Firstborn (The Legacy Series) (16 page)

Then
, he emerged.

Dark Erik was just a mass of darkness at first, emerging from the trunk of the large tree. It looked like my shadow, except it was made from liquid obsidian. At its center, where a person’s heart would be, this guy had a mass of light. Veins of red, orange and yellow snaked from the blob of light and all around the creature.

“
So, you have decided to acknowledge my existence
.” The voice came from the entire form and echoed from all over the place. It spoke with my voice but on a decibel level that would shatter glass and crack walls.

“Hey
, Dark Erik,” I said with a weak smile. My own voice felt weird and foreign. I guess you’re bound to feel strange when conversing with the manifestation of your subconscious.

Dark Erik cocked his head. “
Dark Erik,” he repeated. “That is the denomination you have bestowed upon me.”

My subconscious was more eloquent than I was – if I ever ma
de it back to my office, I was going to finally read that Dickens book I’d been putting off.

Dark Erik was not amused. “
How presumptuous of you to assume that I am a phantom of your mind. But I suppose that is your nature as a human.”

It was my t
urn to cock my head. “So, are you saying that you are not a part of me?”

“
I am you and I am not you. I am one and both. I am bane and power. I am a legacy − your legacy, Erik Ashendale.”

Holy crap.

“What does all of that mean?” I asked.

Dark Erik, or wh
oever he was, remained silent.

“Dammit man, at least tell me your name?” I probably shouldn’t be pissed off at wh
oever it was, but hey, what could he do? I was already dead – joke’s on him.

“
You have not accepted my nature yet,” he replied. “You have not even begun to understand the depth of yours.”

I wasn’t sure whether I had a heart in my current state, but something definitely skipped a beat.

“You’re my curse.”

Of course – he had just said so. Bane and power.

I remembered when I let it take over during my fight with my drugged up warlock of a father. I have no memory of that event. All I know is that I had nearly died and lost my mind.

Then
, I wake up to find the mansion destroyed and my father nearly dissected. Whatever my curse was, it was not pretty.

But damn, was it powerful.

“Is that why I’m here?” I asked. “Is that what this place is?”

Dark Erik’s form shifted as he looked around, as if seeing the place for the first time. “
It is a good thing that you are able to come here,” he said. “This is called Ashura, our realm, created by our magic. It is our magic incarnate.”

Huh?

“You mean to tell me that I have an entire universe of power?”

Dark Erik let out a chuckle. My chuckle.

“I told you, I am powerful.”

“So
, what am I supposed to do now?”

Dark Erik tapped my shoulder and we were suddenly beneath the tree. Its long
, thick roots snaked all around us, shielding us like a giant mangrove cocoon.

“
Accept me, Erik Ashendale
.” The voice reverberated from the roots themselves.

“
I am more powerful than the Sin. This power is yours now, but you will be unable to use it unless you acknowledge it. Unless it becomes a part of your.”

“What happens if I can’t?”

Dark Erik remained silent.

We both knew the answer
. Nothing would happen. I would probably dissolve into nothing and be truly gone. I would never feel the warmth of the sun again or get to go to my home again – the home I built from the ground up, quite literally.

I would never have another pointless conversation with Amaymon. The cat was the only true family I had. Our relationship had evolved from strained partnership to the point where I can actually trust him. It took a lot of time and a lot of cases, but we finally got there.

I would never see the girl again. I would break the promise I made to Abigale and she would die before her powers even came in. She would not live a full life and would probably die with questions unanswered. Maybe, just maybe, I was considering taking her as a student. Show her the ropes. She’d be a great help during most cases and it would prevent her from going ballistic on some poor, horny schmuck.

And Gil – I had hoped that we would mend ou
r relationship before one of us died. I had hoped we could be like before − back when we were close siblings trying to understand the ups and downs of magic. Before I killed our father. Before she decided to run the whole Warlock gig and making it her priority.

I had hoped we could find a way to coexist peacefully
− maybe invite each other out to lunch sometime.

Now
, all of that was down the crapper and I was dead.

I felt tears down my cheek.

I wanted to live. I never realized just how much I wanted to live and make things better.

The
laughter, the hangovers, the messed up relationships – I wanted them all back. I even wanted to continue seeing all of those things that made others go insane. I wanted to experience the true magic of life − waking up and enjoying another day in a world filled with assholes and the occasional decent person. I wanted to take on more cases like Gracie’s and solve them. I wanted to bring some peace to people’s hearts.

Sure
, I had a lifestyle and a job that would drive anyone off a cliff. My only upside − the magic − had so many restraints and conditions it might as well have been a legal contract.

And sure
, my life was a lightning rod for life’s crap.

But it had been my choice
, my own destiny. It had been all my choice and I have never regretted it – not even now that I’m dead.

I found myself smiling.

Erik Ashendale wasn’t dead – not yet.

“You already kno
w what’s gonna happen,” I said. “You’re me, my subconscious or whatever. Point is – you know me better than anyone else.” I reached out and felt a small seedling attached to a mangrove root. Viscous, dark sap ran from it and in between my fingers.

“This is my power.” I put my fingers in my mouth and drank the disgusting black goo.

It was like drinking electricity. My body visibly glowed and I felt like screaming in pure ecstasy.

“And I think it’s about time I use it.”

Because lives are at stake. Because it’s time to grow up.

Because no one, not Gil, not Lilith, not the angels, not even God
− no one will harm the ones I care about.

Period.

I felt Dark Erik shift again and place his hand on my shoulder. I had to accept him. So, I closed the distance and embraced him. My power, my bane.

I accepted it all.

Dark Erik’s heart glowed until there was a small explosion of light. His body melted into thick, obsidian-colored liquid. It spread around my body and settled like a second skin.

It was an extraordinary experience – as if a ton of mass had been lifted off of my chest. In a few seconds
, Dark Erik and Erik became one in the same. My skin was obsidian and red energy emanated from inside me.

The mangroves began shifting. They snaked close
r and closer, until they began constricting me. But this wasn’t like Lilith’s appendage. There was no pain or panic. The black mangrove roots were an extension of Dark Erik, just a different manifestation of the same power.

I felt the power surge through my body. It was the strangest feeling – I felt as rested as if I lay in bed
for days but at the same time, I felt as if I was struck by lightning and every cell in my body became a nuclear reactor. I felt one with my power, finally understanding it.

And in that understanding
, I realized there was much more. The top half of the tree, the part hidden by the very sky itself – that part remained foreign. In fact, it was as if there was a barrier and I was never to cross it.

But no matter. I had enough power here and now. I felt one with the Ashura plane, its pulse in synch with my own.

And in my newfound state, I willed myself back to life.

I felt a rush as I transcended dimensions and emerged from Ashura. I saw my body, still a bloody mess, get up. I felt the rush of sensations as I was back in the Earth plane.

A mass of shadows covered my body like a second skin. My healing powers went ballistic and my injuries disappeared in seconds. It was so fast that I didn’t even feel the pain of reconstructing bones and tendons.

I looked at the mirror and
saw that I was fully clothed in garb I usually reserved of hunting. The shadows revealed my leather trench coat, which I had left back home. Darkness trailed all over my body, giving me a really ominous appearance.

I felt a pulse of magic – Djinn. A shadowy tendril wrapped around the sword and brought it to my awaiting hand. The blade glowed eagerly.

I felt powerful. But still, I could feel the full brunt of my power deep within the shadows. Like a secret upgrade waiting for the right moment to happen.

Well, might as well not wait any longer.

I exhaled. My magical senses picked up Lilith’s not-so-subtle trail and I bolted after her.

Let’s show this god the
true meaning of power.

21

I followed her trail towards the dance hall only to find a barren room. There was no sign of a fight or supernatural activity. Nothing – not even so much as a scratch.

And yet, my senses had led me here. I was not mistaken
, this was the correct place.               My power was enough to batter away any glamour or illusion, so that ruled out that possibility.

I felt something vibrate in my coat and felt around for it. It was a small, outdated cellphone – the kind that looked like a bar of soap, had no camera
, and was virtually indestructible.

“Hello?”

There was a beeping noise. “Mr. Ashendale?” said a melodic voice on the other end.

“Yeah.”

“Welcome back to the land of the living. Please, hold the line.”

And just like that the phone beeped again.

“Wait, what the-” But it was too late.

The automated female voice informed
me that my call was being transferred and
Stairway to Heaven
began playing.

I rolled my eyes. Angels – they should have put
thou shalt not use obvious clichés
in their stone tablets. Ah, well, at least it wasn’t
Knocking on Heaven’s Door
. That would have really flipped me.

After a couple of minutes I heard some static and Amaymon’s voice came through.

“Who are you and what the fuck are you doin’ in my head?”

I could have hugged him right there and then.

“Amaymon, it’s me,” I said.

“Erik?” Then
− “Where the fuck have you been? It’s goddamn chaos out here.”

“I was sorta dead.”

“Them angels popped out and transported Lilith and the rest of us onto a different ship. They got us in a time loop so that we don’t affect the rest of the world.”

So
, that’s what it was. Sneaky angels.

“How do I get there?” I asked.

“I’ll open up a portal for you. And haul ass here cause it ain’t pretty.”

Before I put the phone away I heard him call out. “Hey, Erik. If y
ou die on me again, I’ll come find you in Hell and kick your dumb ass outta there.”

I smiled and said nothing. Amaymon had his own way of caring.

The line went dead and the phone dissolved into nothing. Maybe Heaven was renting. I felt Amaymon’s portal and followed the signal.

I ran outside to the viewing decks. A portal swirled in front of me, three feet from the steel railing. Leave
it to Amaymon to open a portal in midair, a hundred feet above sea level. I swung over the railing and held fast. Primal fear of heights sent me into a tiny panic. But the power swirling through me batted away the human emotion with an ironclad determination.

I leapt, right into the swirling mass of color and magic.

***
**

The portal spat me out into an empty tanker. It was a miracle this thing was still afloat. The metal was dented and rusty and there were grooves, burns and rips all over the place. Blood covered the floor and I realized I was stepping on human remains. It was a gore-splattered mess.

And in the middle of it all was Lilith.

She was no longer the immaculate beauty that glamoured me. Her body was a mass of scales and spines, constantly shifting. It was as if she had a million different bodies and couldn’t decide which one to adopt. So, she mixed and matched different monsters together to create a bizarre, ever-shifting abomination.