Stormfront

by John Goode

  “What goes on here?” he asked in a voice that sounded like he was yelling, but he wasn’t. He was just talking and the sound carried like he had a megaphone. “Why do you attack these children?”

  Inmediares just stared at him dumbfounded, her mouth literally hanging open in shock.

  “Wait, I know you,” he said, squinting to look at her closely.

  “You can’t be here!” she screamed, erecting a magical barrier.

  “You’re one of the Fate girls,” he said, waving the barrier away like it was a persistent fly with no sense of personal space.

  “How…?” she asked. She knew she was screwed.

  “I told you, I shared the power,” I explained as Hawk helped me up.

  “What does that even matter?”

  “It matters because instead of just me giving the seed power, it was the entire town doing it. The problem with people like you is you all think power is finite and if you give some to someone else, you lose some, but you’re wrong. The more you give, the more you get back. True power isn’t to be hoarded.”

  Perfect Guy didn’t seem too thrilled with my speech, but he was more concerned with Inmediares. “A lesson she will have a good, long time to reflect on.” He gestured at Glinda and she reacted instantly.

  She erected a shield that took the brunt of the power as she opened a portal behind her.

  And then Woogie’s speech came to mind.

  “No!” I called to her. “You can’t jump through there, you’re not synced….”

  She just gave me a smile. “Nice try! This isn’t over.” She stepped through….

  And exploded.

  I mean literally exploded everywhere. Pieces of the witch were thrown across the park as the explosive force of the two universes collided in her portal. Most of the gore dissolved against Koran’s aura. He just stood there, uncaring about her fate.

  It was horrifying to watch while the portal slowly closed itself.

  And like that it was over.

  Olim and Demain were barely coming around, and Koran had a look of recognition on his face. “Where one goes, the others follow,” he said, raising his arm to gesture toward them.

  “No!” I said, moving between him and the sisters. “They helped.”

  He didn’t look outwardly angry, but I could see the rage starting to form in his eyes. “And they’re fugitives.”

  “And they have the right to choose their own lives,” I shot back, my human brain screaming at me to shut the hell up and let this one go.

  But I wasn’t just fighting for the sisters.

  “Your kind think it’s your job to see every part of our life and to intercede when you think we’ve messed up, but you’re wrong. Times have changed, we have changed. You can’t just lock people up and force them to do something. They will try to escape, and if they can’t, they’ll fight back.”

  “They’ll lose,” the guy said, the first flickers of emotion coming to his face.

  “Will they? You were the guy who was just sealed off from the lower dimensions for how long? And if Glinda had succeeded your realm would have been permanently severed from the others. You might want to redefine your definition of ‘lose.’”

  I could hear Hawk trying to calm me in my thoughts, but I was too worked up.

  “My mom had it right; this had to happen. You needed to see we can survive without you, and we needed to figure existence out without someone holding our hands. These women,” I said, pointing to Demain and Olim, who looked at me like I was insane, “they risked their lives to save the realms. You want to punish the guilty? Well, she just killed herself. But those two aren’t going anywhere unless they want to.”

  He said nothing for several seconds and then finally asked, “Or?”

  “Or what?”

  He looked directly at me, and I could feel the human part of me just fall over and die of fear. “Your insinuation is that if I try to take them, something I don’t want will occur. What will that be?”

  “You’ll have to get through me,” I said defiantly.

  “And you are?”

  “He is my friend,” Kor said, walking over to us.

  “Mine too,” Ater added, following him.

  Kor looked hesitant about arguing with this guy, but he went on. “He saved my life, my lord. He saved the realms, all of them.”

  Koran looked back at me again, and I knew he was looking with more than his eyes now. “You gave up the seed?” I nodded. “You are the reason the World Tree is back in alignment?” Another nod. “And you speak for those two?”

  I looked over at both sisters, who looked straight-up terrified to have Koran pissed at them. “I do.”

  He sighed and turned his back on them. “If you aren’t there when I turn back around, I suppose I never saw you.”

  Neither one of them wasted any time and vanished in a poof of magic.

  Ferra and Molly approached the park slowly, Jewel following behind them, looking exhausted.

  “So that’s it? It’s over?”

  The God looked over at me and gave me a rueful smile. “One thing you need to learn, young man, it’s never over. Ever.”

  Kor and Ater asked if they could talk to him alone, and they wandered off to speak.

  I turned around and Jewel nearly tackled me in a hug. “Oh my God, you’re alive!”

  I hugged her back and felt myself getting emotional. “Same to you.”

  Epilogue: The New Worlds’ Order

  “The Nine Realms are connected once more.

  Now to see if that’s a good thing or not.”

  Hawk’keen Maragold

  Prince of Arcadia

  JEWEL SAT on her couch and just stared at me.

  “You did all that?”

  I nodded as I glanced over at Hawk, who was trying not to look at his father, who huddled in the corner mumbling to himself. “That’s the TL:DR version, but basically, yeah.”

  “You did way more on your weekend than I did.”

  That made me really laugh, something I hadn’t done in a long time.

  “My weekend seemed like it lasted forever, so I multitasked.”

  “So which one is the red one?” she asked, pointing to Ruber and Caerus talking in the kitchen.

  “That’s Ruber. He’s the one who kept me alive.”

  “He seems upset,” she said in a low voice.

  Glancing over, I saw Ruber and Caerus floating alone speaking to each other in a language only they understood: the personal language of the Gems. “His dad died while we were doing all this. I don’t think he’s taking it all that well….” My voice wandered off. “Why would you say he seems upset? He doesn’t have a face.”

  She paused. “Um… he just seems upset.”

  Now I was curious. “So explain it to me, when did Oberon switch with you? Because he had the belt and his Soul Blade at the school, so that was him, right?”

  She nodded. “He’d already set it up that he could switch out with me if anything went wrong.”

  “So then before we took off, when the other me was fighting the beasts, that was you?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Jewel, have you ever read the Bible?”

  She opened her mouth to answer and then stopped.

  “And where do you know daevas from?”

  More silence.

  Changing the subject, she looked over at the kitchen. “My mom seems to be taking this all right.”

  Her mom was serving some sandwiches to Kor and Ater, who had been conversing about something in Elvish ever since Koran left to the higher realms.

  “They are easy on the eyes,” I said, letting the subject slide for now.

  “That and she has had a thing for Orlando Bloom since the first Rings movie.”

  That made both of us break up, and her dad glanced over at us with a raised eyebrow before going back to talking to Molly and Ferra. He seemed fascinated by the metal companion. I’m pretty sure he was about ten minutes from asking her to step
into his garage.

  “If he thinks that look works on me anymore, he is delusional,” I whispered to Jewel.

  “Yeah, big talk. If you meant it, you’d have said it louder.”

  She had a point.

  “So what now?” she asked, trying to hide the concern in her voice.

  I knew her question was coming. “He has to go back to stop his mom from raising an army to come back here to try to steal the tree all over again.”

  “He?” she asked, grabbing the only word in that sentence that mattered to her.

  “We.”

  “Kane, tell me you’re speaking French and said oui.”

  “Funny part is, French is really close to Elvish, except they don’t….”

  The look on her face made it clear she did not want my dissertation on the differences between French and Elvish. “Look, I have to go with him.”

  “Why? You have a life here, Kane.”

  “I used to,” I corrected her. Ignoring the look of hurt on her face, I pressed on. “I know it’s hard to explain, but we’re together, like really together. This isn’t a crush, and he isn’t just my boyfriend. We belong to each other. Literally belong; he has a piece of my soul and I have a piece of his, and if I had to stay here and do something, he would stay with me. He has to go back, and he has to stop his mother. That means I go too.”

  “So, what, you’re sort of married?”

  My first instinct was to say no, but then a much weirder answer came to mind.

  “Jewel, Hawk and I, we’re way past married.”

  She looked over at Hawk, who had not taken his gaze off Oberon. “Hey, pretty boy.”

  Hawk glanced over at her.

  “You break his heart, I break your face.”

  I could feel his irritation at first, but then he cocked his head and gave her a smile. “So in this instance you’re Watts?”

  The look of shock on her face was priceless.

  “I can no more hurt him than I can hurt myself, and even then, I wouldn’t. You needn’t worry, Jewel. I would die before I let harm come to him.”

  “Wow! He’s good!” she said, just looking at Hawk with naked admiration.

  “Yeah, my boy has some game.”

  “What about Athens? What if someone besides his mom comes for the tree?”

  “The people will protect it. The ones that have changed.”

  “Hey, yeah what’s up with that?” she said, slapping my chest. “You’re passing out superpowers and skip your best friend?”

  “You were not skipped,” Ruber said, floating over, Caerus following behind.

  I agreed with him. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.”

  “How do you know?” she asked, sounding more curious than afraid.

  “You have an aura about you now, a magical one. What your abilities are, I have no idea, but I assure you, you’ve changed.”

  Caerus floated closer. “What my brother is trying to say is that you have magic around you now. How it will manifest, no one knows until it does.”

  Jewel looked at her hands. “I’m magic?”

  I nudged her shoulder. “You always were.”

  She gestured at me and said. “Wingardium Leviosa!”

  Nothing happened.

  “It’s not Harry Potter, dummy,” I said, moving her hands down. “Don’t push it. It will come to you.”

  “You’re coming back, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Promise?”

  I held up a hand. “I solemnly swear.”

  She nudged me back.

  “We need to talk with you about something,” Ruber said.

  “Me?” I asked.

  “No, with her,” he said, looking at Jewel.

  She paused, looking at me. “What did I do now?”

  It was a good question.

  “SO AT the end?” Ruber asked without asking.

  Caerus waited a few seconds before answering. “Honestly I don’t think he even knew who we were. He was in pain, Ruber. You have to trust that it was for the best.”

  If the ruby did, he didn’t say so. “So now….”

  “Now our people need a leader,” she finished for him.

  “I agree, and I think it should be you.”

  It was a good thing gemlings did not have facial expressions, because if they had, Caerus’s would have been one of outright shock. “What? No!”

  “Why? You’re the logical choice.”

  “No, Ruber, I’m not.”

  “Lates? He’s far too young to be taken seriously, and I can’t imagine the chaos if we went outside the royal line.”

  “I mean you.”

  “You’re joking.”

  “I’m not. Look, you think I am the logical choice, but you’re wrong. I don’t know anything about the outside worlds; all I know are my books and stories. You’ve been out here, you’ve learned from them. You are the only one who can bring our people into the future and you know it.”

  Ruber began to argue, but she talked over him.

  “I loved Father to death, but his ideas that we should withdraw from the realms and the people were wrong. We need to get out there again, and you are the only one who can convince them of that because you’ve been there.”

  He was no longer arguing.

  “Our people could have prevented some of this if we had actual connections with the other realms instead of just spying on them. We owe it to ourselves and everyone else to step up and be a part of the new world order. You can do that.”

  “And you?” he asked.

  Now it was her turn to grow silent. Finally she said, “I am going to stay here.”

  “No,” he said instantly.

  “Yes,” she shot back. “I love you, oh brother of mine, but you will not tell me what to do with my life.”

  “Even if I’m king?”

  “Weren’t you the one who convinced me that the king has no right to do so?”

  Sighing, Ruber looked out at the living room, where everyone else was dealing with recent events. “I hate being right.”

  “There’s never been anything like this. Earth is going to have magic back after thousands of years. How long will it be, if it ever happens, before we ever get another chance to observe and record that up close? And more important even than observing and recording, they will need guidance with someone who understands magical abilities. I can help them. You’re the leader, Ruber. I just want to learn.”

  “Well, I am not leaving you here alone. You’re going to need someone who can explain their world to you and at the same time who you can trust to advise you correctly.”

  “Who?” she asked.

  Ruber looked at Kane talking to Jewel, and he knew the answer.

  “Follow me.”

  “WHAT DO we do?” Kor asked Ater in Elvish.

  Ater wished he had an answer. “I don’t know. Hawk and Kane have a kingdom to save; I don’t know if we should even ask them.”

  “We can’t do this by ourselves.”

  “I know,” Ater said bitterly.

  “We can go back to Evermore, ask for help there.”

  “Do you really want to see Nystel right now? With that on your back?” Ater asked, looking at the bow on Kor’s back. It was made of a wood never seen outside of the Higher Realms and the runes carved into it would be indecipherable to anyone who wasn’t A Being. But if they could read them, they would be shocked to learn they said that whoever had possession of this bow was to be considered the chosen one of Koran, high father of all elves and was to be given all respect and consideration as if he were Koran himself.

  Koran had given it to Kor as a symbol that he was the god’s chosen one and his word was to be followed above all others. For Kor it was so much more than a weapon, it was a symbol of his undying faith that his God loved all his people.

  “No, that’s not a fight I want to get into yet,” Kor admitted.

  “Past that, if you walk into Evermore with that, you will be their leader. You
can’t just show up, ask for volunteers, and then leave. You’ll have an obligation to your people.”

  “Our people,” Kor corrected him.

  “Please, like they will ever accept my kind.”

  “They will when I tell them Koran wants them to,” Kor said with conviction. “The time for us to be divided is over. When I do go back, I will lead them as Koran wants me to. Fairly and without judgment, but first….”

  “But first we have a problem,” Ater finished for him.

  “We’re going to need help,” Kor said, voicing what neither one of them wanted to say. “We have to at least ask.”

  Seeing the gems and Kane talking, Ater knew Kor was right.

  “All right, but you know what we’re doing, right?” he asked, getting up from the table.

  Kor gave him a huge smile. “I do. We’re counting on the kindness of strangers.”

  Ater rolled his eyes. “You’re going to be insufferable, aren’t you?”

  Kor patted him on the back. “Why stop now?”

  I LISTENED while Ruber asked Kane’s friend if she would be her guide to Earth for a while.

  It sounded like a good idea, but like everything else, it was making me insane about the amount of time we were wasting. Once the Woogie found a way to bring my mother back, she would waste no time in gathering troops to retrieve the tree. I needed to return and take control of the lands before she was restored. With both Oberon and her out of commission, the throne would fall to me, and I could stop all of this before….

  “Hawk?”

  I looked up and saw everyone looking at me.

  “Did I miss something?”

  “Ater needs to ask us something,” Kane said out loud. In my mind, he added, “I know we need to get going. Promise I’ll wrap it up.”

  I smiled and nodded at Ater. “My mind wandered. What’s going on?”

  “We need to talk to you all outside,” he said, sounding as concerned as I had ever heard him before.

  Kane looked at his friend, and she nodded. “Go on, I’ll get to know Caerus here.”

  We walked outside the house, and I tried not to look impatient. Molly and Ferra stood next to Ruber who was unusually quiet.

  “I know you are eager to get back,” Ater started. “But Koran told us something… I mean….”