He didn't resist me.
"I still hate you, kid," I heard in my mind. "But I hate him more."
Malize was on his feet. He stretched a hand out towards me, and I felt the push of his power. I caught it, met it, and turned it around, drawing from a well that seemed infinitely deep. He stumbled back, and then recovered with a smile.
"I had hoped to keep you out of this," he said.
"You knew this might happen," I replied, throwing the gun towards him.
"Balance."
He launched towards me, his entire body changing as he approached.
I focused, casting the power out at his growing mass of dark strength. He fell straight down, once more in human form. He looked up at me.
"I've destroyed one of you already, and you're using the same power. You can't beat me." He swiped his hand to the left, and one of the pedestals flew towards me from the side. I should have been thrown across the room, but I planted my feet and hardened myself. It crumbled against me.
"Do you know why he could't beat you?" I asked. I brought the sword to bear, stepping in towards him and bringing it down. He caught it in his hand and snapped it in half.
"Why?" His face was right next to mine, our eyes locked.
"He didn't have a good enough reason to live."
I focused, pushing against him. The power sent a shockwave through the air that shattered the glass of every display case in the room. Malize flew backwards, slamming into the rear wall and dropping to the ground. I didn't hesitate to chase after him.
He was on his feet again before I could get there. His eyes flared with white energy, and he threw his hands out towards me. I couldn't overpower it this time, and I found myself on my back.
"Erus wanted to be a god. I am a god where I come from, Landon. When I'm done with you, I'll be a god here as well."
I rolled away from the blast of power that drove a deep hole into the marble floor, spinning fast enough for the momentum to bring me to my feet. I could feel my power growing even now, the spigot opened fully. I skipped towards him, catching his waist with my arms and powering ahead. We blasted through the wall of the Museum together, and out into the street. Except there was no street, just cold, empty ground. The entire world was burning in blue flame, dark clouds, lightning and wind. Malize used my shock to slam my back, knocking me down.
"The Box can't handle this much power," he said, hovering above me. "You'll destroy your world In your effort to stop me."
I had no choice. I shot up at him, my own energy dancing from my fingertips. It lanced out, catching him off-guard. He screamed in pain and recovered, firing back with his own power.
We circled like that, rising up and up into the Box's atmosphere, into the heavy clouds filled with our warring energy. I strained against the force of his power, and he strained against the force of mine. We traded blows, we ebbed and flowed like the tide. We were evenly matched. Balanced. All of Ross' power versus all of his.
The world around us began to shake.
"You'll kill us all, Landon," Malize said. "Submit, and I'll spare your life, and Charis'. Of all of your kind, I always intended to keep her safe."
I felt like I was burning alive, the power coursing through me reaching its upper limits. I was on fire. I was drenched in ice. I was drowning and suffocating and overwhelmed. I couldn't lose, not like this. We both knew it.
I also couldn't win.
It was a simple decision, made in the height of my pain and in the desperation of distant hope. I let it go. I let all of it go. I dropped my guard, and his power dug into me, lacing me with pain and forcing every part of my soul to cry out in horror. He stopped attacking, and followed me down as I went into free-fall, riding from the heights towards the welcoming ground below.
I closed my eyes and thought of Josette, her plain face and soft smile, her bright and shining heart of pure goodness.
I thought of Ulnyx, my antagonistic conscience, putting the truth before me and pummeling me with it like a blunt instrument.
I thought of Dante, sending me off from my demise to protect the world from dangers we had all underestimated.
I thought of Sarah, of her strength and resolve, and the battle I hoped she would always win.
I thought of Obi, the truest friend I had ever had.
Last, I thought of Charis. I had never truly loved before. I hadn't even known what it meant. She had opened my eyes to everything, in more ways than I could count.
There was one other person, one who I had almost forgotten about. I didn't really know what to make of her, or what to feel or think. She was an afterthought, a piece of my existence I had believed settled.
She was the reason I was going to win.
I hit the ground hard, but I didn't even feel it. Every part of me was already in so much pain, there was nothing left to add. I looked up at Malize, who landed softly at my side and knelt down beside me.
He reached out towards my forehead. "We can only be what we are, Landon."
"I can't believe you fell for that," Rebecca said from behind him.
It was the slightest distraction, but it was what I had been waiting for. I reached up and grabbed Malize's head, twisting it and breaking his neck.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Landon
His body fell on top of me, his eyes still open. I could see the power swimming in them. I could almost hear it calling out to me. Rebecca came and knelt at my side, but I ignored her. I lifted my hand and put it to Malize's forehead.
I touched his power.
I took it in.
"Landon, are you okay?" Rebecca asked. Her voice was far away, and growing more distant.
The entire universe of the Box opened up to me as I connected Ross' power to Malize's. I drew it in, and in doing so was revived. I didn't so much stand up as drift to my feet, and then further upward. I floated into the air once more, into the roiling clouds of wayward energy, into the hurricane of unstable power. I held my arms out and commanded it still, and it responded.
I could see everything now. Every line of power that held the Box together, every calculation, every note. I had sensed Rebecca below me right before I had fallen, and had guessed right that Malize was too concerned with me to notice. Now I could feel Charis, the dying energy of the demon Samael, and even those who were gathered in a ring around this place. Malize's energy reached into the Box from the clandestine white star at the top of the prison, the astral glow that I had seen but not understood. It connected this universe to that one, and was the secret sauce to his ingress. Take Ross' power, mix it with his own, and carry both out of the Box and into our world. The truth of it was staggering.
The same option was available to me.
The power of a god, or maybe even two. Enough to challenge God, if that was what I desired. It was certainly enough to keep both sides at rest for all of eternity, and I would never need to lift more than a finger to do it.
I looked down to where Rebecca was standing, gazing up at me. I re-ordered the world. I took away the clouds, I took away the emptiness. I put us in Dante's garden, where the roses shifted in the breeze and a trickling brook poured serenity into a small pond. I lowered myself to the ground, walked past Rebecca and into the mansion, to where Charis was waiting for me.
She was kneeling over Clara, cradling her head in her lap.
"What did you do?" she asked me.
"What do you mean? It's over. We won."
"You killed her."
"Ch..." I started to argue, but we'd had this fight already. "I know. I'm sorry. It was the only way."
Her anger lessened. Not her pain, but her anger. "Malize?"
"Gone. The Beast is gone. I can get us out of here. I can do anything, now. I have their power. All of it." It was strange to say. I couldn't even fathom the depths of what I had under my control.
"Can you bring her back?"
I could, in this place. Maybe I could have even made her real out there. What kind of thing would she be? W
hat kind of life would she live?
"No."
She leaned down and kissed Clara's forehead, and then stood. "Where will she go?"
"She'll always be part of us." I put my arms around her, holding her tight while she sobbed into my shoulder. I don't know how much time passed, but eventually she pulled away and wiped her eyes.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
We kissed. A simple kiss, basic and plain, a sharing of affection and understanding. I hated that it had to end. I hated the understanding that it gave me.
"Charis... I can't."
"You have to."
"Why?"
"I'm tired, Landon. Finished. I gave everything I had to being a Templar, to protecting the world from the Beast. Only, it wasn't just the Beast, was it? Everything I was fighting for was a lie."
"You mean Malize? Without him, Ross would have destroyed everything a long time ago. He told me he wanted to make God fight, but He does fight. He fights with the free will He gave His creations. He allows us to make our own decisions, and forge our own destiny. Malize knew he might lose. Hell, he gave me everything I needed to defeat him. He had to maintain the balance if he wanted to stay hidden until the last moment."
As I said it, I wasn't so sure. Maybe Malize had intended to lose. Maybe, like Abaddon, he had lived beyond his desire, but couldn't bring himself to make his own end.
"I'm glad you stopped him, Landon. I'm proud of you. I just..." She didn't know what to say, but she didn't need to say it. I saw it in her eyes. I heard it in Abaddon's voice, and in Erus'. For a few eternal life was a gift. For most, it was a curse.
"You'll still have me," I said. It was a weak attempt to change her mind, but it was all I had.
"You don't have to go back," she replied. "It can end for you, too. The fighting, the loss, the hurt. You've done your part. You saved the world."
Maybe if I hadn't seen what Clara had shown me. The death, the destruction. Maybe if I had been more selfish, or more experienced, or more tired. Maybe if my judgement weren't clouded by the power of a god, or my eyes opened with the clarity of one.
"I do," I said. "Someone has to."
She looked down. "I'm sorry."
I picked her chin up with my hand. "Don't be. You saved the world, Charis. You brought me here. You taught me, you trusted me, you loved me. I know what I'm going back to is anything but peaceful, but every day when the sun rises, I'll know it was because of you and I. I'll know that six billion people get their shot at their hundred years, and then another six billion people after that. I'll help them with you in my heart, and in my soul."
I kissed her forehead. I held my lips there and exerted my will on her.
"Rest now. You've earned it."
"I love you," she said again.
It was the last thing I heard. Her body turned to energy, and the energy swirled around me. First, she would be with Clara here in the Box. Then, she would be free.
I watched her dissipate into the air. Right before she did, I captured a single point of light, and I breathed it in. I pushed it down into my soul, and I trapped it there for all of eternity. I couldn't stand to have our connection completely broken.
She would have agreed.
I stood there for hours, still and silent. I let the tears fall, because I was going to miss her. I let my heart soar, because I was happy she was free. Eventually, Rebecca came into the mansion. She didn't speak to me. She just stood there and waited, her own tears joining at my pain. I never would have expected that.
"It's time to go," I said to her at last.
"Landon, I..."
"I forgive you."
I focused, and a new doorway appeared in the center of the room. The door was mottled wood, and I remembered it from a dream. It was a symbol of struggle, and of hope. I pushed it open.
"Go now, Rebecca."
"Aren't you coming?" she asked.
"Yes, but I have one more thing I need to do first. Tell Sarah I'm proud of her. Tell Dante I'll be in touch. Tell Obi, Adam and Elyse that they have my infinite thanks."
"I don't understand."
"You don't need to." I pointed towards the door.
She walked over to it and paused.
"Landon, I..."
I held up my hand, and she stopped. "Be good, Rebecca."
She smiled, winked at me, and stepped through.
I took a deep breath. I could feel the power coursing through me, the energy sizzling at every tip of my being. I had observed what the thirst for it had done on every level. I had witnessed the death, the pain, the destruction. I had seen it in Josette, in Sarah, in Ulnyx, in Gervais and Abaddon, Ross and Malize. I was a diuscrucis. One part demon, one part angel, one part human. That meant I was all parts fallible and corruptible.
Such power didn't belong in my hands.
I held it in my soul for a brief moment. I kept a grip on just enough, and I let the rest go. I pushed it all out into the Box, a Box that I knew couldn't hold it. It didn't need to.
I walked over to the door, took one last look back, and fixed the world.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Rebecca: Epilogue
"Are you ready?"
I pursed my lips and stared into the white light in front of me. Master Lu was standing on my right, dressed in the plain gray robes of the House of Life.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
It had been nearly a month since we had freed Landon from the Box. At least, I could only assume he had been freed. The last I had seen of him was right before stepping through the doorway back to the Beast's prison, and rejoining those who had been waiting on the outside. I had waited for him there with the others, only to have it all vanish in a flash of light. The Box, the star, even the prison itself. We had found ourselves back in Gervais' chateau, left to wonder what exactly had happened.
It had only been his words to me, words I shared with the others, which brought us any comfort. They weren't the words of someone who was gone for good. They were the words of someone who needed a break and time to heal their battle scars, who would overcome their grief and loss and return stronger and more resolved than ever.
We'd gone our separate ways then. Dante had returned to Purgatory, bringing a reluctant Alichino with him. Adam had gone back to Heaven to report on the fate of the swords that his Inquisitors had been hunting for so long. Elyse had expressed her need to return to Japan, to a family estate that she could only hope had avoided Gervais' attentions, where she planned to regroup and come to some kind of closure on the death of her father and her status in the Nicht Creidim.
Obi was going to return to New York, but Sarah had wanted to stay, and so he had stayed, naming himself her guardian in Landon's absence. She wanted time to mourn the loss of her friend and mentor, and to deal with the power her father had unlocked with her fury. The chateau was probably hers anyway. I couldn't imagine that any Divine would lay claim to it any time soon, especially if word got out about what she had done to the archfiend.
I had remained a spirit from the moment I had used Elyse to pass along Landon's message until I had been drawn back across the world to the small monastery in China, run by one of the oldest angels on Earth. The world was safe from the Beast and the one called Malus. Landon was free. I had accomplished my mission. I had earned my redemption.
Master Lu had known I was coming. I don't know how, but he knew. He had a volunteer waiting for me, a new initiate to the House who he had yet to gift with the Touch. She was no more than twelve, and her memories were so simple and so pure. After all I had been through and witnessed, it was hard to keep myself from weeping at the beauty of them. I was sure she would make a good monk.
I stared into the white light and shuddered. I was nervous, excited, and afraid. I remembered what the other spirit had said to me. I knew there was a possibility my road to Heaven would end here, at least for now. Still, I was hopeful. I hadn't saved a kitten from a tree, after all.
"Step into the
light, child," Master Lu said. "Bare your soul to the Heavenly Host, and allow them to make their judgement."
I held my breath, trying to calm my pounding heart. There was no sense in delaying.
Be good.
It was the last thing Landon had said to me. I had my flaws, but for better or worse, Heaven or not, that was what I was going to do.
Be good.
My host's feet carried me forward until I was inside the light, surrounded by it so that I saw nothing but a field of bright emptiness. I wasn't sure what was supposed to happen, but I felt a warmth surround me for a fleeting instant and then retreat.
I stepped out of the light.
Master Lu was smiling at me. A comforting, gentle smile.
Be good.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Landon: Epilogue
I watched the waves roll across the beach. It was early morning on a clear day. A crisp breeze was blowing from the north. The sun would be coming up soon.
I hadn't missed a single sunrise in the three months since I had gotten out of the Box. Even when it was cloudy or raining I would come out here, I would look in the direction I knew it to be, and I would smile. It wasn't just because it meant humanity got one more day, it was also because I knew Charis was out there somewhere, and in a sense so was Clara.
I had made myself a new body, a replica of what I had lost, but no longer a thing of the Divine. I had taken the Box, and I had brought it with me to this remote place, unseen by those gathered in the Beast's prison. I had left the doorway open, and I had pushed it up into the stars, where the energy would leak out and become a smaller part of the thread that wove this universe to all of the other universes. Then I had stretched out in the sand below those stars and cried myself to sleep.
Bound (The Divine, Book Four) Page 29
