Leaving the handling of the undead to his battle computer, Richard concentrated on the wall. He reached into the ring on his left hand and touched Jeena using the link between the gem in his ring and hers. His bondmate’s love and commitment came flowing back.
“I need your help,” Richard said, sending the words as an emotion.
An emotion Richard took as “Whatever you need” returned.
“What are you going to do?” asked Nickelo. “You may have your memory back, but the Power reserve you use for offense and defense is still blocked. I am unable to determine why.”
Richard didn’t know why either, and he didn’t have time to figure it out. Reaching through his ring’s gem, he drew magic from his bondmate and pulled it into himself. He pulled a lot of magic as if his bondmate had it there ready and waiting.
“I calculate that will do you no good, Wizard Scout. You cannot use magic. What are you trying to accomplish?”
Richard didn’t waste time explaining. Taking a risk that his battle computer was right about Shandria being there, he touched the link she’d once connected to him. He found her at the other end. Her presence was strong. He felt an emotion of desperation from her as if she was in a battle of life and death of her own, but he had no time to worry about that now. He pulled magic from her. She did not resist. He combined her magic with that of his bondmate’s. As the two sources of magic merged, he reached out to the link he’d connected to Mia when he’d formed the Circle back in Point Departure. As her magic came up the link, he noticed Mia glance over her shoulder at him. She looked away just as quickly and went back to fighting the zombies, ghouls, and magic users attacking her side of the intersection.
With the combined magic of the three high priestesses merged into a single ball, Richard touched it to the wall. The magic wasn’t a spell, but it was close enough. The intersection’s stone wall shimmered and fell away, revealing a dimly lit cavern beyond. A glint of light came from the center of the cave near a dark pool of water.
“Switch to clear visor, Nick,” Richard ordered.
“Compliance.”
The red tint of the night-vision filter was replaced by a clear field of energy. Richard had an unobstructed view of the glint of light. It was yellow. As he stared at the light, it grew brighter and began pulsing.
“You have returned,” came a thought in Richard’s mind. The thought wasn’t words, and the voice that said them wasn’t something he could hear, but he took them as words nonetheless.
“Who are you?” Richard asked, keeping the words in his mind.
The yellow light pulsed again. “Who am I? I am that which you have been seeking.”
“What are you?” Richard demanded.
The yellow light pulsed some more. “Don’t you know, Wizard Scout?”
Richard stared at the pulsing yellow light. The glow changed shape, taking on the form of a man with yellow hair dressed in a long white robe. Two-meter-long white wings extended from the man’s back. The yellow-haired man looked at Richard with eyes that resembled pools of blue water. A sense of peace flowed into Richard through the man’s eyes.
The teachings of the sisters at the orphanage where Richard had been raised came rushing back into his mind. In particular, he remembered a painting hanging in the office behind the head sister’s desk. He’d been forced to look at the painting every time he’d been sent to the office for punishment. He’d been sent there a lot. The yellow-haired man standing in the center of the cavern was the spitting image of the painting behind the sister’s desk.
“That’s impossible,” Richard said. “You can’t be one.”
Seeming to smile, the yellow-haired man said, “But I am, Wizard Scout.”
“What are you?” Richard demanded, still refusing to believe his eyes.
“You know what I am, though you refuse to say the word.”
Gritting his teeth, Richard threw off the sense of peace. “I said tell me what you are.”
The yellow-haired man locked eyes with Richard and smiled. “I am an angel.”
Chapter 54 – The Angel
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The sounds of battle raged all around Richard, but he ignored everything except the yellow-haired man standing in his white robe just twenty meters away.
Richard shook his head in disbelief. “You can’t be an angel. I don’t believe it. There’s no such thing. Angels don’t exist. You look like something from a painting I used to see. You’re an illusion.”
The yellow-haired man smiled once more. It was a sad smile. “I suppose it is a good thing that your belief or nonbelief has no bearing on my existence. I do find it strange that you believe in demons easy enough but not angels. As for my looks, I took the form from an image in your mind of the painting you used to see. I can take another form if you prefer. I hoped this one would make you feel more comfortable.”
The man claiming to be an angel lifted his hands to waist level. When he did, Richard noticed a chain composed of intertwined colors of red, blue, and yellow wrapped around the man’s wrists and leading back to a man-sized boulder.
The angel smiled again. “Although as angels go, I must admit that I am a poor one at the moment. As you can tell, I am a prisoner.”
“A prisoner?” Richard asked more to stall for time than desiring an answer. He was above average in intelligence, but even he knew it sometimes took his mind a little while to think things out.
The angel lowered his hands and sighed. “Yes, a prisoner, but the story is too long to tell with words, and your time is too short. Let me show you.”
Images began appearing in Richard’s mind at a rapid-fire pace. He was on a dark and barren, rock-strewn plain. Volcanoes spewed red lava high in the air. A battle of epic proportion raged around him. Thousands, maybe millions of creatures were locked in combat. Some of the creatures had physical forms. Some were nightmarish monsters too hideous to look at while others were in gentler forms more pleasing to the eye. Still others were only concentrations of energy striking out or defending themselves against those around them. Richard sensed good from some of the creatures and evil from others. Some of the evil creatures had forms he’d seen in the past, demons. The good and evil seemed evenly divided.
As he watched, a concentration of yellow energy was attacked by a dozen demons. One demon in the shape of a black shadow with three horns and six eyes of fire raised a battle axe composed of red, blue, and yellow Power. The battle axe struck the yellow energy, which Richard knew with absolute certainty was an angel. A fleck of yellow crystal shot into the air and landed on the plain’s rocky landscape. The angel fought back, but the black shadow struck again with its multicolored axe. A large chunk of the angel’s yellow energy fell to the ground, turning to crystal when it hit. The angel cried out in agony. The black shadow pressed its attack while others of its kind wove chains of Power together and ensnared the angel within. The snare tightened, forcing the angel into a concentrated ball of yellow energy. A score of angels rushed forward to aid their fallen comrade. Before they could get close enough to strike, the black shadow shimmered and disappeared, taking its prisoner with it.
The image of the battle changed to one of a cavern formed by the intersection of three time-bubbles. Knowledge came into Richard’s mind, telling him that demons of untold power had spent many eons creating the prison, for a prison it was. He sensed spheres of blue, red, and yellow being placed in time-bubbles of green, orange, and purple.
Seed parts, Richard thought. Those are the seed parts Shandria and I rescued. They supplied the energy that forms the prison.
The black shadow cast the angel to the floor of the cavern. The multicolored bands of energy binding the captive angel turned into chains.
“There you shall stay until the end of time,” said the black shadow. “Torture shall be your only companion for the rest of eternity. You will no longer play a part in my master’s game. The three time-bubbles will ensure you will remain our prisoner. The Creator’s o
wn helper will supply your prison’s energy. Should some fool try to rescue you from one of the time-bubbles, the other two will keep you locked in place. Despair will be your only existence.” With those words, the black shadow melted into a liquid, forming a pool of dark water on the cavern floor just beyond the stone.
The scene shifted back to the site of the battle between good and evil. An angel of blue energy picked up the larger piece of crystal that had been cut off the yellow angel. The blue angel took the crystal in the form of a yellow gem to a planet Richard recognized as Portalis. There the blue angel gave the gem to a tribe of giants.
“Our comrade has been taken, but this part of him shall be the key,” said the blue angel to the giants. “Keep this part of our companion safe until the time of the Great Battle. This part of our friend is now a part of your world. Woe be unto future generations should this part of our comrade ever be truly destroyed.”
The images in Richard’s mind disappeared as quickly as they had come. He found himself back at the intersection, peering into the cavern. The angel stood next to the boulder with both hands held out. The chains of interwoven blue, red, and yellow energy were clearly visible.
“You have a choice, Wizard Scout,” came words which weren’t words in Richard’s mind. “You and those with you are creatures of freewill. I watched you when you came and helped take the seed parts. I hoped you would return, and here you are. Release me, so that I may do that which needs to be done.”
Richard glanced to his left and right. He sensed his friends growing increasingly hard-pressed by the moment. The cavern’s walls had turned translucent, and he could now see into the other two time-bubbles. He saw Telsa standing side by side with Shandria, Rembis, and another elf fighting against a man more skeleton than flesh. He saw Jeena, Stella, Red Wing, and the dwarves from the Defiant battling against a dark-skinned elf and a mass of Dragars and Thargs. Beams of plasma and magic energy flashed in every direction as both friends and foes began to fall.
“I must help my friends,” Richard said. “If you’re an angel, then you should be able to help yourself.”
The angel shrugged his wings. “Alas, I cannot. I am incomplete. That which was taken from me keeps me helpless. Removing the seed parts weakened my prison enough to allow you to open the door, but not enough for me to escape on my own. Unless I am complete, I cannot break free. You can make me whole again, Wizard Scout. You are a healer. Heal me now, and I will help you as I can.”
Richard thought back to the images he’d been shown. He saw the speck of yellow crystal fall to the ground. He saw the larger crystal being given to the giants on Portalis. An image of the pouch with the yellow shards that Amir carried around his neck flashed in his mind.
That’s just inert dust, Richard thought. It won’t make the angel complete.
Nickelo’s thoughts came into his mind. “I am in contact with Raj. He says Rembis has the fleck of yellow crystal he found in the demonic plane. I calculate it may be possible to use it to reactivate the dust in Amir’s pouch. It is all part of the algorithm.”
The sounds of battle grew louder around Richard.
“This isn’t right,” Richard said. “My friends are being killed. If I had access to all of my Power reserves, I could do this by myself. They could get away. They should never have come. Why didn’t ‘the One’ give me all my abilities? I could’ve done this mission by myself. I know I could.”
“No, you could not,” said Nickelo. “I calculate your attitude is exactly why you do not have access to all of your Power. You would have foolishly tried to do it all by yourself. I also calculate that is why you have not had all of your memories. You would never have allowed the others to come this far if you knew the cost. You need your friends to complete your task. They are expendable. You are not. Neither is the angel. He must be saved. Portalis is the key to the salvation of the three galaxies. You must not allow it to be destroyed.”
Thoughts of Jeena, Shandria, Mia, Telsa, and the others flashed in Richard’s mind. “No! They are not expendable. I will save them.”
“You must save the three dimensions,” said Nickelo. “Some must be sacrificed. Nothing you can do will change that. The algorithm is what the algorithm is.”
The last words Jeena had said before they parted came back to him. “Two elf friends will die.”
“That is right,” said Nickelo. “Two elf friends will die. That is the cost. The price must be paid.”
“I am an elf friend,” Richard said. “If I must die, so be it. But who is the other?”
A battle roar sounded from Richard’s right. He glanced over to see Amir lifting two zombies into the air by their necks and cracking their heads together.
“Yes, Wizard Scout,” said Nickelo. “He is also an elf friend. You need to do what needs to be done. Make your decision now, Wizard Scout. The demons’ reinforcements are nearly here. The elves will be overwhelmed. I calculate Jeena, Telsa, Shandria, and the others will also die if you do not free the angel soon. Decide what you are going to do. Choose now before it is too late.”
Richard glanced through the opposite wall of the cavern to see Jeena swinging her staff at the dark elf. Blue magic surrounded them as magic and counter-magic struggled to gain dominance. The dark elf kicked the Lady’s staff out of the way and knocked Jeena to the ground.
Richard made his decision. “Amir! I need you. The yellow crystal is inside. I need you now.”
Amir dropped the broken bodies of the two zombies and glanced back at Richard. “There are too many of them. I can’t leave now.”
Before Richard could argue, Lord Derander grabbed Amir’s arm and literally threw him to the rear. “Go, you fool. Skylark and I can hold them back for a time. Get the yellow gem. Save our world. That is all that is important.”
Richard sensed the internal struggle within Amir. The big man hesitated a moment before touching a bulge under his chainmail. Giving the mage a nod, he turned and ran to Richard’s side. He looked in the cavern. “I don’t under—” he started.
With no time to explain, Richard grabbed the collar of Amir’s chainmail and dragged him into the cavern as he made his way toward the yellow-haired angel. The sounds of battle stopped. Glancing around, Richard looked through the cavern’s walls at the three time-bubbles. Both friends and enemies were frozen as if time no longer existed.
“It doesn’t,” came a voice Richard recognized as that of the angel. This time the voice was something he heard with his ears and not with his mind. “My prison is an intersection of time-bubbles. It is a time all unto itself. It is past, present, and future.”
“The seed parts are no longer in the three time-bubbles,” Richard said out loud. “Shandria found two of them, and I found the third. She took them with her to Silverton and planted the Tree of Light.”
The angel shook his head. “No, that is where you are wrong, Wizard Scout. They are still here, but yet they are not here. Time is not linear. The seed parts are still here in the past, and they energize this prison in the future. Unless I am made whole, I cannot escape. You must make me complete before my jailer returns. The dark one is on the way now. I sense it.”
Amir had remained silent until now. After glancing through the cavern’s translucent walls at the frozen battle scenes in the three time-bubbles, he looked back at the yellow-haired man. He touched the bulge beneath his chainmail. “You are an angel like the one spoken of in our legends. The remains of the Heart-stone inside my pouch tells me it is so. What must I do?”
“You must give the part of me you carry to the healer. All the resources he needs are here at this intersection of time and space. Hurry. The moment of possibilities will soon be gone.”
Richard narrowed his eyes. “You said time doesn’t exist here. We should have all the time in the world to talk things over.”
Despite his previous entreaties for urgency, the angel smiled. “In this place, a moment is an eternity, and an eternity is but a moment. Even so, your time is short, Wi
zard Scout. Decide now what you are going to do. My jailer comes. He will be here soon. Decide now, or the choice will be made for you.”
Richard stared into the blue pools that were the angel’s eyes. He sensed something he’d been denied most of his life. He sensed the peace he’d refused earlier. He allowed the feeling of peace to wash over him.
Turning to Amir, Richard said, “Give me the pouch.”
Perhaps it was the presence of the angel, or perhaps it was the sight of the frozen battles seen through the cavern’s walls. In either case, Amir raised a hand to his neck, pulled the leather thong holding the pouch over his head, and handed the bag to Richard without argument.
Richard didn’t bother opening the pouch. He knew what was there. Inert though the shattered gem was, still something within the pouch called out to him, begging him to reunite the gem with its other parts. Holding the pouch in his palm, Richard reached out with his mind through the cavern’s walls to Rembis. He sensed a flicker of yellow in the pocket of the gnome mage. Pulling Power through the connection Jeena and he shared with the ring on his finger, Richard wrapped it around the vial in Rembis’s pocket and pulled. Although the battle was frozen in time, the vial came willingly. It passed through the cavern wall and hovered in the air an arms-length away from the pouch. A speck of yellow glinted in the vial.
“Amir,” Richard said. “I need help.”
Richard sensed a line of Power reach out from Amir and touch the speck of yellow. The speck responded by glowing brighter. Richard felt the pouch in his hand pull as if the contents it carried yearned to be one with the speck. Taking hold of the line of Power from Amir to the speck, Richard pulled it into the shards of the yellow gem that were in the pouch. He compared the inert gem dust in the pouch to the glowing speck in the vial. Using Amir’s Power, Richard pulled the difference between the inert shards of the Heart-stone and the glowing speck into himself.
Wizard Gigantic (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 9) Page 45
