The Channeler

by William Kline

  Ryan’s introduction was done in short order, and the workman ushered Tommy through the door as Tommy’s own, brief introduction began. Tommy stepped through the door and into the sound and light of the arena. He did his best to imitate the swaggering stride that he’d seen other contestants use, but he wasn’t sure whether he pulled it off with any degree of success.

  He walked to the center of the arena, where he stood facing Ryan. The other boy had a solemn, focused look on his face as they bowed to one another, then each retreated to his respective pedestal. Tommy began the process of shielding himself – he could get a weak shield up very quickly, but it still took him some work to strengthen it to withstand any sort of concerted attack. Micah clearly realized this, because he waited several long moments before he spoke up.

  “Ready!” Micah’s voice boomed across the arena, and Tommy raised his sword and turned his attention to Ryan, although he was still reinforcing his protections while he did it. Suddenly, Tommy felt a new shield spring to life around him – A strong, nigh impenetrable one, protecting and sheathing his body inside even his own shielding.

  “BEGIN!” Micah cried.

  Tommy took a half a step forward toward Ryan, suddenly unsure and hesitating for a moment. Ryan, however, didn’t hesitate for even a second. He immediately began crafting two different spells at the same time – the electricity bolt that Tommy (and apparently everyone else) had learned in the testing weeks ago, and another spell that Tommy couldn’t quite make out. Tommy remembered from experience just how weak the electrical spell had turned out to be, so he decided to ignore that one and began duplicating the other spell Ryan was casting, but in reverse. As he started the casting, Tommy saw how easy it was – he simply did the exact opposite of what Ryan was doing.

  Sure enough, Tommy found he was right. Ryan’s electrical bolt struck his shields almost harmlessly, and as Ryan flung his real attack at Tommy, Tommy’s counter-spell unraveled and destroyed Ryan’s attack even as it formed. Tommy felt a smug sense of satisfaction as the crowd screamed their approval.

  But he wallowed in self-congratulations for too long. Ryan was immediately forming another set of attacks. He launched a huge ball of fire that Tommy was able to destroy with an ice spell, quickly followed up by a nasty spell that caused a fine rain of acid to fall from the air above Tommy. While Tommy was summoning a wash of water to get rid of the acid that was burning its way into his shield, Ryan came back with another quick series of sharp jabs, alternating fire and electricity.

  “This is impossible,” thought Tommy. “He’s too good! He’s too fast!” It was true – Tommy was barely able to defend against Ryan’s attacks, and was forced to let one in three of them impact on his shields. Ryan’s spell crafting was much faster than anyone else in the class that Tommy had ever seen. He wondered, in between blows, how Ryan had gotten so good, and why he never chose to show it in their classes.

  The rain of blows continued, and Tommy pumped more and more of his energy into his shield, but to no real effect – Ryan was slowly but steadily wearing him down, and Tommy could hear the spectators cheering at the show.

  Tommy was at a loss for what to do. He was clearly stronger than Ryan, but it didn’t matter because he couldn’t bring his strength to bear; Ryan was too quick, and kept him on the defensive the entire time.

  Finally, his shields on the verge of failing, Tommy got a desperate idea. He ignored the most recent round of Ryan’s attacks, letting them impact on him, and instead gathered every ounce of strength he possessed. Tommy could feel the strain on his mind and body as he pulled into himself all the magical energy he could muster, and then he flung it all, raw and unformed, not trying to cast a spell, just pouring a deluge of energy directly at Ryan.

  The blast caught Ryan completely off guard. The boy tried to handle the deluge, first attempting to form it into an attack spell, and then vainly flailing in an attempt to shunt it off to the side. But Ryan’s efforts were in vain. His abilities were overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of Tommy’s magical energy. Ryan’s spells fizzled away as the torrent of magical power overloaded the construct of the spell, and his shields wavered and then dropped as his mind failed to adequately manage the energy it was being subjected to. Tommy’s deluge of power touched Ryan’s inner shield that was being powered by the pedestal…

  And then suddenly, all the magic disappeared. Tommy gasped and fell to one knee as the power he was channeling literally vanished from his control. He looked up to see Ryan reeling and staggering, as if the other boy was drunk.

  There was a moment of complete and utter silence in the arena, and then the spectators roared in a cacophony of cheers louder than Tommy had heard them give for any previous match. Tommy had to clap his hands to his ears, the sound was so intense.

  Suddenly, Micah’s voice sounded across the din.

  “An incredible first match, well fought, both contestants,” then, “Tommy Nelson is the winner”.

  Tommy headed back through the stone door, but instead of heading down the passageway he’d come through, the worker there directed him to go the other way.

  “Losers go back the way they came. Winners move on,” was all the man would say.

  Following the hallway to its end, Tommy came to a large, opulent sitting room. Lounging in the chairs, sipping drinks and picking at plates of fruits, meats, and cheeses, were all the winners of the matches that he’d seen previously. They clapped and cheered as Tommy entered, several of them coming over to shake his hand or clap him on shoulder.

  He’d only been in the room for a few moments, and was still shaking hands and trying to remember names from introductions when Micah entered the room. Congratulations stopped as everyone fell silent at the archmage’s entry.

  “Well fought tonight, all of you. This was a great round of the games, tonight, and I’m looking forward to seeing more from each of you in the future. I’ll be meeting with each of you individually very soon, you can be sure.”

  The assembled students seemed to take that as a sign, and began gathering their things to leave. Tommy wasn’t really sure what to do; he couldn’t remember how to get back to his room, although his bed was sounding better by the minute.

  “Mister Nelson, come with me, please,” Micah said, resolving Tommy’s dilemma.

  Tommy held up his sword, which he hadn’t used but had been gripped in his hand this whole time. “Ummmmm… What should I do with this?”

  Micah gestured casually to a nearby table. “Just leave it there. Someone will put it away. Come on,” and with that, he set off walking, leaving Tommy with no choice but to follow.

  “That was an incredible victory you pulled off tonight, Tommy. But I need to warn you. What you did tonight was dangerous. Very dangerous. If you hadn’t surprised Ryan, he could have easily turned the tables on you, and used your own magic to form a spell to crush you.”

  Tommy nodded. He had realized what might happen in the seconds after he launched his attack, when Ryan was frantically trying to deal with the energy. “I was desperate. I didn’t know what to do. He was so fast.”

  Micah frowned at that, and furrowed his eyebrows slightly. “Yes, I know. It is odd that I missed that in the classes. It makes one wonder why he’s kept his skill hidden, does it not?”

  Tommy could only nod again.

  They were approaching the part of the school that Tommy recognized when Micah went on. “Still, well fought, Tommy, we’ll have to talk more, soon. We’ll have an award ceremony for you and the rest of the winners, as well. For now, I trust you can find your own way back to your room?”

  Tommy didn’t even have time to nod again before Micah turned on his heel and swept back down the way they’d come. Tommy paused and watched the man’s retreating back - he hadn’t even gotten a chance to complain to Micah for springing the whole match on him unexpectedly, as the least he could have done was warn him.

  Shaking his head, Tommy stumped exhaustedly the rest of the way back to his room. Tommy ope
ned the door to his room, and was greeted by an intense and overwhelming stench of rotting plastic. All exhaustion fled as a cold chill of panic spread. “Black Magic! That’s the smell!” Tommy thought. But when he looked around the room, it was empty. No one was there.

  “James!” Tommy said out loud. The big lummox must have ambushed Ryan when he returned exhausted from the mage games. Ryan could even now be in grave danger. Looking around frantically, Tommy had a realization. He sniffed at the air, and found that he could clearly discern the path that the boys had taken, covered in dark magic.

  “I’m coming, Ryan!” Tommy shouted to the empty room, and he turned and began dashing down the hallways as fast as he could, pausing only at intersections to sniff the air to follow the scent. At one point, Tommy thought he heard one of his friends shout out his name from down one of the hallways - Mary, he thought it was, but he didn’t pause to check or to make a response, he just kept running.

  “I’m coming, Ryan!” Tommy shouted again.

  Chapter Forty

  Finally, Tommy caught up with the source of the smell. He had been running, and burst into the room at a headlong tilt, stopping short at what he saw.

  The room was one of the large common rooms scattered throughout the school. They were intended for multiple uses, and students used them for group study sessions, coaching sessions, to gather to play cards or just socialize, and any other number of reasons. The walls were the same dark grey stone that made up the rest of the school, but here the floors were carpeted to provide a comfortable atmosphere and to help muffle sound. There were a few high tables surrounded by chairs, and several low coffee tables that were surrounded by plush couches. Two other doors led out to other hallways – Tommy had never been in this particular room before now.

  Right now, the three occupants of the room were Ryan, James, and huge, terrifying being that sent a cold sweat breaking out across Tommy’s brow.

  James lay prostrate on the floor, his arms and legs splayed. Ryan was standing over the clearly unconscious James with a long, wicked looking knife in one hand and a foul, inky black cloud surrounding his other. But none of this was what caused Tommy’s terror; that was caused by the abomination standing over both boys. It was tall – so tall that it had to hunch to fit under the ceiling, which was well over ten feet high, like most ceilings in the school. The thing wore shadows like they were long robes cloaking its body, but where the skin showed through at the thing’s hands and face, the skin was alabaster pale and stretched taught across the bones. Long, cruel fingernails protruded from each finger, each one the size of a small knife. The thing’s face was the most terrifying, however. Glowing red irises shone forth from two otherwise unrelieved pitch black eyes. There was only a socket where the thing’s nose should be, like the nose had been sliced away, and the things mouth resembled nothing so much as an over-wide cat’s mouth, with long, sharp, pointed teeth that stretched almost from ear to ear.

  The thing raised its head and regarded Tommy as he skidded to a halt, then it let out a long hiss from between its disgustingly overlapping teeth.

  Ryan looked up at the hiss, and sneered. “You shouldn’t have come, Tommy. You should have minded your own business.”

  “It’s you,” Tommy shouted back in his shock and terror. “It’s been you all along. It wasn’t James that was practicing black magic; it’s been you this whole time.”

  Ryan laughed at that. “Everyone thinks James has been practicing dark magic to keep up with the class, but I’ve been using it on him. I’ve been siphoning away his little rich-boy soul, draining his power. It’s not like he deserves it, anyway.”

  Tommy shook his head. “Don’t do this, Ryan. Please. Micah will…”

  “Micah and the other teachers are all fools. We’ve been playing them like a fiddle the entire time.”

  “Well, perhaps that is not entirely true.” Micah retorted, striding into the room through a side door. Tommy hadn’t seen the door begin to open, and apparently neither had any other of the room’s occupants.

  The effect of Micah’s entry was galvanic. Ryan shrank back slightly, and pulled closer to the demon-thing in the corner. The demon-thing, however, hissed again and raised its hands, flinging black shadows from around its body directly toward Micah. Micah didn’t flinch, however. He simply raised his hand and said, “I think we’ve had just about enough of that.” Suddenly, a brilliant but short-lived pulse of stunning, golden light shone forth from Micah’s outstretched hands. When it struck the shadows, the creature, and the spell forming in Ryan’s grasp, the darkness shredded and then evaporated like a morning mist before the high summer sun.

  The giant creature was gone. Where it had been, a short woman stood in its place, her arms raised to shield her face from the brilliant glare. Although less impressive than the illusory creature had been, she was no less grotesque, with stiff, snowy white hair on her head, open sores on her face and hands, and dirt in her teeth and fingernails. The woman’s appearance was made no less grotesque by the fact that Micah’s blast of brilliant light had singed her exposed skin, raising blisters and causing the skin to look like it had been very badly sunburned. She shook her head for a moment, as if shaking something off, and the action caused some of her brittle hair to break away and fall to the floor.

  “Ah, Ruth. I should have known,” Micah said calmly.

  The woman shrieked in response. “That’s not my name! I shed that name. I SPIT on that name. I am REQUIEM now!” She shot her hand out toward Micah, and a long bar of flame shot out from her palm. Micah never moved, however, and the thickness of the bar of fire narrowed and grew thinner until it vanished entirely. Requiem shrieked again at that, and began striding toward Micah, flinging bolts of fire and shafts of darkness, all of which dissipated and vanished well short of the man.

  Micah merely shook his head, reached to his side, and drew his sword. Tommy was no longer surprised by the appearance of the sword – He was sure the man hadn’t been wearing one just a moment ago, but there it was in his hand, a trick he had seen the man perform before. He turned to grin and wink at Tommy for a moment, and murmured, “Watch closely, Tommy. Now you’ll see why we learn the sword.”

  With that, Micah leapt forward, spinning in a circle and bringing the sword around in a wide arc to strike at the woman. A black shell appeared momentarily and stopped the sword in a shower of sparks just before it made contact, but Micah didn’t pause and was spinning again, bringing the sword around for another strike which also met wet with another shell and another burst of sparks. Again and again Micah struck at the woman, and every time the dark shell appeared to block the blow, but Tommy noticed some things – first, the woman was no longer striding toward Micah, and instead was being driven slowly backwards. The second thing Tommy noticed was that the woman’s attacks had ceased entirely – all her energy and efforts seemed to be focused on keeping Micah’s spinning blade from reaching her body.

  A glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye caught Tommy’s attention, and he turned in time to see Ryan draw the long knife he’d been holding back over his shoulder, and pitch it across the room toward Micah with a shout. Time seemed to slow down as Tommy watched the blade spin through the air, straight toward Micah’s unprotected back. His mind raced, desperate to do something, to warn Micah somehow, but all he could do was shout wordlessly, too overcome with fear to do anything rational. Ryan’s face took on a broad, sneering grin as both boys watched the knife tumble through the air.

  In Tommy’s science class, they had studied gravity, and how objects orbit planets. There was a whole lot of extremely difficult and rather dull math around it, but one time the instructor had used magic to lift several small models of planets, and had used rocks to show the class how asteroids and other objects can get caught in the planet’s gravity, or can even slingshot around the planet. That is the only analogy Tommy could think of to describe what happened next. As the knife approached Micah’s back, it started to turn to the side. The
closer it got, the more it turned, until it was no longer flying toward Micah, but was flying around him, and that is just what it did – the knife started orbiting Micah, flying around and around in a circle a foot or two from his body. Tommy’s jaw dropped in surprise, and he saw that the leer on Ryan’s face had also been replaced by a look of shock and surprise.

  For several seconds, the knife continued to orbit, flying faster as faster as it whipped itself around Micah’s body. Then Micah spoke very softly but clearly, and said, “Do not hurl the arrow which may return against you.” Suddenly, the knife was flung out of its orbit and straight back at Ryan, flying much faster than Ryan had originally thrown it. The boy shrieked and tried to fling himself out of the way, but the knife cut a long score down the side of Ryan’s cheek and ear before striking the stone wall behind him and shattering into several pieces.

  Getting to his feet, Ryan put a hand to his cheek and felt the blood welling there. He looked at Micah still battering away at Requiem, gave a howl of despair, and turned and fled the room from the door opposite to the one Tommy had come in.

  Tommy did nothing for a moment, then Micah’s voice snapped him out of his reverie. “After him, Tommy! Don’t let him get away!”

  Tommy shook his head and dashed across the room for the door, vaulting over the back of a large couch as he did so. As he rushed out the door and into the hallway, Micah’s voice followed him for one last piece of advice.

  “Don’t forget everything I’ve taught you.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  Tommy dashed through the school’s hallways after Ryan. Fortunately, this section of the school was lightly populated, since most of the usual inhabitants were still off at the games, and after a few moments of not encountering anyone else, Tommy began to run recklessly, charging down hallways and through rooms. Although Ryan had a head start on Tommy, it seemed that Tommy was the faster runner; he was rapidly gaining on Ryan. He chased Ryan up several flights of stairs, taking them two and three at a time, and although he was beginning to feel winded, Tommy could hear Ryan’s labored breathing ahead of him.