The winged wolf howls and the demon horde fighting us look up. The sound echoes out to the entire Laksona Plain. The walls shake. Stalactites fall from above. Little chunks of rock and dust fall off of The Irispire itself. I feel myself tremble with the noise. Then the demons we are fighting turn to us, and flash their teeth with a screaming hiss, before flying away.
"Um...Nyyx," gulps Lev.
There is a look of absolute horror on Lev's face. His eyes grow wide to almost bulging — his wan face trembles under his shock of orange hair. The flying demon wolf gathers Field energy into its lungs. Flames brew inside the winged giant, visible through its underbelly. Then it unleashes a gout of flame.
Tamon swings to the other side of the Irispire. Kyle, Lev, Lara, and I scatter from the flaming blast. Heat burns my face, parts of the Irispire melt, and magma drips down the sides as if it were candlewax. But the fire was a precursor to the wolf diving down at us. Its wings fold into its side, huge forelegs with claws ten feet long come down to swipe at us.
I manage to roll aside, avoiding the wolf's wings. I turn to look down at the swooping wolf, and its rider. Marchosias pulls the monster up from its dive, and flies up to our level.
Kyle is floating beside me. Lara is hovering a hundred feet to my right. Lev is twenty feet below me. He reloads his rifle and trains his muzzle right at Marchosias and the demon wolf. Tamon tumbles and swings himself around to the northern half of the Irispire, and hangs off of the monolith looking at the wolf. The wolf looks back at us, slaver dripping from its maw.
I can see the battle raging outside the northern walls of Laksona. King Hurdalin and his army are doing the best they can to stay the oncoming onslaught of Marchosias' incoming legions. They too have figured out that killing the demonic shell was too dangerous and have settled for giving them severe injuries. But there are a few fifteen foot tall minotaurs and ogres taking massive swipes at the dwarven army. And now, at Marchosias' command, a horde of winged demons are flying out to support their brothers and sisters against the dwarven incursion. King Hurdalin doesn't have much time.
Marchosias smiles at me. "We meet again, mortal," she says in her angelic voice.
The voice reverberates throughout the cavern and rings in my ears.
Then Lara's beautiful face appears in front of Kyle and me. There are streaks of blood on her face.
"You must get to the Bearer," Lara says to me. "We will take care of Marchosias."
"She's right, Nyyx," says Kyle. "Help Roxxanda."
"It is too late," says Marchosias. "There is little left of your precious Bearer. Your armies will fall. You shall all be my slaves."
"She's bluffing," I assure Kyle. "Roxx is still up there."
"I make one last offer," Marchosias says to us. "Join me, and all of you will have a place in my kingdom."
"How about no," Lev says. Then he flies towards Marchosias and her mount, firing his assault rifle.
"GO!" Kyle says to me. He too flies toward the demon wolf and Marchosias, katana at the ready.
Tamon climbs The Irispire, then jumps off, his ax poised above his head, looking to land on Marchosias, and cut her down. Lara yells out a battle cry and flies toward Marchosias, shooting bolts of fire.
I look up at the top of the Irispire a quarter mile away and fly up toward the glowing purple tear in The Field Eternal.
I hear a whip crack, and less than a second later, I feel the most intense pain around my neck. I can't breathe. Hot coals sear my skin. Then I remember the red glowing whip that wrapped around Astraea's neck. I am yanked back, and the fire whip digs deeper into my throat. I am passing out. My grip loosens from The Destroying Angel, and it slips out of my hands.
I'm about to lose consciousness when the area around my neck cools. Instead of intense burning, my neck feels like it's encased in jagged rock. My breath comes back to me, and I see the broad, gray, clean-shaven face of Tamon.
"You all right, lad?" Tamon asks.
I put my hand to my throat and find it wrapped up in stone. Tamon punches, it and the rock crumbles from my neck.
Tamon is carrying me up The Irispire. I look down. Kyle is wielding The Destroying Angel. He must have cut off the magma whip, and what was severed turned into rock around my neck. Tamon sets me down on an outcropping of rock jutting out from The Irispire.
"The...sword..." I can't speak. I want to rub my neck, but the skin around it is raw. It stings from being exposed to air.
"Don't worry, lad. We'll get it to you."
Then a surge of air comes up from below as the demon wolf flies up. I am thrown back by the air turbulence. Tamon keeps a firm hold on the rock and manages to catch me before I go over.
The wolf looks down at us and inhales another breath, the flames brewing in its lungs. Tamon tosses me from The Irispire as the wolf releases a stream of flame in our direction. I am falling through the air with my back facing the ground, and my limbs flailing. Tamon swan dives off of The Irispire. Both of us are in free fall. That's when I remember my crystal. I immediately think of stopping in midair. The crystal on the small of my back activates, and I feel its energy course through my spine, and nervous system. I stop falling and am hovering in the air. Then I time Tamon's fall and hold out my arm. His arm catches mine, and I use his falling momentum to swing him back to The Irispire. He manages to grab a handhold and remains on the rock.
Lev flies up past me, firing continuously at Marchosias above. His gunfire was once a minor annoyance, but now with every bullet that hits, the aura of swirling black and purple energy around the demon wolf gets thicker, and bits of its flesh are sloughing off.
"Nyyx!" yells Kyle from below me.
Kyle flies up to me and tosses me the Destroying Angel. I catch it, and we both fly upward, charging at the demon wolf. Kyle gathers Field energy into a maroon crystal.
"Lev!” I say. “Grenade!"
Lev stops firing, looks in the duffel bag and drops a grenade down to Kyle and me.
I catch it, pull the pin. Then Kyle encases the grenade in a bubble of force and sends it hurtling toward the demon wolf. The force bubble hits true, impacting the dragon in the gut. Then the grenade explodes. The wolf screams, and crashes into the Irispire, letting fall large pieces of rock.
Lev empties an entire magazine, reloads, pulls on the charging handle and continues to fire. Lara, to our left, joins us in our charge. The four of us are flying in an arrowhead formation, with me at the tip of the spear. Lara and Kyle are to my left. Lev is to my right, and Tamon is swinging himself higher and higher on The Irispire.
The demon wolf gathers itself. Marchosias grits her teeth and commands the wolf to swoop down at us.
"Kyle, Larastrumbala!" I say. "I think it's time to smash this thing's face."
Kyle and Lara, give each other a sideways smile. Then they each gather Field energy into black crystals in front of them. Once both crystals are spinning, Kyle reaches out and manipulates the Field energy around them, encasing them in a warped reality bubble. He grits his teeth and screams through the pain.
The wolf is diving down at us, gathering some more fire to unleash. I can see the rage on Marchosias' eerily beautiful face. Her hair of fire is waving fiercely behind her as she controls her mount's dive. Her sword is in the air, with red veins of magma running all over the blade.
The black crystals in front of Lara and Kyle spin at high speeds before their energies are released. The wolf is about to release its fire when a forty foot by forty foot arcane wall appears in front of it. The wolf hits the wall like a giant bug going splat against a windshield. Its body crumples into the arcane barrier. It’s as if I could see it happening in slow motion. Its face getting crushed; its head turning sideways; the shockwave traveling up its neck as each vertebra crashes into each other. The look on Marchosias' face when she is thrown off the beast is priceless.
Then I yell to Lev, "Get outta the way!"
The large black demon wolf tumbles end over end, its neck and body flopping around like j
elly, and rolls over the barrier to fall near three quarters of the way down to the ground below. Its yellow eyes roll to the back of its head, and its tongue wags loosely out of its open maw.
Marchosias roars with her celestial voice, causing a terrible quake inside my skull. It didn't take much for her to recover from the shock of getting thrown off her mount. Her black wings unfurl, and her eyes glow an angry red.
Lev unloads a volley of silvered bullets her way. She turns away from the shots, sparks of electricity flash out with each impact of bullets. Then Lara flies by, slicing Marchosias across the thigh with her silvered shortsword. Kyle shoots a ray of ice at her face, blinding her momentarily before flying at her with his silvered katana and clipping her wing.
She howls in pain.
"A little help!" yells Tamon.
Tamon jumps off The Irispire, and once again, I hold out my arm to catch him. Our arms find each other, and I use his momentum to swing him towards Marchosias. He flies at Marchosias, wielding his battleaxe and delivers a forceful blow right at her shoulder blade. Lara catches Tamon on the other side and uses the same maneuver to fling Tamon back to The Irispire.
"Go get Roxxanda," says Kyle. "We can handle this."
Marchosias roars in fury and charges at me, looking to cleave me in half with her sword. I parry her blow with The Destroying Angel and start flying up, racing to the top of The Irispire. Marchosias follows. Our swords meet each other again and again, both of us flying up — me looking down at her, and her looking up at me.
Then I see something horrific. Coming up from below is the spirit of the giant demon wolf, a ghost of pulsing black and purple energy, looking for its next physical host to absorb into. The demon wolf spirit fuses with Marchosias. The flames on her head erupt. Her muscles grow and stretch until she's fifteen feet tall. Her sword grows too, and my longsword, though indestructible is rendered useless. The sheer force Marchosias can generate will knock me out. All I can do is evade.
The others do a great job of harrying her. Tamon keeps jumping off of The Irispire and attacking Marchosias with his battleaxe, and with either Lev’s, Kyle’s, or Lara’s help swings himself back onto the giant rock formation so he can continue climbing.
Kyle is visibly weak. Using his magic has taken its toll on him. He's been combining his elven precision and his raw human power to create some potent spell effects, but now he is done. He looks like he's carrying his katana heavy in his hand. He rushes up and takes a swipe at Marchosias' sword arm.
Marchosias roars, stops trying to whack at me with her blade, and turns her eyes to Kyle.
"NO!" I scream.
Marchosias, the size of a giant, swats Kyle into the Irispire. Kyle crashes against the rock. Tamon catches Kyle and sets him down on a thin ledge. I want to fly down to Kyle, but Tamon stops me.
"Keep going, boy!" Tamon yells. "I'll take care of him."
Marchosias raises her sword to strike Kyle down, Tamon raises his battleaxe to protect, but that won't do much good. Lev unloads fifteen rounds to Marchosias' face to distract her, while Lara swoops in and slices her shortsword across the top of Marchosias' back.
Marchosias screams. She transforms her sword into a black whip with veins of magma running across the surface. Then she cocks it back and lashes it towards Lara. The cord wraps around Lara's waist. The veins of magma glow and burn through Lara's suit. I remember the pain of having that thing wrapped around my neck, and I fly to Lara.
Lev continues firing at Marchosias, distracting her enough for me to get to Lara, and cut the whip so that she is released. The part of the whip wrapped around Lara hardens to rock. I use the pommel of my sword to break it. Above us, Lev and Tamon continue to keep Marchosias busy. Kyle has now joined in, looking sluggish and weak. He takes very few swipes at the twenty foot tall winged demon, and only in places where he wouldn't get countered — a nip at her calf here, a strike at her shin there.
Lara's unconscious and I shake her face.
"Larastrumbala, please wake up."
The whip burned through her erolith uniform, and through her blistered, pink, glistening skin. I can see the red muscle fibers of her abdomen. She’s hurt bad.
"Larastrumbala...Larastrumbala..."
She's not coming to.
I yell up. "Kyle!"
I have Lara cradled in my arms, and fly up to him.
Tamon and Lev are giving Marchosias a run for her money, but who knows how long that will last. This time Lev's added grenades into the mix, throwing them in time for them to detonate as soon as Marchosias goes for any of us.
Kyle sees me flying up toward them and flies down to meet me.
"She's not doing good," I tell him.
"Breathing?" Kyle asks.
"Barely."
"If I use another spell..." he says.
"I know," I say.
We both look up at Marchosias fighting our two friends
Kyle bites his bottom lip. "Come," he says.
Kyle leads me to a ledge on The Irispire. I set Lara down. Kyle reaches out his right hand, and the area around it starts to warp and bend as he touches The Field Eternal. Blood drips from his nose, and the color drains from his face. He gathers Field energy in his left hand and forms a spinning yellow crystal. He combines both spell effects and touches Lara. The wounds around Lara's abdomen heal rapidly. They're still pink and starkly contrasted against her ebony skin, but they are no longer open.
Lara's eyes open with a gasp. Kyle's eyes roll to the back of his head, and he falls forward into Lara's arms
Forty-Nine
"Brother," says Lara, catching Kyle.
She inspects her brother's face. His golden brown skin is now ashen. His doe green eyes are blank and lifeless.
"Is he..."
Lara checks his pulse and tersely shakes her head, tears streaming down her face.
"He's almost gone," she says.
"Well do something!"
"I can't!" Lara screams back. "I can't use Ashyanthinasi to heal what Ashyanthinasi has taken away."
"You healed him before," I say.
"I healed what was left. I don't know how much of Kylanthansa is left now. I need to get him out of here," she says. "I need to — wait, what are you doing here?"
She grabs the top of my breastplate and pulls me close to her face. "People are dying! My home is under attack! King Hurdalin's armies are fighting a losing battle! Tamon and Levinson are up there fighting Marchosias alone! All so we can give you time to get the sword to Astraea! Meanwhile here you sit here, idle!"
"I...I came for you. I thought you were dead," I say.
"Then you should have let me die," says Lara.
I look around me. To the north, King Hurdalin's army is falling back. There are about fifty fifteen foot tall minotaurs, ogres, large flying horned demons, plus ranks upon ranks of normal-sized demons fighting against the Thadamar. King Hurdalin’s warriors are leaping, tumbling, and swinging from whatever they can to survive.
Up top, Lev is smart in keeping his distance from Marchosias, shooting from range. Once Marchosias' attention moves to him, Tamon makes sure to catch her with his battleaxe and then bounce back to the Irispire, so Marchosias sees him as the bigger threat. But even Tamon has his limits. How long can he go on? How long can any of them go on?
"Nyyx Mara," says Lara, turning my attention back to her.
I look into her luminous, violet eyes. They look desperate and worried.
"Only you can do this now," she says. "You must get Azrael to her Bearer. Now go!"
She pushes me away. I activate the flying crystal she attached to my back. Field energy courses through my entire body, and I command the crystal to fly up and to fly fast. I look to the top of The Irispire. Astraea's up there. The image of her, tortured and broken, comes back to me. I can see her chained up to a torture rack with her clothes and her skin torn. Spots of burnt flesh and blisters cover her body. Parts of her skin are flayed, her face beat up, plump, swollen, and bruised. What had she
suffered because of our tarrying? Has she not suffered enough?
Marchosias is up ahead. Her whip is a sword once again, and she swings it at Tamon, but Tamon tumbles out of the way, and her sword strikes The Irispire, sending huge chunks of rock falling past me. I twist a little to evade. She sees me coming up, and her eyes focus on The Destroying Angel.
Come get me. I'm the one you want.
Marchosias takes in a huge breath, and her lungs fill with celestial fire. Then she releases a gout of flame. I evade the fire, roll to my side, and take a swipe at her calf. The Destroying Angel bites into her, and she screams. The sword has been called The Angel of Death, and its Bearer shall lead an army of angels. I have no army. I'm not the Bearer. I'm only a man now. She turns to me, her irises burning like magma. She grabs at me, and I try to fly out of her reach, but she catches me and throws me against the Irispire.
I impact the stone. The bones in my left arm are crushed. I can only wield the longsword with one hand. Not my ideal fighting situation, but it doesn't render me ineffective either. I try to move, and my whole left-side burns with painful complaint. Three broken ribs, maybe four. Thank god my lung isn't punctured. I'm still breathing okay.
"Did you think you could win?" says Marchosias in her celestial voice.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Silvered bullets hit the back of Marchosias' giant black feathered wings. A look of annoyance flashes over Marchosias' beautiful face. She spins around with speed uncanny for her size and swats Lev out of the air like a bug. Lev tumbles end over end at first but then drops.
"LEV!!!" I yell.
"Now where were we?" says Marchosias.
She brings her sword up to a high guard and brings it down on me with a descending cut. I fly away from The Irispire, narrowly escaping. She obliterates the ledge I was perched on with her blow, her sword biting deep into the rock. The top of the giant stalagmite teeters.
Tamon! Where's Tamon?
He's nowhere to be found. Then I see something way up there. About a quarter mile up, almost to the top of The Irispire, is a dwarf, in heavy armor, tumbling, swinging, and climbing his way to the top.
The Irispire Portal Page 29
