by James Riley
Fortunately a figure appeared on the other side, blocking out the insanity. “Michael?” Gabriel said, his voice cracking as the boy from Sierra’s memories stepped through the teleportation circle, which quickly closed behind him.
This Michael had the same red hair, the same face, but somehow his body seemed to be constantly changing, at times almost fluid like a liquid, only to quickly shift to nearly diamondlike density. His whole body faded away until it was close to transparent, like a cloud, then caught fire like D’vale, and then back again. And his eyes…
Fort turned away, unable to even look at them further. Michael’s eyes looked just like what had lain beyond the teleportation circle—lunacy personified.
“HELLO, GABRIEL,” Michael said, waving his hand and leaving a trail of mist behind it. “IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME. HOW ARE YOU?”
“Mike,” Gabriel said, tears streaming down his face. “What… what did they do to you?”
“THEY OPENED MY EYES, GABRIEL,” Michael said, and Fort flinched at their mention. “OUR BODIES ARE MADE OF STAR MATTER. WE ARE ONE WITH THE UNIVERSE, AND MORE! EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED, AND I CONTROL IT ALL.”
“Mike, they’re going to let you come home with me,” Gabriel said, stepping closer to his brother and slowly holding out a hand. “Do you understand what I’m saying? You can come back to Earth, with me and mom, even with the colonel. We’re your family. That’s where you belong.”
“EARTH?” Michael tilted his head, as if he was confused. “NO, I DON’T BELIEVE I WILL. NOT YET. I HAVE TOO MUCH TO LEARN HERE. THE OLD ONES ARE GOOD TEACHERS, GABRIEL. IF YOU LET THEM, THEY CAN OPEN YOUR MIND TOO, AND YOU CAN SEE THE TRUTH OF WHO WE ARE, AND WHAT THIS REALITY TRULY IS. THEN YOU AND I WILL BRING THEM BACK HOME AND HELP ALL OF HUMANITY TO SEE, JUST LIKE WE DO.”
Fort swallowed hard, readying a teleportation circle. That was it. The Old Ones had given Michael the choice, and he’d chosen to stay with them. And that meant—
“Mike, no,” Gabriel said, stumbling toward his brother. “Please, you have to come back. They’re letting you decide! Are they making you say these things? If the real you, the Michael I remember, is in there somewhere… just say the word, and I’ll help you. I’ll fight them and bring you back no matter what! I don’t care if I have to burn down the universe to do it.”
“OH, GABRIEL,” Michael said, putting a hand on his brother’s cheek. “THEY ARE NOT MAKING ME SAY ANYTHING. I’VE LEFT YOU AND DAD BEHIND NOW. BUT IT’S NOT TOO LATE. COME WITH ME, AND YOU’LL SEE WHAT I HAVE. LET ME PROTECT YOU FOR ONCE, GABRIEL.”
Gabriel looked up at his brother and raised a hand toward him. Was he going to leave with Michael, go back with the Old Ones? He couldn’t… could he?
“Mike, I—”
THE CHOICE HAS BEEN MADE, Ketas declared, and Fort felt the Old One’s presence push into his mind, infecting him with its incomprehensible horror. Gabriel also stiffened as a yellow glow appeared over his head, the same thing likely happening to him. HOWEVER, OUR APPRENTICE HAS MADE YOU AN OFFER, AND YOU MAY ACCEPT. BEFORE YOU DO, LET US MAKE SURE THAT YOUR INFORMATION WAS TRUE.
The cavern around them disappeared, replaced by a mental image of a human woman standing before two children, both tied up and looking completely out of it. Lost in his own mind, Fort screamed noiselessly as he recognized first Sierra, then Damian, with Agent Cole standing over them.
“This will all go much easier on you if you reveal where the stolen books went,” Agent Cole said, leaning in toward Sierra, whose head lolled to one side.
WE HAVE INDEED FOUND THE LAST DRAGON, Ketas said in their heads. PERHAPS WE WILL SHOW YOU HIS TRUE POWER NOW?
Even through the dimensional distance, the Old One lifted a hand, and Damian straightened in his seat, whatever sedative they’d given him overwhelmed by the presence of Ketas. His eyes went wide, and he began to struggle against his bonds, an inhuman growl coming from his throat.
“What… what is this?” Agent Cole said, stepping backward, holding up her weapon, and lifting a phone to her mouth. “This is Cole, get in here! We’ve got a—”
Damian’s bindings ripped in half, and he leaped for her as his body began to morph, wings growing out of his back and his mouth filling with rows of razor-sharp teeth. He lifted Agent Cole with a now-massive hand and flung her against the wall, then roared so loudly the room shook.
THE LAST OF ITS KIND, Ketas told them. MADE FROM MAGIC AND ABLE TO ACCESS ITS EVERY POWER. AND HE IS OURS ONCE AGAIN!
Damian was the last dragon?! With everything happening at once, Fort almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. But Ketas couldn’t have used Corporeal magic to change him… it was something inside himself. And that would explain why he wouldn’t talk about where he’d come from before the school, and why he could learn magic so quickly.
Damian in dragon form turned toward Sierra with a low growl and opened his mouth to unleash a fiery death sentence. NO! Fort tried to shout, but Ketas had him under his control, and there was nothing he could do but watch—
“MY CHILD!” came a roar from above, and a second dragon dove directly through Damian and Sierra to slam into Ketas. The image of the interrogation room faded instantly, and Fort felt his mind clear as the cavern returned, revealing the father of the dragons raking at his brother’s crystalline armor with his claws.
“Fort!” someone yelled, and he glanced up to find Rachel floating down on a platform of rocks, while a sea of dwarves rappelled the wall behind her, using lightning as ropes, controlling it with just their bare hands. “Go, get out of here while they’re distracted!”
SAVE ME! Ketas shrieked at his siblings, but it was Michael that moved first. He raised a hand toward the dragon, and the Old One roared as the elements making up his body all pulled apart at once, only to smash back together, crashing to the ground.
“CHILD, LOOK TO OUR FORMER BROTHER TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO DISOBEY,” Q’baos said to Michael. She raised her hand, and the dragon went still, then stood up, bowing toward its family.
“Heads up!” Rachel yelled, and Fort looked up just in time to catch a heavy silver staff that she threw. She nodded at the dragon. “Do it!”
Without a second thought, Fort leaped forward and slammed the staff against the dragon’s scales.
Blue Healing light filled the creature, and he shrieked again, then turned back to Ketas. “YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE!” he roared, his hands glowing bright blue. Ketas put up his tentacles to stop him, but it was too late.
The Old One’s tentacles pulled up into his body while he screamed in pain and anger. His crystalline armor cracked and fell away as the Old One rapidly increased in size, rising high into the air, his skin growing black, shiny scales. The skull helmet he wore exploded off of a head that now began to resemble something even more monstrous than the tentacles he’d previously had.
“STOP HIM!” D’vale shouted, but both Q’baos and Michael were transfixed, watching Ketas’s evolution into a Dracsi. “THEN I WILL DO IT MYSELF,” D’vale finished, and turned on the dragon.
The blue light disappeared as the Old One of Corporeal magic abruptly dissolved, each mineral and element in his body releasing from each other at the same time.
“Fort!” Rachel shouted. “We have to get out of here now!”
“Go!” he shouted to her. “I’m right behind you!”
She growled in frustration but took off toward the ceiling and the portal home.
The dwarves reached the ground and came running, all wielding axes and other weapons, but now that Ketas’s transformation had stopped, Q’baos raised a hand, and the dwarves all skidded to a stop, falling to their knees in worship. They began to chant words of praise toward the Old One, and from off in the distance, Fort could hear more dwarves doing the same, the noise shaking the rock all around him.
“PLEASE, GABRIEL,” Michael told him, extending his hand to Gabriel… and also Fort. “COME. I DO NOT WISH TO SEE YOU PERISH LIKE MY MASTERS’ FORMER BROTHER.”
Gabriel looked down at the spot where the dragon had been destroyed, then slowly took a step toward Michael…
Only to step through a teleportation circle, with Fort just behind him.
- FORTY-THREE -
FIRST GABRIEL, THEN FORT CRASHED through the teleportation circle and the portal back to Earth, slamming into the ground. The moment Fort saw Rachel waiting, he immediately shut down the portal, finally cutting off all access to the Dracsi dimension.
Gabriel rolled to his feet and just stared down at Fort in shock. “What did you do?” he whispered.
“I saved your life,” Fort said, rising to his feet too.
“You should have left him there,” Rachel said, fireballs forming in her hands.
Gabriel shot her a look, then bashed her away with his shield before turning on Fort. Even at his size, Gabriel was too fast, and the hit knocked Fort back into the rock wall hard enough to make the world spin. Fort struggled just to breathe as the air exploded from his lungs.
“What did you do?!” Gabriel shouted again, then smashed him with the shield. “You left Mike behind! Open that portal again. Now!”
“Get away from him!” Rachel shouted, and a piece of the wall slammed into Gabriel, knocking the boy to the ground. Before Gabriel could move, the rocks beneath him rose up to ensnare his hands and feet.
“Let me go!” Gabriel shouted, frantically pulling against the rock, but even his strength wasn’t enough to break through stone. “He’s my brother! I need to bring him back!”
Fort pushed off the wall, still sucking in air. “Michael’s… gone,” he said to Gabriel, shaking his head sadly. “You saw him. He had the choice, and he wanted to stay with them.”
“He was under their spell!” Gabriel shouted.
“He said he wasn’t,” Fort said as Rachel put her shoulder under his arm to support him. “And from how he was talking, I believe him. Besides, you gave the Old Ones Damian. If the dragon hadn’t stopped them, they could have used him to return to Earth and killed us all!”
“He’s my brother!” Gabriel snarled. “I’d do whatever it takes to bring him home. Do you really think this wasn’t the plan all along? I always intended to do this! I even told Cyrus my plan, and he said it’d work, as long as I stayed behind. But you ruined it. You stopped me from saving him!”
Fort’s eyes widened. Cyrus knew what Gabriel had planned? Why hadn’t he said anything to Fort? Or tried to stop him? What had Cyrus been thinking?
“We need to hand him over to his father,” Rachel said, sneering at the captured boy. “It makes me sick just to look at him.”
“This is Fort’s fault, all of it!” Gabriel screamed. His trapped hands began to glow green, and a portal appeared below him, then rose up through the spot he’d been trapped in. He appeared just above them and crashed down straight into Fort, the rocks tumbling off of them both harmlessly.
“Watch out!” Rachel shouted, and leaped for him, but another teleportation circle opened, and she disappeared.
“Take me back there now,” Gabriel said, his eyes wild as he held Fort against the ground.
“I can’t!” Fort shouted, hoping his bluff would work. “I never mastered the spell. Bring Rachel back!”
“You wouldn’t have gone in without rereading the spell!” Gabriel shouted, and grabbed Fort’s hands. “You wouldn’t have taken that chance, not with your father over there. I know you can cast it!”
Instead of struggling, Fort opened a teleportation circle below them, and the two dropped into the sky above New York City, Gabriel’s hands still locked around Fort’s.
“Even if I did still know the spell, I’d never cast it again!” Fort shouted as they plummeted toward the ground. “I won’t lose you to the Old Ones too!”
Gabriel released one of Fort’s hands and punched him in the gut, then opened a teleportation circle underneath them, which they dropped through and into incredibly warm air. Fort glanced down to find an active volcano below them, lava rising out of the cone in all directions.
And they were falling straight for it.
“You have to cast it!” Gabriel shouted, punching him again. “Open a portal, or I let you fall!”
Fort tried to concentrate to open a circle, but a blow sent the world spinning, and everything began to go dark. The lava below him now was so hot he could feel the heat through his clothing, but Gabriel didn’t seem to be bluffing.
“Okay!” Fort said. “I’ll do it! I promise!”
But the heat was overwhelming now, and he wondered if Gabriel would have the time to—
They passed through another circle, emerging from a vertical circle onto a tiled floor, their momentum sending them skidding down a familiar-looking hallway. Gabriel twisted around until he was behind Fort and put him in a headlock.
“Now,” Gabriel said, as Fort heard yelling and footsteps coming toward them. “Open the portal, right back where it was. If you do anything else, I’ll drop you into that volcano inches from the lava. You won’t have time to save yourself.”
“You’d kill me to get your brother back?” Fort gasped, struggling to breathe against Gabriel’s grip.
“I’d burn the whole world down,” Gabriel sneered. “I was supposed to protect him! When my father heard about the books of magic, I told him Mike was too young, that he should send me instead, but no, Mike had the right birthday and had to go. It’s his fault that my brother got taken, but yours that I lost him again!”
“It was… the Old Ones,” Fort grunted.
“Gabriel!” shouted Colonel Charles from behind them. “Let him go. What is going on here?”
“I found Michael, Colonel,” Gabriel said, not turning around. “And I’m going to fix your mistake. I’m going to bring him back.”
“What are you talking about?” Colonel Charles shouted. “Your brother is gone!”
“NO!” Gabriel shrieked. “No, he’s not! I never believed that. You let him go, but I always knew he was still alive! That’s why I asked you for the book of Summoning two weeks ago. I studied Space magic so I could go look for him! But then you took the book away before I could master the portal spell, and I thought I’d have to steal it back… but fortunately, my new roomie had the same plan. So I waited for what felt like years. And finally Fort learned the right spell, and we found him!”
“I’ve got a shot,” one of the guards yelled.
“No one fire!” Colonel Charles said. “Son, let the boy go, and we’ll talk.”
“Don’t you call me that!” Gabriel shouted, throwing a look behind him. “You’re no father of mine, not since you brought Mike to this school and then left him in the hands of those things. But Mike’s alive, and I know where he is! Fort has the power to send me back, and I can rescue Mike!”
Gabriel’s arm tightened around Fort’s throat, cutting off his air. “I’ll… do it,” Fort gasped, and his hands began to glow with magic as his mind raced. If he reopened the portal again, the Old Ones would be waiting, and that was it. But if he didn’t, Gabriel would throw him into the volcano instantly.
“I’m not letting go until it’s done,” Gabriel said quietly to him. “And you’re coming with me, to that dimension. If we find Mike again and bring him back, then you’ll come home too. If not, then we all stay.”
Fort nodded, and Gabriel released his grip slightly, just enough to let Fort breathe again.
“Gabriel, please, don’t do this!” Colonel Charles said, his voice cracking. “I can’t… I can’t lose you, too!”
“Then you shouldn’t have let Mike come in the first place,” Gabriel said, turning back to look at his father. “This is YOUR FAULT—”
That was his chance. Fort opened a tiny teleportation circle into his pocket, and the silver hammer, Earthshatterer, dropped from it directly into his hand. “I’m sorry, Gabriel,” he whispered, then slammed the hammer onto the floor next to him.
The tile instantly exploded into dust, and suddenly they were falling. As they dropped, Fort could
see a glow coming from Gabriel’s hands as the other boy tried to open a teleportation circle.
But he was too slow, and the next floor down was too close.
They crashed into the concrete with a horrifying crunch, and then everything mercifully went dark.
- FORTY-FOUR -
FORT FLOATED IN A SEA of confusion for the next few days, waking to find different people standing over him, only to fall unconscious again. Any amount of time could have passed, and he’d have had no way of knowing. He was vaguely aware of Dr. Ambrose being present, and Jia at times, but other than that, everything was a blur.
And then he awoke to find himself in a blank, unformed place with only the bed beneath him as proof that he wasn’t still asleep.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” a voice said, and Sierra faded into view above him, leaning over his bed. “You had me worried! Are you feeling any better?”
Fort pushed himself to a sitting position, strangely free of all the tubes and wires that he’d felt when he’d woken up the past times. “What happened? Where am I? Is Rachel okay? Are you? What about my father? Did he wake up yet?”
“Okay, settle down,” Sierra said. “You’re still asleep, because you need to heal. If you get too excited, you might wake up. But as far as I’ve seen in Jia’s head, you’re going to be fine. And they found Rachel in Colonel Charles’s house, of all places, so she’s already back.”
Fort frowned. “I need to heal? How badly was I injured?”
Sierra winced. “It wasn’t pretty. You’re lucky Jia was around. She took care of your biggest problems right away, but she had to restore everyone that the Old One morphed, and she’s been working with Dr. Ambrose on your father.” She patted him on the shoulder. “You always get up to such interesting things when I leave you alone, don’t you?”
“My father isn’t awake yet?” Fort tried to push himself out of bed, but somehow found himself right back in it. “Is he okay? What’s going on?!”
