself at Myranda. There came the intense and familiar sensation of the general attempting to force his way into her mind. It only lasted for a moment. Then the shadow whisked away, effortlessly shattering the shield Myranda raised.
The wizard rushed after it, willing the protective stones aside to allow her to escape, then forcing them back in place, in hopes of protecting the stone figure of her father left behind.
Ivy had been carefully navigated toward the portal, and was very nearly there. Demont was treating her carefully, as though he was afraid of damaging her. As such, the creatures surrounding her were ordered to give her a wide berth. One creature was venturing near, and was not responding to his unspoken commands.
"Back!" he ordered.
The beast, a small mass of legs and snapping jaws, broke into a run. Demont swiftly retrieved a dagger-like tool from his belt and raised it. The creature collided with the general. Its jaws first closed around the gleaming crystal extractor, crushing it to powder. It then turned and snapped at the crystal in Demont's other hand, but Ivy's blade caught it in the back.
Both Ivy and the rogue beast released a cry of agony. The beast writhed and struggled, finally exploding into a burst of wind. Ether launched Ivy back and turned to Demont, but he thrust the crystal that controlled Ivy into Ether's swirling form. The ravenous stone tore at her more intensely than any of the crystals she'd encountered before. She began to shift to stone and stumbled back, taking the stone with her.
The half-shifted form lurched away, collapsing to the ground and clawing at the now fully-stone abdomen that had closed around the offending crystal. When she finally managed to reach it, she pulled the ravenous thing free. The strength to move quickly wicked away with her fingers still closed around the broken gem.
Demont got to his feet and stalked over to the paralyzed form. He pulled the gem from her grip and retreated quickly.
"Destroy it!" he ordered the surrounding beasts.
Instantly, the stone form was buried beneath a wave of creatures.
"To the portal," he ordered Ivy.
She turned, but lingered.
"To the portal," he commanded, brandishing the gem.
Something was wrong. He looked to the familiar crystal. It seemed less lustrous than it should be, less transparent. Before his eyes, it faded to a dull stone color. The same exact color and texture Ether's body had been. An instant later, it rushed into a gust of air, accompanied by an identical burst from beneath the mound of attacking beasts. The wind reformed into Ether, madness in her eyes and the true crystal in her hands. She hurled the offending gem with the force of a hurricane, sending the faintly gleaming fragment nearly to the southern horizon.
Demont's eyes jumped to Ivy. The creature was herself again, eyes locked on him and darkness sweeping in around her. Before he could manage a command, spoken or mental, the malthrope holstered one of her blades and wrapped her fingers around his throat, hosting him high.
"Call off your beasts or I slash your throat now," Ivy hissed, the blackness of hate spreading over her, forging her still-brandished blade to a needle point.
"If you don't kill me, the others will for betraying them by calling off the beasts," Demont croaked.
Ivy pressed her blade to his throat, a trickle of black blood dripping down.
"I promise you, it will be cruel. It will be torture, and it will still be better than you deserve," she growled.
"They will be crueler," Demont gasped.
"So be it," Ivy said, a hideous satisfaction in her voice.
She drew the blade slowly, opening the slice ever so slightly. As she did, she saw herself in the reflection on her stained blade. She saw the darkness in her eyes. The madness. She withdrew her blade.
"No . . . no. You aren't worth it. You aren't worthy of my hatred. I will not allow you to draw that out of me. I won't become what you wanted me to be," she proclaimed.
She turned to the portal, just steps away, and threw him through its border. He struggled to his feet. Above his head was the black triangle, the gateway between the worlds.
"Go! Return to your darkness. Before I change my mind," she warned.
"Your world is lost. I am quite through with it. I was wrong about you, experiment. You are nothing but a failure," Demont replied.
With that he seemed to vanish, his form replaced with a dense black smoke that coiled its way through the portal.
Ivy turned back to the fray. Just ahead of her was Ether. She was struggling to pull her windy form together into solidity. With a final burst of effort, she managed to assume human form. The beasts she'd thrown aside were quickly closing in around her, even without their master to command them. Ivy rushed to her side, madly swinging her blades until any too foolish to back away were in pieces on the ground.
"You . . . you saved me, didn't you," Ivy said, almost in disbelief, while staring down a threatening monster.
"I did . . . what was required of me . . . as a Chosen," Ether replied.
"Uh-huh," Ivy said knowingly.
The ring of beasts witnessing the clash between Lain and Bagu were wisely keeping their distance. To outside viewers, the pair was little more than a blur of motion and energy. One began to slow, crackling waves of energy rippling over him. Finally, Lain's energy was spent and he fell to one knee, pure agony twisting his features. His foe slowed and stood over the stricken hero.
"This moment has been coming since the day you were born," Bagu taunted, the crackling energy intensifying with each word. "The prophecy spoke of a malthrope who would be Chosen. On that day, your kind were marked for death. I am glad I was able to finish the task personally. Ivy will suffer. I will see to it myself."
Lain's sword fell from his fingers and clutched at his arm. Bagu raised his weapon. There was a blur of black. There was a flash of silver. The crackling slowly died away. Lain was on his feet again, the dagger in his fist hilt-deep in the general. The assassin heaved the stricken general to the ground and wrenched the black blade from his stunned grasp.
With a mighty thrust, he drove the weapon through Bagu's chest and into the frozen earth beneath him.
"Fool! Weakling!" Bagu wheezed. "Have you learned nothing!?"
Already the spell was falling back into place.
"I cannot be defeated!" proclaimed Bagu, as he wrapped his fingers around the blade and heaved it from the earth and out of his chest.
There was another flash of silver. The assassin knelt and clutched the general's head, dragging it up. The body remained where it was. Without a word, he hurled the head to the portal. There was a rush of blackness as a horrid black mist rushed from both body and head, each coiling up through the portal as Demont had.
Lain turned. There was more work to do. The massive white-furred creature, until now merely lumbering slowly southward, had turned and was now pounding toward Myranda. Myn rushed to her aid, scorching black lines across the beast, but it refused to turn from its task. Creatures continued to flow out of the portal, now marching in a continuous stampede over the hills to the south. Already, a black tide could be seen creeping up the slopes of the mountains in the distance. They were heading toward the capital . . . toward the rest of the world.
The earth rumbled with the constant flow of abominations of all shapes and sizes, and thumped with the thundering blows of the white creature's single-minded attacks upon Myranda. The monolith-sized limbs drove themselves into the earth, spade-like teeth sinking in and tearing up vast stretches of earth. It crushed and trampled dozens of its fellow beasts with each attack. Myranda ran, lacking the mind to spare to offer up a spell. The quaking earth split before her an
d each crushing stomp threatened to hit its mark. Myn burned at its eyes, slashed at its skin, and tore at its fur, but nothing seemed to do enough damage to distract it, let alone defeat it. Finally the dragon swept down and plucked up her friend, wheeling high into the air.
The young wizard fought to catch her breath. Below, the beast ceased its rampage, the few eyes that had remained unburned watching her intently. Myranda felt the telltale sensation of a spell slipping together around her and managed to dispel it. Surely no beast could have even begun to cast a spell. She turned her eyes to the long shadow cast by the beast as it thumped along to stay below her. It was even more hideous and twisted than the beast itself.
Epidime had taken its body as his own. Sensing that he had her attention, the possessed creature took a single, purposeful step toward the arching stone ring that had been their last battleground. With that single motion, even without words, Epidime had issued a threat Myranda could not ignore. The monster was heading for her father.
"Stop him!" Myranda cried, guiding Myn into a dive.
Her cry made its way to the ears of Ivy. The malthrope had been keeping a watchful eye on the still-recovering Ether, warding off any would be attackers, but with the disappearance of Demont, the beasts had steadily lost interest. Now they marched mindlessly south, dividing around the heroes as they might a tree or other meaningless obstacle. Myranda's voice drew her attention. She looked back and forth between Myranda and Ether, desperate indecision on her face.
"Are you . . . going to be all right if I help Myranda? You still look weak," Ivy asked Ether.
"Go; I don't need your help. I could never need your help," Ether replied, mustering up enough strength to show the proper degree of indignation.
Everything beyond the word "go" went unheard, Ivy sprinting madly toward the rest of her friends. The flow of beasts was dense now, far too dense to try to slip between or hack through. With no other option, Ivy climbed atop it, leaping from shell to back to carapace as nimbly as one might across stepping stones in a pond. A final leap brought her into the wide clearing around the beast, a churned-up, craggy battleground littered with the broken remains of the demons that hadn't been wise enough or fast enough to escape.
Lain, still limping from Bagu's attacks, slashed his way into the clearing a moment later.
"Ivy! In the ring of stone! Help my father!" Myranda cried, as Myn swept low and threw all of her momentum against the ponderous beast.
The blow was enough to stagger the monster, tipping it up on a single limb. Ivy scrambled up the side of the tooth-like protrusions and tumbled inside. For a moment, she stared curiously at the statue she'd been sent to help. The ground shook as the monster came crashing down. Instantly, she crouched and hoisted the form to her shoulders, and eyed the wall of stone around her. This was strangely familiar. She lowered her shoulder, the heavy form heaving forward. Behind her, the massive beast smashed at the earth.
Ivy looked back to see one hideous leg flail up and strike the earth. The ground trembled from the force. The stone spires, already weakened from previous tremors, cracked and split. Ivy knew that she wouldn't have a better chance than now. With all of the strength she could muster, she charged at the point in the stone most riddled and worn.
There was an explosion of dust and gravel as the spire gave way, and not a second too soon. The monster was on its feet. Ivy ran, smoldering fear and heartfelt duty forming a potent mix that urged her forward. She could hear the slash of a sword behind her and the thunder of the feet all around her. The fear that had festered in the back of her mind began to drift to the surface again. Until now, she'd been rushing past, over, or through the flood of beasts. Now they were beside her, in front of her, behind her. They were matching her speed, giving the frightened creature her first prolonged looks at the misshapen beasts. Something deep inside of her reminded her that the same mind that produced this horde had produced her as she was now. She shook the thoughts away.
Lain slashed at the towering beast anywhere that his sword would meet flesh, but he could make no progress. It was immune to pain, and any wounds that posed the massive creature any threat at all were closed immediately by Epidime's magic. Worse, the creatures flowing from the portal were steadily larger than those that came before them. A second and third beast, identical to the one occupied by the dark general, had dropped out of it and now stood ominously ready to replace his current host.
Seeing no end in sight, Lain retreated, disappearing among the lumbering beasts.
Myn circled over the valley, Myranda staring down from her back. The wizard watched helplessly as the monsters rushed like ants across the landscape, spreading until they were nothing more than a vague movement on the dimly lit landscape. Something had to be done. The portal had to be closed. With barely a word, Myn spotted Ether, and dropped quickly to the ground beside her. Lain emerged a moment later. All eyes were trained carefully on Epidime, the beast under his control wading through the rush of like-sized demons.
"Fire, quickly," Ether demanded, sparking quickly and weakly to the suitable form.
Myn complied, more out of the desire to roast the infuriating creature than to help her.
"That is sufficient," the elemental instructed after a few moments of flame, though the dragon belched a few more blasts at her for good measure.
"How do we close the gateway?" Lain asked.
"I . . . I don't know. The D'karon . . . or whatever they are . . . their spells are all very similar. I wish Deacon was here. He knows them better than I," Myranda struggled to say, watching the massive beast draw nearer.
"We don't have time for him. Every second releases more of those wretched things into this world. They do not belong here. Look at them. They don't care about us. Their task is to devour this world. To claim it for their masters," Ether hissed.
"The . . . the spells. They don't have counterspells. They are cast to be permanent. The only way to stop them is to cut off their power," Myranda said distantly.
She was distracted. Somewhere deep in her mind, she could hear a voice from her memories. His words were echoing through her thoughts, dredging up images she'd just seen and attaching to them. The meeting of the three shafts of light, the dark triangle that served as the doorway, they were cryptic warnings she had received, long ago. It was all falling into place, but what came next? Suddenly, she knew.
"Get to the edge of the valley. Get far away. Find Ivy and stay with her. I have an idea, but I don't know what is going to happen. Let's go, Myn," Myranda barked with authority. Her tone was clear, confident, and decisive.
The dragon leapt into the air, the other heroes launching themselves southward. Myn spiraled upward and out of reach of Epidime not a moment too soon, the massive beast finally reaching the Chosen as they parted. Myranda held tight, purpose in her eyes, and coaxed Myn high into the air. When at last they were higher even than the titanic obelisks, the pair headed toward them. The mystic, unnatural sound of the energy hissing through the air filled their ears. They drew nearer.
Now the energy itself was reaching them. It had a heat to it that went beyond fire. It was a heat that burned the body, mind, and soul all at once. Myranda urged the dragon forward. Below them was the white-hot, blindingly bright point where the three shafts of light met. Myranda leaned forward and placed a hand on Myn's neck.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
She jumped.
The wind whipped by her and mixed with the screech of the life force of the world being leeched away. The heat grew, consuming her entirely. Myn dove after her, but the rush of raw power that wrapped around Myranda pushed the dragon back. She fell further, tears streaming from her eyes and memories sizzling in her mind. At the southern edge of the valley, the eyes of the others watched the tiny form fall, almost invisible against the brilliance. The searing pain seized Myranda, then dropped away--and, for a brief instant, she had clarity. Her thoughts turned to her father, to Deacon, to all of the people she cared about, and who cared
about her. Her body passed into the point of energy and, for her, the world vanished.
Pain is a thing of the body. It could not be applied to the sensation that permeated Myranda now. The agony felt was greater than any single body or spirit could contain. What she felt stretched further than the boundaries of her body. She felt the torment of all beings at once. She felt the torture of the world itself. Her individuality wavered, the whole of her self was blending and mixing with existence itself. For a moment and an eternity she was not Myranda, she was all. The eye of creation looked upon her expectantly. The gods themselves watched her and waited.
There was more to be done.
Her will fluttered and fought, clinging to the spark of divinity within her that was holding firm against the onslaught. Gradually, her mind and body drew back into being. The all-encompassing agony focused into a pinpoint of physicality once more. Her eyes drifted down. The portal remained beneath her. She had hoped that, just for an instant, she would have been able to choke off the flow of energy, but she simply could not contain that much power. All that she was could not interrupt the flow of power for even an instant.
Very well--if she could not contain it, she would use it. She gathered together the energy that filled her to bursting and, without the focus necessary to give it form, cast it out all at once.
From the edge of the valley, where Ivy had finally been joined by her friends, the rest of the Chosen watched a shining ring of brilliance erupt out from the meeting of the lights.
The halo of light was filament-thin, but trailed light behind it as it spread. The sheer power of it threw its heat to the far ends of the mountainside. Where it met the obelisks, striking each at once, there was a flash that robbed all who watched of their vision. The segments of the ring that did not splash against the towers continued, passing through open air--then, unimpeded, through the mountains themselves.
The Book of Deacon Anthology Page 127
