Ajacii and Demons: The Ingenairii Series (42 page)

And Alec saw Hellmann’s lack of faith in God’s abilities to stop him from doing anything he wanted. Alec rose to his feet and saw in the distance the portal through which his spirit would have to come to acquire the Omniscient energy once his body was back in the reality of the mountains. He ran to the portal and through it, locking its location into his memory.

Thank you God, thank you Jesus for letting me know our Father
, Alec silently prayed, and then he released all his powers, and returned to the mountains, erupting into reality just steps in front of Availlen, and instantly grasping every one of his powers, as well as reaching back into Bernadina,, and tapping the powers within the rest of the group. He reached backward through the lokasenna into Bauer, and plunged down into the boy’s consciousness, finding the lessons that had been used to call forth demons. They had taught him how to pervert the Spirit power, to find darkness instead of light, to reach into the heart of darkness and draw forth the pain and suffering and hatred; the key to Alec’s battle would be to understand and take advantage of Hellman’s self-loathing, which led to overcompensation through contempt for others.

When the sorcerers had called forth the demons, they had called forth Lucifer’s own energy, the energy that now was all that existed in Hellmann’s soul. From Bauer’s mind Alec plucked the fundamental understanding of the core of Hellman’s soul.

“
You’ve returned for your second death?” Hellmann roared at him as he saw Alec reappear.

“
No, I’ve returned from a visit with the true source of eternal life,” Alec replied. “Thank God and Jesus.” He saw Hellmann’s soul flinch from the mention of the holy names.

“
Your superstitions will not preserve you,” Hellmann roared, and the giant form pounced across the causeway to envelope Alec in a deadly crush.

Alec stood still, and projected his Spiritual power and his Light power and his new–found Omniscience powers together into a shield, a bubble that surrounded and protected him from the huge limbs that tried to squeeze him. It was only a defensive mechanism, nothing he could use to attack with. But for his planned purposes, this sphere would prove to be the decisive tool that would put an end to the battle.

The Light power gave shape to the protective space, an altered form of the invisibility bubble he had created and used. It defined the shape of what he would control, creating a sphere of influence for him. The Spirit energy gave meaning to the sphere, allowing it to protect truth, and to resist falsehood. And the Omniscience was the final element, making it self-sustaining, as complete knowledge was an eternal and unstoppable engine of power. He wove them together in a way that for the moment extended much of his own life and energy into the fabric of the bubble. If his creation was destroyed, he would suffer fatal damage himself.

“
Is my faith too strong for you to pierce me?” Alec taunted, knowing what would induce Hellmann to react the way Alec wanted. “Do you want to come into my shield with me? The only way you’ll get to me is if I let you,” he shouted.

The giant swung a mighty fist at the shield, but his punch rebounded from the unpierced shell. Hellmann screamed in rage and frustration. He tried to wrap his arms around and crush the bubble around Alec, again without success. Suddenly Alec made the protective cocoon expand tenfold, and then tenfold again, so that it was enormous, larger than the enraged monster it defied.

“
Come in. Come in and see what you find in my Father’s house,” Alec gestured, and a door appeared in the shield, open for Hellmann to enter. “There is room even for you. Come see what battle you can win in here.”

Hellmann dove into the bubble. As soon as he did, the door behind him closed, while Alec stepped through the shield calmly, without any resistance, leaving the evil giant alone inside. Hellmann dove at Alec, and crashed into the inner wall of the bubble, unable to penetrate it. He collapsed from the force of the collision, rose and attempted to reach through the transparent wall to grasp Alec and pull him in.

“
Let me out! Let me come and destroy you,” Hellmann shouted. “Your puny life is only safe for as long as you can hold this fragile bubble in place.”

“
You’re right,” Alec observed calmly. “It is a paradox, this bubble. It is largely composed of my Spiritual powers, of my faith in God. That makes it both fragile and unbreakable at the same time, for faith is a paradox, the decision to believe in that which cannot be proven.

“
But my faith is strong, eternally strong, and so this bubble will endure forever. And unless you come to know Jesus and also have faith in God’s love and power, you will never be able to break out of your dark, pain-wracked prison in Lucifer’s clutches,” Alec explained.

“
My faith in Jesus is in the truth, and this sphere is composed of truth. But you are an irreconcilable contradiction. You are convinced of your own immortality, while at the same time you are full of self-loathing, and doubt about your ultimate ability to survive. I have seen your unsupportable false fabric. The lie that you live cannot penetrate the truth of this sphere.”

He gestured and the bubble began to contract, growing smaller. It reached the size at which it began to constrict Hellmann, and he began to shrink, from gigantic proportions to normal human size, then to the size of a rabbit, and finally to the size of an insect, still wrapped in the Spiritual bubble.

Alec turned and faced the awe-stricken group behind him. He pointed just past them, angling his finger downward, and they turned to see a brilliant beam of light punch a small circular hole in the side of the mountain where he pointed, a hole that angled sharply downward. Alec lifted his finger and the light beam ended; he walked over to the edge of the small hole, then knelt and lowered his hand to the edge of the still smoking black circle in the ground. Alec let the glowing sphere that contained Hellmann roll across his fingers, and into the hole, then it disappeared, and moments later, the hole sealed up behind it, leaving no trace of the burial that had occurred.

And as soon as the hole collapsed, before anyone could say anything, Alec too collapsed, unconscious.

Chapter
26 – Back to Warm Springs

The group carried the unconscious Alec along the narrow path and through the mountains for three days, until they reached the Sleagh Maith village. Availlen insisted on carrying Alec alone much of the time, determined to honor the great warrior.

“
He’s not dead,” Perpet told the others in the village, “but he can’t be roused. There is something missing from his spirit.”

“
Let us take him back to my village,” Bernadina said. “Our springs and eternal waters will restore him. He has surrendered some part of himself in the way he overcame Hellmann, and it will take more than physical works to restore him.”

Bernadina refused to allow anyone else to join her and Bauer in taking Alec back to Warm Springs, whose secret location she wanted to protect, and so she and Bauer trudged laboriously up out of the mountains carrying Alec’s body slowly, on a difficult, wintery journey to Black Crag, where Baltasar was waiting for them as Bernadina requested with a mental message. Days later Alec’s body laid in the Red Pool, where it soaked for another week, until at last he stirred.

Alec, can you hear me?
Bernadina asked, from the spot where she had sat and slept next to the pool throughout Alec’s stay. She waited and heard no response. She reached over and gently touched his shoulder, then rubbed the back of his head, causing him to moan slightly.

“
Where?” he asked groggily. “Are we in Warm Springs?” he asked as his eyes opened.

Yes, you are back in Warm Springs, and more importantly, you are back among us again, dear,
Bernadina replied.

Alec slowly turned his head and looked at her inquisitively. “Bernadina, it’s good to see your kind face again.”

“
Did you hear my answer?” she spoke out loud.

Alec held up his arm, showing the ingenairii badges he wore. The Cross, the symbol of his Spiritual powers, was dull, no longer vibrant and alive, as was the Sun symbol of his Light powers, and the enigmatic pyramid with an all-seeing eye atop it, the symbol of Omniscience. Every ingenaire mark was dark, leaving his arms covered in a variety of dark markings, and indicating his absence of extraordinary abilities. He took a deep breath. “I had to surrender my Spirit powers and Light powers and the new power, the power of all-knowledge. I used them to create the trap that Hellmann entered. In order to maintain the trap through eternity, I had to let my ability to tap into the energy realm go with the energy bubble, to sustain the prison that will protect us from him.”

Bernadina began to weep. “Alec, few will know, and no one else will appreciate the sacrifice you made for all of us.”

“
I know, and now you know, and always, my god has known,” Alec replied as he closed his eyes again. “I know it must have taken some time to bring me here from the battle mountain. How long was the journey?”

“
It was a long journey,” she agreed. “Availlen carried you some while he was with us. Bauer was a very stout companion, who carried you a great distance, and Baltasar came all the way to Black Crag to help,” she answered.

Alec contemplated her news. “Please, would you send a message to Caitlen for me, letting her know I am safe and will be on my way to return to her soon? She’ll be worried about me.”

“
It will be my pleasure to contact your other wife,” Bernadina said reassuringly.

The next day, Alec and Bauer ate breakfast together in the guest house set aside for them, and Bauer told the tale of their return from the battle. “The Sleagh Maith are in awe of your abilities, and what you did to remain alive in the battle. Perpet told them everything he felt through the link with Bernadina, how you were healing your body as fast as Hellmann was abusing it.”

“
Thank you for carrying me back through the mountains,” Alec told him.

“
You’re welcome, Alec,” Bauer said, uncomfortable at hearing his hero thank him. “I have made a decision; I hope you approve.

“
I would like to stay here at Warm Springs,” the former sorcerer apprentice said. “I feel at peace here. No one will miss me in Vincennes,” he added.

“
You know that I will miss you,” Alec replied gently. “But I cannot blame you for wanting to enjoy the fulfilling life that is available in this place.” He thought about the teasing and bullying the boy had suffered among the nobility at the palace in Vincennes, and knew the decision would give Bauer a better life.

That night, John Mark appeared in Alec’s dream. “You are the greatest mortal that has served the Lord,” the saint told Alec in a dream. “Thanks to your great victory, God’s message will now begin to come to the Avonellene Empire. A missionary will arrive next year in a caravan from the west, and begin to spread Christianity. A million souls will thank you someday for your sacrifice.

“
Go and live a peaceful life in Vincennes, Alec. You’ve earned the right for this next lifetime to be a peaceful one.”

“
Is this why I was called to this land, to fight this battle with Hellmann?” Alec asked quickly, before the saintly spirit could leave him.

“
That was one great reason,” John Mark agrees. “But you also had a mission to save and give purpose to the lives of two of God’s special children. One was your princess, Caitlen, who needed to know that someone would love her for herself, not for being a princess, and so she would see you demonstrate your endless capacity to continually put yourself at risk for her.

“
And you needed to save yourself,” John Mark finished. “You had descended down a deep, dark hole at the end of your last life. By temporarily suppressing your memory, the goodness in you was able to begin your new life here and find the purpose you needed to live in the world again.”

Alec thought about his state of mind when John Mark had saved him from his warped efforts to bring the dead back to life. He would not have been able to live life with those memories foremost in his mind, he understood. “Thank you,” he said quietly, and then his spirit left the dream and returned to untroubled slumber.

Chapter 27 – A Ball at the Palace

Alec returned to the gates of his home a few weeks later on a winter’s night that promised spring would arrive very soon, after dark on a night when the Princess Esmere Trelawney, who did not know his arrival was imminent, was hosting a grand ball in the palace. A long line of rich merchants and noble families waited in line in their rich robes and splendid dresses, approaching their turn to be announced as they arrived at the top of the staircase that led to the dance floor. In his threadbare travel clothes, worn and tattered by his long journey, Alec was ignored by those nearest him in the line, and he had time to silently observe the scene. Caitlen sat on a throne on the far side of the ballroom, with Bethany and an unknown guard providing protection for her.