“No way, zombies?” Dirk asked excitedly.
Max studied the orderly march of the heavily armored troops. “I don’t think so,” he replied. “Not enough lurching.”
A blast of flame suddenly ripped toward them. Puff reacted at once, turning in to the blast and managing to shield the others. Nightmare-Princess raced by, her wings beating as she circled around.
“So you brought a dragon for me to play with,” she called out. “How thoughtful.”
“You’ll have to do better than that, horse!” Puff roared back.
Max prepared himself for another attack (the one thing you didn’t call a unicorn was a horse), but instead she turned and flew toward something large and monstrous rising above the castle. A wave of sickly tainted magic crashed over Max, and he felt Puff shudder beneath him.
“Witness the coming of my master,” Nightmare Princess called to them.
“The Maelshadow!” Puff exclaimed, seeing the monstrosity.
Max saw it too as it rose into the sky. It appeared as if it were a colossal collection of sharpened antlers, woven together and erupting from a foul black cloud. The Maelshadow’s head was a series of outstretched spikes, like long taloned fingers and almost indistinguishable from two similarly shaped claws, attached to limbs long enough to engulf the entire island. The thing before them was unlike anything Max had ever seen.
It took Melvin’s voice to bring Max out of his stupor. “Hey, that’s Sarah!”
Max blinked and focused his attention where Melvin was pointing. Near the top of the castle was a single spire, and Sarah was there, chained to a post. Max had flashbacks to the cruel games where she’d been similarly bound before the Machine City. Standing over her was Wayne, and at the sight of him Max felt a cold rage begin to build. The supposed protector was now her guard.
“Your time is nearly over, Max Spencer,” the Maelshadow said. There was no mouth as such, only the sound of the words and an unwholesome presence that filled the air. Puff drew back and hovered, keeping his distance from the horror in front of them. “Am I what you thought I would be?”
“You mean a giant twig?” Dirk called back. Max shushed him—there was no sense getting a destroyer of worlds more irritated than necessary.
“You have surprised me,” the Maelshadow continued. “And that does not happen often, mortal. You are adorned in the armor of Rezormoor Dreadbringer—fitting that his destroyer wears such as a trophy. You were more powerful and clever than he anticipated. Or perhaps he did not sense the strength of Sporazo’s blood in you—too strong to be centuries removed. What are you to him?”
“His son,” Max called out, seeing no reason to hide the fact now.
“Yes . . . it explains how you command the Codex so easily. Blood is the key to everything, isn’t it? Blood is why I ordered Dreadbringer and the unicorn to hunt you.”
“Just so you could retrieve the Shadric Portal?” Max shouted at the entity in front of him. “All the things we’ve gone through, everything . . . just for this?”
“Why else? You were the key that opened the lock. And now that you’ve done so, the key must be destroyed.”
“Not if I destroy you first!” Max shouted back.
“I am honored by the attempt,” the Maelshadow replied. “I will await you in my temple. We shall fight eye to eye, as it were, as was done in ancient times. That is, if you survive long enough to get there.”
The Maelshadow began to descend, his body of thorns retreating into the mass of smoke and shadow.
“He thinks highly of you to challenge you so,” Puff said.
“Funny way of showing it,” Melvin said.
“Max,” Puff called back to him. “Do you know where the Prime Spells came from?” Max remembered reading about that in the Codex: The origins of the Fifteen Prime Spells are unknown, having not so much been created as found.
“My father found them somewhere,” he replied.
“The legends of my kin say that the World Sunderer found them here, in the umbraverse.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that the spells may be even more difficult to control—or less. Or that they will not work as you think. The Prime Spells have always been affected by the realm you were in, and this realm is like no other.”
“So Max may not have his magic,” Melvin said.
“It’s possible.”
“Then we’ll have to figure it out as we go,” Max said. Suddenly the sky around them exploded in shafts of green light. Below, dozens of the Shadrus necromancers had taken aim and were attacking.
“Doom’s breath!” Puff shouted. “Poisoned magic!” The dragon dove, giving Max and the others barely a chance to hold on. “Careful! A single touch will destroy you!” Puff roared.
Somehow, Melvin managed to nock an arrow and let it fly. It raced to one of the necromancers and struck it in the chest, sending it tumbling off the edge of the ice.
“Dude!” Dirk exclaimed. “Nice shot!”
Melvin nodded and nocked another arrow. “I am an elven archer, and I will not miss my foes this day.”
Puff continued to dive as more of the twisting shafts of light erupted around them. Suddenly one connected with Max, striking him on the shoulder. He closed his eyes on reflex and tightened his grip on the dragon’s neck, hoping the armor was as good against poison as it was magic. The answer, left from the impression of Dreadbringer’s mind, seemed to say that it was.
Puff swooped down, opening his mouth and feeling flame building in the back of his throat. It erupted into a billowing, orange fireball that cut a long swath across the necromancers and Shadekin. The undead instinctively dove from the mythical flame, but many were engulfed and burned. Puff banked hard, gliding across the ice and past the castle. Arrows began to fall around them, but Puff was moving too fast to be an easy target.
“You okay?” Puff asked, craning his head back. “I thought the spell struck you.”
“It did,” Max replied.
There was a momentary pause. “Your armor appears to be all that you had thought.”
They continued to bank as Melvin let arrow after arrow fly, but given the size of the enemy force, it made little difference. The Maelshadow’s army continued its advance, bridging the next divide between the floating islands of ice. Several squads of archers and pike men broke off from the main body, the archers taking aim and firing at the dragon and his passengers.
Puff began climbing, zigzagging to avoid the arrows flying in their direction. Max regarded the army beneath him—he had to stop them from reaching the portal, or his friends wouldn’t stand a chance. Having a dragon on his side was a tremendous advantage, but no dragon could defeat an entire army. Max needed to do something himself.
“Dude, just think of it like a game,” Dirk yelled above the pounding thrusts of Puff’s wings, and as if reading Max’s thoughts. “You’ve done this online like a million times. You know what to do.”
You respawn when you die online, Max answered silently. Then he turned his attention to the magical bridges—those were the weak points. He placed his gauntleted hand against the Codex and entered it with his mind. The Codex seemed barren—stripped of everything except for the space where the Prime Spells dwelled. But more importantly, the Prime Spells seemed to be slipping past the boundary Maximilian Sporazo had put into place!
Only the blood of a Sporazo will bind them here, the familiar voice came to him, just as it had on that first trip back through time. They will obey you, son, if you choose to make it so.
Max focused on the crumbling barrier, rebuilding it with a force of will he summoned from deep within. There was a push as if the spells were testing him, and then they gathered at the edge of the magical barricade as if eager to be released. “Puff, take me to that bridge!” Max shouted, his voice a little shaky after the effort to bind the spells.
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br /> The dragon veered, flying through a new flurry of arrows until they closed on the bridge.
“Liquidity!” Max shouted. The spell flew forward, slamming into the gray ice and turning it into water. Hundreds of soldiers who’d been crossing dropped at once, falling through the floating landscape and into the churning storm below.
“Nice!” Dirk exclaimed.
Max pointed to the next bridge. “Take me there!”
Puff banked hard, skimming across the ice as he prepared to gain altitude. Suddenly a form flashed ahead of them, and Nightmare-Princess struck Max with her hooves, sending him flying off the dragon. He tumbled several times before slamming into the ice. Stars exploded across his eyes and he fought to clear his head. He managed to climb to his feet just in time to see Nightmare-Princess descend on him, her flaming, goo-dripping hoofs driving into his chest and sending him flying. He rolled on the ground and slid against an icy overhang.
The nightmare-unicorn came around and landed just ahead of him, lowering her misshapen horn and pointing it in his direction. “Time to finish what we started,” she said, her crimson eyes blazing. “I doubt your new armor can deflect what my horn has become. And even so, I will simply thrust it through your visor and suck you out like a clam from a shell.”
Max rose to his feat, his legs unsteady. He scanned the horizon for Puff but there was no sign of the dragon.
“So now you will die, as it was meant to be from the very beginning,” the creature that was once Princess continued.
“Elemenity!” Max shouted. He formed a great river of wind and threw it like an uppercut at Nightmare-Princess. The gale-force stream of air hit her with unimaginable power, and her wings became unwilling accomplices as she was blasted into the sky. Then Max caught sight of a half dozen Shadekin scrambling toward him on the ice. They were roughly man-sized and covered in mismatched bits of armor, save for silver spiked plates that covered the skeletal heads beneath. They carried jagged swords, morning stars, and other weapons of war, and their eyes burned with an otherworldly fury as they descended on him.
As the first prepared to leap down and crush Max with a large war hammer, an arrow flew by and caught it in the shoulder, sending the Shadekin spinning backward. Max drew Penumbra and met the next attacker with an awkward thrust. The Shadric sword shattered the Shadekin’s blade, continuing until it struck the creature through the chest. Max heard the snap of an arrow fly past as another Shadekin was struck; then, before he could pull his sword free, a ringing sound exploded in his left ear. The unseen blow sent him stumbling, and it was all he could do to keep hold of his blade. Above him the Shadekin advanced, swinging a spiked morning star. Max’s armor was unscathed, but the kinetic energy had hit him like a punch to the side of the head. He prepared to raise his sword and fend off the next attack, when a stream of liquid fire cut across the Shadekin, igniting the undead creature like a tinderbox. Puff dropped with his talons extended, grabbing hold of the last of the undead soldiers and flinging them off the island.
“It’s about time,” Max said as he climbed to his feet.
“Dude, you got company,” Dirk yelled from Puff’s back. “Lots of company.”
Max turned to see the entire force of Shadekin breaking from their march and charging toward him. He thrust his sword in its sheath—he was never going to be a melee fighter. Instead he reached into the Codex and found the spell he was looking for: “Tutelary!”
The wave of power created by the spell crashed into the charging Shadekin, knocking the entire line backward. A single spectral knight stood before Max, glimmering in white armor. It turned to face the horde of Shadekin, who were quickly reforming their charge.
“I need more of you,” Max said to the knight. Then he drew the next spell and shouted, “Nimiety!” Nimiety—to copy and make excess. The Prime Spell roared into existence, filling the air with ice and frost. When the icy haze cleared, the single knight had been joined by tens of thousands more. The Shadekin, to their credit, did not falter in their attack. The misshapen and skeletal force crashed into the line of knights, and the battle commenced, army against army.
“Over here!” Dirk cried. Puff had landed on a small outcropping and Max hurried over. Melvin rose with his elven longbow and fired a volley of arrows into the Shadekin troops.
“Where’s Princess?” Max asked as he climbed on the back of the dragon.
“Dude, careful with my girlfriend—she’s still a good person under all that evil and junk.”
“I lost sight of her,” Puff admitted.
Melvin sat back down as Puff took to the air. The three of them could clearly see the battle below. The Shadekin outnumbered the knights, but Max’s spectral army held their ranks, moving with a determined order and unshakable discipline. The forces of the Shadekin rushed headlong in a series of frenzied charges, like wave after wave crashing against the shore. It was a costly strategy, but eventually the endless ocean of Shadekin would have its way.
Max turned his attention to the bridge. “They’re getting reinforcements—we need to take the bridge out.”
Puff flew toward the ice structure, diving through a sudden downpour of arrows. Dirk and Melvin leaned in, using Max’s armor to shield themselves as best they could. It only took a few seconds to clear the barrage and close on the ranks of undead streaming over the bridge.
“Liquidity!” Max shouted as they flew past.
Nothing happened.
“Max . . . ?” Puff called back to him. The dragon veered, preparing to take another run at the bridge as more arrows chased them. Max reached into the Codex, confused. He found the place where the Prime Spells dwelled, but something was different—the Liquidity spell was gone! Max panicked, wondering if he was losing his connection with the book. Then he realized it wasn’t just the Liquidity spell that had gone missing—several of the other Prime Spells were gone too! Panic swelled in Max’s chest; then he heard the voice address him again:
There is a price to be paid here. Eventually everything returns home.
Max realized what was happening—once a Prime Spell was cast in the umbraverse it left the Codex for good. Suddenly the Fifteen Prime Spells had become Eleven. The sobering truth was that while Max had the power to cast the ancient spells in the umbraverse, he was not his father—he had no idea how to command them to return to the Codex when they were done. That meant he’d have to be very careful—each Prime Spell was like a single bullet that could only be fired once.
“Puff, can you melt the bridge with fire?” Max asked, desperately trying to find a solution to the stream of reinforcements flowing into the battleground.
The dragon veered and dove for the bridge. The crossing undead scattered as he unleashed more of his dragon fire, but the magical ice held. “It’s too laced with dark magic!” Puff shouted back as he climbed. All around them the storm continued to churn, a mirror of the chaos that Max felt in his heart—he was running out of options.
He turned his attention back to the Shadekin soldiers crossing the bridge. He couldn’t summon any more of the spectral knights, nor could he increase their numbers—those spells were gone. He’d have to draw on a different spell.
“Density!” he shouted, pulling the spell from the Codex. The blast sent Puff backward midflight, and the dragon barely managed to keep himself upright. Max directed the spell at the ice bridge, and as the force of the spell hit, the structure cracked. The crossing Shadekin began to run, but too late. An explosion of gray sent the bridge tumbling into pieces, and as before, hundreds of the Maelshadow’s warriors fell into the storm below.
“Princess!” Puff cried, suddenly thrusting his wings and spinning his great bulk around. A black form swept past them, barely missing Max.
“Hey!” Dirk called out to her. “It’s me! Your honey bunny!”
“Honey bunny?” Melvin repeated over Dirk’s shoulder.
But Max h
ad other things on his mind. “Captivity!” he yelled, aiming at Nightmare-Princess as she prepared to attack again. There was a blast of power as the Prime Spell hit her, and suddenly she was wrapped in silver chains that pinned her wings back and bound her hooves and feet. A silver mask covered her horn and her mouth was wrapped in the magical chain so that all means of movement were taken from her. Nightmare-Princess screamed in outrage as she began to plummet downward.
“Max!” Dirk exclaimed as she fell. “Save her!”
Max drew the next spell from the Codex. “Gravity!” he commanded. A sudden flash of lightning exploded around the edge of the storm as the Prime Spell ripped into form. He steered it toward Princess, wrapping the magic around her and stopping her fall just feet from the boiling clouds. He heard Dirk sigh in relief as he lifted Nightmare-Princess into the air and carried her back to the portal, where the others stood guard.
“Max, I can sense the spells leaving you,” Puff said. “You can’t get them back, can you?”
“No,” he admitted. He had used seven of the Prime Spells already. Puff didn’t have to warn him that bit by bit he was losing the one thing that gave him power over the Maelshadow. But he knew he couldn’t have lived with himself if he’d let Princess fall—not when he was the reason the Cataclysm had come in the first place.
“Look over there!” Melvin shouted.
Max turned to see the remaining Shadrus necromancers gathered on a smaller block of floating ice. How they had gotten there, Max was unsure. But he could hear their chanting over the din of the storm and battle. Then he saw the outline of a giant serpent tracing itself in the air, long enough to reach from one side of the churning storm to the other.
“Dude, major boss alert,” Dirk exclaimed. The necromancers were summoning a monster from the depths of the Shadrus, if “monster” was even an adequate term for something so big.
Puff yelled at Max, “That is a Schritan—an eater of worlds! You must stop it!” Max didn’t need any more convincing.
Good Ogre Page 20
