by Andy Nadir
“I control…hellfire?” Aloysha asked.
Daren growled at him. “Yes. There has never been a Guardian to control it. Users of Hellfire always turn to the Legion. Besides, the first time they use it, the pain takes over them. The first time they use their abilities is when they lose their mind.”
Alyosha made an noise of comprehension. “Ah, I can see how it could do that. But, this fire put the pain out.”
“Nonsense. The only thing that can counter Malice is Skyfire, which is the flame used to smite evil…” Daren trailed off as Alyosha formed a flickering ball of magma in his left hand.
“Is this what it looks like?” He asked.
Daren gulped. “I…it looks close to what the mage council member can control. You control both Malice and Skyfire? How do you do this?” Daren whispered.
He shook his head. “I cannot teach you anything. For all I know, you’re an illusionist. No. I will consult the council, and they will see what to do with your team. You all have the strangest powers I have ever seen. Morphing into a Demon? Controlling blood? Animating swords to such power? And to top it off, you have a Healer who has the all-seeing mind? Suspicious as hell. You stay here. Trainers, to me! We return to the council at once!”
Chapter Eleven
There was a whistle as Daren turned into an ice statue and shattered into pieces.
“Sorry for his outbreak. We haven’t seen such a powerful group of people in a while. Do not worry, you will be safe. Stay here, and plant your crops. Follow your original plans before you learned of the Guardians.” Ron said, and disappeared with a clap.
The rest of the instructors followed him.
The group turned to Alyosha.
“What the hell just happened?” Leah asked.
Alyosha shrugged. “I made an explosion, Daren started bawling?”
Abby chuckled. “What’s this staff thing?” She asked, and bent to pick it up.
Alyosha slapped her hand away from the weapon. “Do not touch it. It will burn you.”
Abby snatched her hand back. “It’s that Malice stuff?”
He nodded. “I…will join you later. Go find Logan, tell him. I need to think.” He said with finality.
They others looked at each other, and nodded. “Ok. Call if you need us.” Leah said.
Alyosha smirked slightly. “As if I would need you.”
Connor shrugged. “You’re just as lost as we are.” He said.
Alyosha sighed. “Leave me to think. I will join you shortly.”
They left the lobby to find Logan.
Alyosha turned his attention to the weapon. “I know what you are. You want to corrupt me, and make me your pawn. I have played chess. The pawns die first. I will not be a pawn. I will be a queen.”
He summoned Skyfire with his left hand, and it flickered into a shining ball.
With his right hand, he pulled up Malice.
“I am thinking I will regret this.” He whispered to himself, and brought the two energies together.
There was a massive roar of outrage when he touched the two together.
He could feel the two sides of the conflict. The Skyfire roared with righteous fury, grasping to kill the Malice. The Malice hissed with deep anger, and Alyosha could feel it want to make others feel the darkness, the pain of banishment from the most beautiful place. The two energies crackled and spat, but Alyosha kept them from engaging.
“No. I control this portion of you. You will not fight. I need your help. These demons have invaded this land, and they must leave. I will be queen in this game of death. You want to fight? Do it somewhere else. When you are with me, you work for me.” He hissed.
He felt the Skyfire stop straining against him. The Malice also stopped. “You wish to make us work for you? White and Black? Good and Evil?” Malice hissed to Alyosha.
“There is no Good and Evil. There is only choices, and bad choices.” Alyosha replied.
The energy fell silent. “The mortal speaks the truth. We are made by our choices, and Malice, you made a bad one. I propose a truce under this boy. The Lord forbade the angels from fighting the demons on earth off, for he has mortal champions to fight them off. This man is one of them. You have made bad choices, but we both know you do not want earth destroyed. With earth gone, there is no middle ground between Heaven and Hell. The gateway will seal…forever.” Skyfire said.
“Damn you, Skyfire. I cannot argue against you on this point. Your point has been made. We shall work together, just this once. Mortal, let it be known that you are the first, and last, human to ever tame us both.” Malice hissed.
“I have not tamed you, and I am not foolish enough to think otherwise. Your powers are beyond the scope of my life, I am not vain enough to think otherwise. Even in this team I have found, I am not the smartest. I can fight, but so can they. I am nothing special. But, I will fight for both of you. I will send the Demons back to where they belong, and I will protect my land. The Lord will have some use for me.”
Alyosha felt the resistance from the two forces fade away, and the two balls of fire merged. He focused on the result he wanted, and held his hands together until he felt the flames flicker out.
He watched the shining white light of the Skyfire flicker out and reveal a gauntlet. It was made with linking pieces of metal, each black with dashes of orange. “Behold. The union of Skyfire and Malice.” He said to himself.
Alyosha slipped the glove on, and felt his power pulse in response. Carefully, he reached down and picked up the scythe with it. There was a rush of energy, and the orange stripes on the glove shimmered as the held the dark staff in check. Alyosha pressed the extrusion on the staff, and the blade slid back into the weapon.
On pure instinct, he slammed the butt of the staff into the ground. The echo sounded like the triumphant roar of a victorious army.
He walked outside to find everyone else, the sound of his staff smacking against the floor emphasizing his steps.
They were all standing in the dirt fields. Logan was holding the sacks of grain.
“…And we’ll plant them in the ditches we make. This is the right time of year, so we’ll have food for the winter if we do this right.” Logan was saying.
Alyosha strode into the circle and leaned heavily on the staff.
Logan stopped talking. “Alyosha! Are you ok?”
He nodded. “The conflict is over.”
Logan stared at the staff. “Wow. I’ve never seen this material and my ability doesn’t tell me anything about it…” Logan said dreamily and reached for the staff.
A tongue of Skyfire shot out of the glove and slapped Logan’s hand away.
“It is dangerous.” Alyosha warned.
“Whoa. Do you have some sort of spell to automatically protect you from people?” He asked.
Alyosha tilted his head. “Doesn’t your ability tell you?”
Logan shrugged. “It doesn’t want to get near you.
Alyosha smirked. “It just protects the staff from innocent hands that would be harmed by it. It would allow an evil man to touch it, and die from it.”
Logan jerked his hand away from the staff. “That weapon is made from Malice.” He realized.
Alyosha nodded. “It is. Continue on what you were saying?”
Logan nodded. “Right. It shouldn’t be very hard to keep the plants watered of Connor can direct water from the ocean around us through the island and to the spots I tell him to put it. You’ll have to leave the salt behind. Can you do it?”
Connor shrugged. “I have no clue. I can try.” He said.
They headed over to the ocean, and Connor sat down on the edge of the island.
A moment later, a tube of water flowed up from the sea and ran up the rocks of the island to coil around Connor’s feet. Alyosha suddenly rammed his staff into the ground with a sound like thunder and pinched a bit of the water tube. He pulled his hand up, and a small ball of water stayed suspended between his thumb and pointer finger. He droppe
d it in his mouth.
“There is no salt.” He said.
Connor looked up from the water. “How did you pick up the water?” He asked.
Alyosha flexed the hand with the glove on it. “This glove absorbs power. I figured it might absorb a bit of your power briefly. It can’t do much to anything since it’s suppressing the staff.” He said.
He grabbed the staff and lifted it off the ground. “Shall we plant the grain and get it over with?” He asked.
Logan nodded. “Yeah. Everyone but Leah and Connor go grab… Wait. We need somewhere to hold the seeds while we scatter them.”
“Don’t we need to plow the ground first?” Abby asked.
“Yeah. Could you animate something to do it?” He asked Abby.
She nodded, and looked around for a suitable applicant.
Leah tossed her a metal rake. “It should work. It has really long and thick prongs on it.” She said.
Abby nodded, and focused on the rake. It quivered, and Abby released it. The rake shot to the dirt fields, and slammed itself into the ground. It then began to drag itself through the dirt.
“It will take about an hour for that to finish. We need to find something for us to hold the seeds in while we scatter them.” Logan said.
“Can’t we just keep them in their backpacks and do it that way?” Leah asked.
Logan grunted. “We could, but it would be awfully slow. It would be faster I few each had a small bag.”
“Hey, The front desk usually has these little gift baskets in it…” Alyosha said.
Logan nodded. “Those would work. Could you go check?”
Alyosha ran off to check the front desk and Logan sat down.
Leah frowned. “Are you ok?” She asked.
“Yeah. My head hurts a little. I guess these abilities are like an unused muscle We have to use them a lot to be able to use them painlessly.”
Leah sighed. “Great, more work.”
“What else are you going to do? There isn’t much to do on this island, and all the other bases are pretty much the same as this with small differences. Some might be farms as well, with the apocalypse and such, but I’m sure a few are armories and such.
Leah started to grin. “I just got a great idea.”
“Oh?”
“Why don’t we make a business? The Guardians have thousands of bases, and Demons can’t get to us. So, while we train to fight, we could have Abby enchant items and stuff. Most of have things that could sell for something. Like new grain or the such.”
Logan nodded slowly. “Is it strange to get so excited in the middle of an apocalypse?”
Alyosha returned from the front desk with several bags with the hotel’s symbol on them and tossed them to Logan.
“No. The human brain cannot remain sad for more than three days.”
“We’ll continue this discussion later.” Logan said.
Chapter Twelve
He took the bags of seeds and sorted them into the bags Alyosha had brought.
“These are corn. Those are sunflower, and those are Wheat.” He said, pointing to three of the bags.
“Alyosha, you take the wheat bag and scatter it on the left side of the field. Abby, you put the corn on the right. Leave about two feet from the edge and pathways down the middle two feet wide. Leah, you’ll plant the sunflower seeds along the edges.” He rubbed his hands together.
The rake flew back to Abby, and clattered to the ground. “Ok. It finished.” Abby said.
They picked up their grain bags and began scattering the seeds.
A few hours later, they stepped back and looked over the fields. “Ok, Connor. Take the water and have it enter the field in the places I showed you.” Logan said.
He held a map in front of Connor’s face. He glanced at it briefly, and tubes of water shot out across the ground. They went around the field and entered it.
“Ok, Abby. Enchant the water to stay like this, and enter the ground at these times.” Logan said, showing her the map he showed Connor.
Abby staggered backwards, gasping. She leaned heavily on the wall of one of the hotels. “Ok. I did it” She said.
Logan grinned. “Great! It’s too bad we don’t have someone who can make stuff grow fast. Then we’d have food soon and wouldn’t have to get too much from the GOP.”
Alyosha scratched his head. “I think my Skyfire might help. It is from Heaven, so I assume it might have some helpful properties.”
Logan frowned. “My ability doesn’t know anything. Nobody ever tried before. How high can you keep the fire in the air?” He asked.
Alyosha shrugged. “No clue.”
Logan rolled his eyes. “Can you keep the fire in the air permanently?” He asked.
“I will find a way.” He promised.
Logan nodded. “I think you will. Someone should head to the main base and get some food for us. Also, check if they have a currency of their own and if so, how businesses work. OK?”
Chuck walked over to them. He ruffled Leah’s hair. “I can answer a few of those questions. Our currency is the universal one of gold and land. I heard you talking about setting up shop during the Apocalypse. If you do, I have things to warn you about first.”
Logan raised his eyebrows. “Oh? What…” He trailed off as his ability kicked in and fed him information. “This is cooler and more dangerous than I had thought.” He said.
Chuck nodded. “If you want to set up shop, you need to bring what you want to sell and samples of it to the Council of the Guardians. If they approve it, you will officially be written down in the Yellow Pages of all three Planes. A portal to all beings will appear in a spot the owner of the shop wills it to as long it reaches the shop, and anyone can go through it as long as they do not attempt to harm or attack the owners. If you scam, you lose your shop and rights to it. You set the prices, but bargaining is allowed.”
“Wait, does that mean Demons and Angels can come to the shop?” Leah asked.
Chuck nodded. “Yes, but they cannot hurt you.”
Logan shrugged. “Seems good enough. If we want to survive comfortably, we are going to need to get money somehow. We can’t do everything ourselves.” He said.
Alyosha nodded. “I agree with Logan. We will do this shop. I always loved making things with my hands. I think I can make some…valuable equipment.” He said, his eyes landing on his glove.
Logan hopped from one foot to another. “This is really exiting! I once set up a shop in a game server! It was so fun!”
Connor shrugged. “It sounds fun, what can we make? The sooner we get the shop running, the sooner we can get money and food. We don’t have much left. Maybe a day’s worth. Leah and I only packed for two people.”
Logan nodded. “We need new clothes as well.”
For the first time, Leah looked down at her ragged clothing. “Oh gosh! It looks like someone ran me over with a tractor!”
“That was covered in mud.” Alyosha added in.
“How come your clothes are torn but not muddy?” Leah gestured to his shiny leather duster.
He grinned. “A perk of having Skyfire. It is a purifying flame. Probably not its intended purpose, but clean clothes are nice.”
“Can you do that to my clothes?” Leah asked.
He reddened and shook his head. “No, it requires…” He mimed running his hands over his clothes.
“I leave Connor to do that.” He finally said.
Everyone burst out laughing.
“Ok, back to the topic. What can each of us contribute to the shop, if anything?” Logan asked.
“I can animate items. Maybe a broom that sweeps up on its own could be useful?” Abby suggested.
Logan nodded. “Make one, or maybe a rake that cleans your lawn on its own.”
“I can’t do it yet, I’m still exhausted. Maybe in a few hours.” She said.
Logan nodded. “What about you Connor?”
He shrugged. “I don’t think I can do anything.
My water only works while I’m concentrating on it or it’s touching me.”
Logan nodded. “You’re doing enough on the field. What about you Leah?”
“I don’t think I can make anything either.” She said.
Logan shrugged. “Ok. Can you do anything Alyosha?”
Alyosha nodded. “Yes, but slow. If I make anything, it will be very expensive. Too hard to make and dangerous to be otherwise.”
Logan shrugged. “Ok, so we can sell animated objects, powerful items, and food?”
Chuck cleared his throat. “I can make maps.” He volunteered.
Logan grinned, and added something to the paper he was writing on. “Ok. Go do whatever you need to, we’ll meet back here in two hours. Bring any stuff for the shop of you have it.”
They all dispersed, and Alyosha summoned up a ball of Skyfire and one of Malice.
He sat down and thought about how he could keep a ball of Skyfire in the air.
Absently, he let the two balls hover above the ground and laid down on his belly.
He brought them close to his face, and released the ball of Skyfire to hover in front of him.
He grabbed the ball of Malice with his hands and pulled on it. To his surprise, it stretched like clay. He pulled it until the piece snapped off the ball and formed a small blob of Malice.
He mashed it back into the ball, and messed with it for a while.
He felt a slight burning in his left hand and winced. “I need to make another glove. This one can’t absorb too much energy. Who swings a scythe with one hand anyway?” He muttered.
He pressed the ball of Malice back to its original shape, and brought the ball of Skyfire to it. Half an hour later, he had another gray glove with dashes of orange in it. He slid it on, and flexed his fingers experimentally.
He summoned up two more balls. Sweat poured down his face from the exertion of using the power so much.
He rested for a few minutes, and then began to shape the Malice.
He was surprised on how easy it was to make it into a small little knight. It had a bucket like helmet on its head, and small indents for eyes. He stared at the thing. It was much to detailed to do by hand.
He focused on one of the hands, imagining the knight to grow a lance in its hand. Sure enough, a small black lance formed. “So that’s how it happened.”
He mentally sealed the construct from more editing, and picked it up. He tapped it lightly, and metal rang against Malice.
