“What is that for?” I asked.
“For me to drink,” he answered. “In order for this ritual to work, it needs two sacrifices. One to power the Staff and one to give up magic for the spell. I will drink this and transfer my soul into the staff. It will be up to you to transfer all your power into the spell. Bring me the staff.”
I grabbed it and handed it to him. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“You are powerful enough,” Keeper Anderson said. “That is why I recruited you. You are probably the most powerful Mage in the Tower. Not even Gerth can cover himself completely in scales AND still use spells. Don’t ever doubt your powers.”
“Thanks,” I said. “But that’s not what I meant.”
The Keeper took a deep breath and looked me in the eyes. “This is bigger then you or me. I know your sacrifice is great but remember I’m sacrificing my life too. This IS the right thing to do. I wish it could be different but it isn’t. I trust you to make the right decision.”
He gripped the staff tightly and the tip started to glow brightly. Looking down at the cup, Keeper Anderson took a couple of deep breaths before drinking it down in one swallow. He made some faces and threw away the cup.
“Tastes terrible,” he said.
He grew pale as his body jerked like he was going to throw up. He opened his mouth and with a last breath, a light blue mist left his body and transferred into the staff. The Keeper’s body dropped to the ground and I grabbed the staff before it could fall. I looked down at the lifeless body of the Keeper.
‘I trust you to make the right decision’. Is there even a right decision?
You’ll have to trust your gut on this one, Cathy said.
What am I going to tell the others?
Nothing, Cathy answered. Not until you’ve made a decision.
Okay.
Andy, I... Cathy stalled then sighed. We’ll talk more after you make it out of the Tower. We can’t keep your friends waiting.
I slid the staff between my pack and back, put the ritual page in my pocket and headed for the door. The carnage on the stairs had grown in my absence and I hurried down the stairs towards Hector and Vanessa. When I passed Master Baker’s body, I stopped to look for Gerth. He lay motionless in a circle of dead Mages and I moved on. There was nothing that could be done there.
I arrived to where I had left Hector and Vanessa and stared in shock at the carnage in front of me. Bodies covered almost the entire ground as a slow moving Master Larose walked with many swords floating by him. The swords lashed out at anyone that got close to him before returning to his side.
I looked around and found the partially charred body of Hector lying on top of a pile of bodies. A cough alerted me to the battered body of Vanessa in the corner by the stairs. I raced over to her and crouched down to begin healing.
“Don’t...bother,” she forced out. “Need...to say...I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “Let me heal you.”
She shook her head slightly. “I’m...already dead. Just a matter...of time. After Binds of Silence...regret actions. Tried...too hard...to impress Greg. I’m sorry.”
I looked down at her as she barely clung to life. “You are forgiven. We all make mistakes.”
“Thank you,” she breathed as she closed her eyes.
She passed away peacefully in front of my eyes and I couldn’t look away. I had hated her for her torment for years and in such a short time she had managed to redeem herself. She helped me get through the Tower and held onto life just so she could apologise. I held her hand for a second and whispered goodbye before standing up. Just like Lily, the Tower has claimed another good person with its lies. I needed to get out of here.
Larose’s carnage lay before me and I followed it to the stairs. I watched him get to the stairs at the next level and I took the stairs down as far as I could go. With the path mostly cleared out on the way up, I focused on using Illusion to make my way from staircase to staircase.
The remaining Spirit Mages had been overrun by a group of four possessed Mages. They turned to me and I covered myself in scales except for one hand covered in Ice. As the possessed Mages sent their little Fire Balls, I swatted them away until I was close enough to charge.
I caught one in the face with an uppercut and back handed another. One tried to mimic my Ice Fist spell and blocked my attack. I surprised him with a kick to the gut before punching him in the head as he hunched over.
The last Mage sent a steady stream of Ice at me and I covered my head with my scaled hand. Reaching out with my other hand as the Ice melted, a launched a Fire Ball that blasted through the Ice and covered the Mage. I turned away as he dropped and headed for the stairs.
On the classroom level, Teacher Jarvis had been killed as the remaining possessed Apprentices fought in the hallway. I ducked into the closest classroom and followed the holes I created to get to the staircase on the other side. With a small Illusion spell, I slipped by them and ran down the stairs.
The Apprentice Quarters were deserted and I didn’t even break stride as I headed from one staircase to another. When my feet touched the ground floor, it was a different story. Walking the hallway towards the stairs was Master Pryce, white eyes and all.
“Where do you think YOU’RE going?” he asked as I removed the staff from my back.
“Out,” I answered as I pointed it at him.
He threw up a shield and I sent a massive Pulse his way. The sheer force of it launched Pryce through the nearest wall. I ran for the front door, not interested to see if he was alive.
It wouldn’t be that easy, Cathy said.
He and everyone else will be dead in a minute.
I left the building and ran to a comfortable distance before pointing the staff at the Tower. I grabbed the ritual page from my pocket and got ready to start it. I performed the Stasis spell and a dark blue beam shot from the end of the staff and engulfed the Tower.
“Now we have time to think,” I said.
So, what are you going to do? Cathy asked.
“I don’t know,” I answered. “I’m not prepared to destroy magic. Not when it has been so helpful to me.”
But we can’t be selfish about this, Cathy said. The Keeper was right about some things.
“I know,” I said. “I’m shocked that you would feel this way.”
Trust me when I say I am not happy with how this turned out, Cathy said. Living in your head has been simply a dream come true. I got to experience life, even if I am just a passenger. I don’t want to throw this away, or even remove the option of ever coming back. That is why I can’t help you make this decision. This is too important and I can’t let my feeling sway your decision.
“By doing this, I am sacrificing my life too,” I said.
A necessary sacrifice according to your Keeper, Cathy said. One that will give a new start to the world.
“If the world needs a new start, it needs to get rid of the Tower,” I said. “How many good people have died today in there because of a few evil minded people? How many good people will be saved because we remove the Tower’s influence? We don’t need to destroy magic; we need to destroy the Tower. We can give the good Mages in the world, the Lily’s and the Vanessa’s, a chance to prove that magic can help everyone.”
So there are you choices: destroy the Tower or destroy Magic, Cathy said. Which will help people the most?
“Destroying the Tower,” I answered without doubt. “The Nao can protect the forest, the Evenawks have a second chance to prove themselves and the Humans are free to govern themselves.”
Then do it, Cathy said.
I looked over the ritual page. The spell called for a ball of energy about thirty centimetres in diameter. If I did half of the power, it would be enough to banish the Tower to the Spirit Plain but not send out the Pulse. I pocketed the page and gripped the staff with both hands.
My hands grew itchy and I focused my power as the ritual described. A glowing orb s
tarted growing in the middle of the blue stream from my staff. It grew slowly as I pushed more and more power into it. The staff started trembling as the orb grew to ten centimetres. With each additional centimetre, I grew more and more drained. The staff was started to tremble uncontrollably and when it hit fifteen, I released it. The orb travelled into the Tower and the ground started shaking. A light shone through the windows growing brighter by the second. The orb travelled back into the staff.
Smash it into the ground! Cathy exclaimed.
I raised the staff above my head and slammed it into the ground. A crack raced from the staff to the Tower and the Tower exploded the same time as the staff did. I was launched off my feet.
There was a sharp pain in the back of my head a moment before everything went black.
Epilogue
I opened my eyes slowly and the world refocused itself. The night sky stared down at me and I sat up and rubbed the back of my head. My hair was sticky and as I pulled away my hand it saw it was covered in blood. I put my hand back and focused some power to heal the wound.
Are you alright in there?
Cathy groaned. I’ve been better.
I looked at where the Tower used to be. All that remained was a giant distortion in the air, the wavy lines of reality stretching from the ground to the full height of where the Tower had been. The Tower really was banished to the Spirit Plain and I still had magic.
“We did it,” I smiled as dragged myself to my feet.
It’s about time you became excited about mass murder, Cathy said as I noticed a shard from my staff. I picked it up and pocketed it as a memento.
“I don’t know if it counts as mass murder when everybody was already dead or dying,” I said.
I’m just screwing with you, Cathy said happily. I’ve had to be good for too long because your stress levels were high and you needed to focus. Now that it’s over, the fun can begin.
I chuckled. “Alright but first we should decide what’s next.”
Easy, Cathy said. We find a bandit camp and slaughter everyone. Because, you know, you are into mass murder now.
I laughed. “I thought you would be ecstatic by the Tower’s defeat and me saving magic. What’s with calling me a murderer?”
It’s a compliment and I am happy, she replied. Why do you think I want to kill someone as a celebration?
“After our little adventure, I say it is time for a break,” I said. “Aaron’s farm is close by. We should check on the lovebirds.”
Yes and see if I was correct about them, Cathy said excited. If I’m right and they’ve broken up, we attack a small bandit camp, if you’re correct, we’ll do what you want.
“Deal,” I said turning my back to the distortion and walking away. “Though I’d probably choose the bandit camp thing too.”
I knew you wouldn’t hold out on me, Cathy said.
With the Tower’s destruction, Kalenden wasn’t going to be the same. I couldn’t bring myself to destroy magic as the Keeper wanted but I did the next best thing. The number of Mages left would be manageable and the four provinces would be free to do their business as they saw fit.
I felt like I had done the right thing. But only time would tell…
The Tower Of The Watchful Eye: The Legend Of Kairu Book 1 Page 34
