“More than you can count, boy. It doesn’t matter what you do to me. Troian will destroy you.”
“Funny how he hasn’t come to help you yet. Maybe he is just as scared as you are.”
“I’ll never be scared of someone as insignificant as you.”
I circled behind him where his swords wouldn’t be an issue. To make sure of that fact, I brought both of my blades down on his shoulder joints. His arms fell away as he howled in pain. I didn’t want to kill him, at least not yet. The people needed to see that they could, in fact, hurt these creatures. I moved up closely behind him, and his struggles stopped as he sensed me. The stumps of his arms had already stopped bleeding.
“Maybe you should be afraid of me,” I whispered into his ear. “I could cut off your legs and leave you here for these people's amusement.”
His struggles started again, and his howls of protest continued. I looked around at the people and saw a glimmer of hope in their eyes. It wouldn’t do me any good to sink to the level of the demon. As much as I wanted him to suffer, this had to be quick.
“In a matter of moments, you will be free from this demon's reign of terror. What you do with your newfound freedom is up to you.” I sliced the demon's head off. I wiped my blades clean on his clothes, using some snow to wash the blood off of my hands. As I stood, the demon burst into flames, and the ash swirled around for a moment before being blown down the street by a gust of wind. A hush fell over the crowd, and then it turned into a concerned whisper. Troian was here.
I turned, not sure of what I would see. I was surprised that he was just another demon in a meat suit. Granted, this meat suit was seven feet tall and wrapped in four hundred pounds of muscle. I knew why the people here feared him. I wouldn’t be cowed so easily. I’d fought bigger and badder and won.
Troian strode into the courtyard we were in. It might have been my imagination, but the ground seemed to shake with his passing. He scanned the people milling around, seemingly memorizing all of their faces for later abuses. The people started to shift back and forth. Hushed whispers faded away into silence. The confidence they had felt at Trevor’s demise was quickly being replaced with fear. I could tell they were about to break, and I couldn’t let that happen. Before I could speak, Troian’s voice washed over us.
“Is there not work to be done?” His gaze moved over the assembled crowd. “I suggest you get back to it.”
The crowd started to waver, and a few people slipped away. I couldn’t blame them. They had grown up living a life of fear. A life where the slightest provocation would be met with violence or worse. I hadn’t grown up that way, and this demon represented everything that I hated about our world. It was as if all of our worst attributes, our darkest desires, were used to twist and create these creatures. They knew nothing else and wanted nothing more.
Alone, I walked forward to stand in front of the giant. It felt like a picture of David and Goliath. He made me feel small and insignificant. That wouldn’t last for long. “None of these people work for you anymore. This village is free.”
“Go back to work, pretty boy.” He smiled. “Go now, before I stomp you into the ground and take you back in chains to my bed.”
“Ask me how that worked out for Trevor.” I knelt down and scooped a handful of ashes from the ground and tossed them into the air. The giant looked around at the people, and the sincerity of my words finally came to weigh heavily on his shoulders.
“Your time of triumph ends here, little man.”
He reached behind him and pulled a giant sword out of its sheath. The blade whispered softly as it was pulled from the rough leather. It looked like something out of Final Fantasy. The blade was huge and probably weighed as much as him. There wouldn’t be any stopping the power that came from that kind of strike. While his blade wouldn’t be able to break through my swords, it would be enough to send me flying or break my wrists. This was going to have to be a different kind of fight. I was tempted not to use my magic. I wanted the people to know they could stand for themselves, but that cat was already out of the bag. So this monster was going to be on the receiving end of everything I had.
The demon roared and started to charge toward me. I cast a quick fireball at his face. He dropped his sword and started to beat his hands against his singed skin and hair. When he looked back up, his face was burned and all of his facial hair was gone. He roared again, and I sent another fireball at him. He raised his arms and crossed them in front of his face to deflect the flames. Before he could lower them, I closed the gap between us. The look of surprise on his face when I slammed my swords into his gut was almost priceless.
I pulled both swords to the side as the demon cried out. His intestines slipped out, and he tried to catch them and shove them back in. I hit him with another fireball. Troian couldn’t block the fire in time, and the smell of cooking flesh almost forced me to retch. I needed to end this quickly now, or else I would look just as sadistic as the demons.
I sheathed my swords and started spinning some air magic in my hand. As the little tornado grew in intensity, I poured fire into it. The fire started to almost sparkle as the wind from the tornado fed it. The oxygen poured into the flames. That was the thing about fire—it was always hungry. I ran forward. The demon’s eyes focused on my own. He had given up completely, and I knew it. Even if he hadn’t, there was no stopping me now. I slammed my fist into the open wound on his stomach and let the magic go.
The result was spectacular. His body blew apart as if a chunk of C4 had gone off inside of him. Flaming bits of demon showered down around the square. I was covered in gore from head to foot. Magnus rushed out of the crowd and hit me with a pail of water, washing off the worst of the gore, but more importantly, it made me look less frightening. The chill started to set in almost immediately. He wrapped an arm around me, leading me inside as the people began to cheer. They chanted redeemer over and over again.
“Let’s get you cleaned up and on your way,” Magnus said with a smile.
“And food. Don’t forget the food.”
“It will be waiting when you’re done.”
He shoved me into the same room I had occupied before. There was a new set of clothes lying on the bed. Damn, that man was always prepared. I stepped out of my filthy and torn clothes—they had lasted all of half a day—and I stepped into the shower. The warm water felt good; it almost felt as good as seeing the hope on those people’s faces.
For better or worse, I was the redeemer, and these people needed me. By the end of the day, another prince would fall regardless of if I was any closer to going home or not. I missed April, and the thought of her being held by the demons threatened to destroy what little of myself there was left. I needed to get home to know that she was safe.
The realization that I might never get home had finally started to settle in. If I was never going to get home again, then I was going to make these demons pay with everything that they had. I would kill every prince I could find and, eventually, the man in the cloak. Once that was done, maybe I could start a new life somewhere. I hoped it never came to that. Deep down, I knew I would always long for the world I had left behind.
Chapter Fifteen
Jackson
The next six demons went down in almost the exact same fashion. None of them had ever picked a fight with someone who had more power than they did. It made them arrogant and weak and, best of all for me, easy to beat. The leaders from the villages met me for one last meeting and assured me that what I requested from them would be done.
Magnus walked with me to the edge of the last village and stopped. “This is where I leave you for now,” he said, extending his hand.
“It’s been a pleasure, Magnus. Stay safe, and I’m counting on you.”
“We will be there, Redeemer. I promise you.”
“I know you won’t let me down.” I shook his hand again and started trudging up the path through the snow. The walk would give me some time to think about what was coming ne
xt. I wanted to go home, but it felt like the work I was doing here was so important. The only thing that would have made it better was if my friends and family were here to help me.
Thoughts of April continued to come unbidden to my mind. I had left things messy when I went after my dad. She couldn’t have felt much better about the situation now that she was in the demons clutches herself. There came a point when enough small lies could snowball into something you couldn’t stop from breaking you. I hoped that while she was with demons she remembered what we really had together and not the last few weeks before I left. Unless I found a way home and a way to rescue her, I’d never know.
Marcus hadn’t fared much better. The last time I had seen him, he had been unconscious. When that building blew up, I thought he was dead for sure. Having to leave him lying on the street was one of the hardest things I had ever done. If anyone had a right to be pissed at me, it was him.
Then there was Britta. I had used her just like all of the others. Just because she used me didn’t give me the right to use her guilt over that to get what I wanted. We had finally reached a place where she seemed to understand that we were never getting back together, and then I used that lure of friendship to get what I needed from her.
Over the last couple of weeks, I hadn’t been the friend they deserved. I definitely didn’t feel like a hero. People here looked up to me because I was liberating them. Little did they know who their hero really was. I didn’t know if I could fix the things I had already done. All I could do now was try and be better. I wanted to get home. I needed the chance to prove to everyone who I really was. Whatever I was, it wasn’t the man who led me to this place.
The trees started to thin out, and the wind picked up, snapping me out of my self-recriminations. Maybe this was my chance to finally get home, or maybe it was just going to end with another demon trick. A large cave opened up into the top of the mountain. The entrance had to be two hundred feet high. Sharp shards of ice dangled from the opening, and a few larger spikes rose from the ground. It made the entrance look almost like a mouth. If there had ever been such a thing as an ice dragon, this was exactly where it would have lived.
Nothing jumped out or tried to stop me from walking forward, so I continued to move closer to the cave. The last few trees fell behind, and now all that separated me from the entrance was a mile of open snow. There would be no hiding my presence from the prince inside. I could already feel his power. I wondered if he could feel mine.
Three-quarters of the way to the cave, a roar erupted from inside the cavern. Some of the jagged icicles and a smattering of snow broke free from the top and fell to the ground. Seconds later, another roar sounded. It was louder and seemed to be moving closer. When the third roar sounded, a giant blue and white shape rushed out of the cavern. Wings made of crystallized ice spread from the demon’s back as it took flight.
The demon flew over my head and then climbed into the air. The ice covering its body shimmered in the muted sunlight before it plunged back toward the earth. A cloud of snow cascaded into the air as the demon landed. The snow fell gently down around us, and nothing happened for a moment. It hadn’t escaped my notice that the demon had placed the cave at my back, essentially cutting off any viable means of escape.
The massive demon was crouched down, its wings of ice shielding its body. The wings slowly unfurled around him as he stood. He stretched out to his full height, easily twelve feet tall. What was with these princes? Had they all eaten their Wheaties as a kid or something? He shook some loose ice shards from his body and stretched his wings before pulling them behind him. I couldn’t tell if he was made from ice or just using it as armor. If we weren’t about to battle to the death, I might have been tempted to say he was beautiful.
“It seems that it is my turn, little sorcerer. I doubt you will find me as easy to kill as my brethren.”
“Why? Because you glitter in the sunlight?”
A deep chuckle emanated from somewhere inside the demon’s armored suit of ice. “Because the closer you get to the center of our realms, the stronger we become.”
“I have news for you. It works the same way for me.”
“Impossible.”
“Whatever you say, big guy. Let’s do this.”
The prince’s scream rang out with the setting of the sun. The light twinkled briefly off of his armor. Claws of ice extended from his hands as he rushed forward. I created a wall of fire in front of me, forcing him to move to the side. Since he was made of ice, or close enough to it, fire seemed like my best option. The demon prince rushed around the corner of my wall, and I hit him with a fireball. The flames sizzled against his armor, melting some of it, but he continued to charge straight for me.
Dodging around him, I dove back through my wall of fire, creating a small opening in the flames for myself. I heard the demon let out a growl of frustration. I tried the same trick again, but this time, the demon tore through my wall of fire, willing to take the pain if it meant killing me. His icy claws came down toward me, and flames erupted from my body. He fell back, screaming, but the blow still landed. The claws of ice had melted, but there was still enough power behind that blow to send me flying.
After I finished rolling through the snow, I stood, stripping off my tattered jacket. Clothes never seemed to last long around me. The demon stood twenty feet away. His armor had been twisted into something else as it had melted and refroze around him. If anything, it looked more dangerous than before. Small spikes had formed as the ice froze. The prince unfurled his wings and flapped them a few times before charging toward me.
He used his wings almost like an alligator used its tail. He pushed the air around him to launch himself forward with astonishing speed. I used my earth magic to tether me to the ground and created a lance of pure fire in front of me. It was too late for the demon to change directions as the lance burst to life in front of him. The white hot flames tore through his icy armor and erupted from his back. The demon sagged to the ground as the flames winked out.
I was pretty sure one of my legs was broken. Taking that charge might not have been the smartest thing I had ever done. The bones were already knitting themselves back together, and I stumbled slightly as I stepped forward. The prince had fared far worse. Black blood poured from the wound in his chest. Even his icy exterior couldn’t stop the flow of it. I didn’t have long to get what I wanted from him.
“Open a portal home for me, and I will let you live.” The demon’s mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. The lance must have burned through one of his lungs. I was lucky that he was even alive, let alone still in command of enough power to open a portal. A portal opened in front of me. The black tendrils were snapping against the pale sky as the sun continued to set. Behind the prince, I could see the torches just starting to come out of the forest.
It seemed Magnus had lived up to his word. The villagers had risen up, and they were ready to end this. I blasted the prince with another wave of fire and hopped into the portal. I hoped that would be enough to buy the villagers the time they needed to end his life. It had to be enough, or they would suffer more than they ever had before.
The feeling of falling surrounded me again. I had no idea if I was going home or to another level of hell. It wasn’t as if you could trust a demon. The blackness started to fade in and out. I dropped to the ground on my knees. At least I was on solid ground again. Something about traveling that way always left me feeling slightly nauseous. It wasn’t like the portals we used to get around back home. Maybe it was, because these seemed to be interdimensional.
I almost didn’t want to open my eyes. The thought of not being home again weighed down on me. It was almost an unbearable burden. Despite the good I was doing, I still didn’t feel complete. I needed my family and my friends to feel whole. If being a hero meant that I had to be alone, then you could shove that title in a little box and drop it to the bottom of the ocean.
A blast of heat washed over me, and I could
n’t take the suspense anymore. I opened my eyes and looked around. Nope, this definitely wasn’t home. It took a moment for the rage and frustration to wash away. Time to find another prince to kill.
Chapter Sixteen
Lucky, 371 A.D.
Do you feel the power coursing through you?
“I do.” It still felt weird to talk with the being inside of me. It almost felt as if I was talking to myself. I wondered if any of the other people I had seen in the slums were doing the same thing. I doubt it; none of them could have pulled off what I did three days ago. Since then, my other half had been teaching me to use the power we had stolen. It was fucking incredible.
I could do things no human should be able to do. It was so remarkable, that I was starting to wonder if I was even human anymore. The damn wizard had power, but I had the power of three of them coursing through me now. The other two died just as easily, with looks of confusion on their faces as they burst into dust. Each time one of them released their power, I grew stronger, and with that came the need to do it again. How many would have to die before I was finished scratching that itch?
Now focus on where you want to go. Think of a spot and hold it in your mind’s eye.
That was easy enough. I was done here, and as much as I wanted to go home, Paris was the city that called out to me. I could picture myself there now, looking out on the river from inside the palace walls. It was a beautiful sight, one that had held my attention since my brief visit.
Now recite the words, and I will move your hands.
The meaningless words tumbled from my lips. I didn’t remember learning them, but when I called on them, they came just as easily. My hands moved, and it felt almost as if I was watching someone else instead of doing it myself. As the words stopped, my right arm moved up so my hand was above my head, and then it violently came down almost to my knees.
Redemption (Ascendancy Legacy 6) Page 13
