Anger flared in his eyes as his fist came up again.”
“Stop!” screamed Gaza. “Or I will send you both back to the void!”
Rath's hand stopped. He looked up at Gaza. “You have no real power!”
“Test me.” Gaza leveled his eyes at him.
Rath hovered for a moment, then slowly lowered his hand. “It doesn't matter.” He rubbed his chin with his knuckles. “You’ve lost. Even now Kric' tu prepares his forces.”
I looked out across the barren plain. There was movement in the black ranks.
Gaza turned back toward his daughter. His features racked with anguish. He knew what I knew, that closing The Circle would kill her. Rath and Kric' tu had set it all up. It was in the code that I would bring her here, and now Gaza was trapped, held hostage by his love for Constance. Kric' tu was betting that Gaza would not allow his daughter to die, that he would leave The Circle open, so the forces of chaos could take over Vrin.
Gaza swung back toward Rath with a fierceness that caused both Rath and Kitaya to withdraw. “Did the book tell you I would do this?” He stretched out his hand toward them, and Rath violently erupted into a ball of flame. Gaza walked forward and hovered over the screeching burning form. “Do me a favor.” He sneered. “Say hello to Kric' tu for me.” And in a rage of inhuman strength, he shoved the burning mass through the metal railing. Like a comet, Rath plummeted and exploded on impact.
As Gaza peered over the rail at the smoldering form, the fury on his countenance was replaced by sorrow.
“LOOK!” Armadon's voice boomed out. He pointed to the distance. “THE FORCES OF KRIC' TU ADVANCE!”
Gaza looked up and calmly studied the horizon. His face was stern yet contemplative.
“It is time,” I said. “He is coming.”
Gaza spun and strode to The Circle. “You must jump through!” he yelled at his daughter.
“I told you, Daddy. I can't!”
“Why? What is preventing you?”
“I have chosen to obey God.”
“Jump through!” He begged. “I can't live without you!” he said, beating his fists fiercely against the veil. But the very structure he had created would not allow him to get through.
Constance moved in close. “I want to, Daddy,” she whispered. “You have to believe me.”
“I can save this world if you come through.” He pleaded. “If I close The Circle you will die.”
“I will see you in Ethral.” Her chin quivered. “Promise you will come home to me.”
“I don't know how,” he whispered, pressing his forehead against the barrier.
“Mom sent me here with a message for you,” she said, her voice sounding surreal. “She said to tell you, you are a great man, and that great men must make great sacrifices. I know this is hard for you, but seek first the things of God, and he will give you what you need. Stop fighting, Daddy. Stop fighting-- and come home.”
His expression was one of pure anguish as he turned and ran back to the railing. The army of darkness filled the horizon, completely surrounding us now. Soon we would be overtaken. Racked with emotion, he stared intently at the approaching horde. He knew there was no way to destroy Vrin without killing Constance. He also knew that sealing The Circle would do the same.
“You can't take them,” I said, reading his thoughts. “There are too many.”
He scowled at me. “I have resources the others do not.”
“These creatures use the energy of The Circle. They are very powerful this close to the source.”
Gaza's eyes burned emerald in their sockets. “We shall see.”
He lifted his hands into the air and the earth quaked as a wall pushed up from the ground between the advancing enemy and our position. It encircled the entire structure. But an awful song filled the air, and instantly holes began appearing across the surface.
Gaza wiggled his fingers, and the ground became a sea of green acid. The creatures screamed as they entered the liquid, but again an awful song arose, and they began to sprout wings and take to the air.
Gaza waved his hand. All of the strands around the structure appeared as thin razor sharp wires. The strands stretched from the green acrid lake below to the now darkened sky above.
The demons wailed as the strands cut them to shreds. But there arose yet another song, and the black creatures phased into energy. Their faint outlines melted into each other, creating a dense dark cloud.
He tried again and again to thwart their advance, but they were no longer in phase with Vrin. Being this close to the power of The Circle gave them the ability to travel like apparitions through whatever Gaza threw at them.
He was becoming more frustrated.
I spoke in a calming voice. “Gaza. Your wife lives on in Ethral, and your daughter has turned toward the light as well. The question is, are you willing to give up Constance, to do what is right? Kric' tu cannot be allowed to take Vrin, it would have eternal implications. You can stop him.”
I watched as the darkness grew closer and closer. I wanted to take action. I could set things in motion to destroy Kric' tu and his army-- but the ring on my finger gave a gentle squeeze, reminding me that it was not my decision to make.
As I stood waiting, everything suddenly came together, and I understood! This was all a set up! God knew exactly what would happen. He’d brought me here because he foresaw every choice I would make. He knew the choices each and every one of us would make, and he brought it all together. I trusted now. It would happen, just as it was written. Because God said so. And God was never wrong.
Gaza turned and strode back to The Circle. He reached out and touched the veil gently. “Promise me I will see you in Ethral,” he said softly. It was clear in his tone, that he had made up his mind.
A single tear streaked down his daughter’s cheek. “I love you, Daddy,” she whispered.
His face hardened with grief. “I love you too, baby.”
He turned and raised his hands into the air. The sky shook. The Circle of Ghosts shimmered and shuddered. For a moment, eternity held its breath. Then all at once, The Circle collapsed in upon itself, causing a violent shock wave to erupt from the structure. It ripped through the ranks of the enemy. After reaching its full distance, it drew back like an undertow. Below The Circle a whirlpool began to form. The energy of Dantra was being drawn out of Vrin. Like black sand, the dark figures began to come apart and were swept into the funnel of energy below.
Soon The Circle would be sealed, just as the scripture had predicted.
I stood over Gaza and my form tore away as the whirlpool of energy pulled at it, for I too was made from the energy of Dantra.
The creator of Vrin fell to the ground, weeping bitterly. His daughter was gone. But now he had a new hope, a hope that one day he would be reunited with her in Ethral. “God forgive me,” he sobbed.
It was then that I noticed a ring forming on his finger. He looked at it with surprise.
I smiled. “It is the very seal of God.”
He lifted his hand and examined it closely. There was an inscription upon it.
It read, “Come home.”
Vrin: Ten Mortal Gods Page 31
