The Tower Of The Watchful Eye: The Legend Of Kairu Book 1 (49 page)

I caught one
in the face with an uppercut and back handed another. One tried to
mimic my Ice Fist spell and blocked my attack. I surprised him with
a kick to the gut before punching him in the head as he hunched
over.

The last Mage
sent a steady stream of Ice at me and I covered my head with my
scaled hand. Reaching out with my other hand as the Ice melted, a
launched a Fire Ball that blasted through the Ice and covered the
Mage. I turned away as he dropped and headed for the stairs.

On the
classroom level, Teacher Jarvis had been killed as the remaining
possessed Apprentices fought in the hallway. I ducked into the
closest classroom and followed the holes I created to get to the
staircase on the other side. With a small Illusion spell, I slipped
by them and ran down the stairs.

The Apprentice
Quarters were deserted and I didn’t even break stride as I headed
from one staircase to another. When my feet touched the ground
floor, it was a different story. Walking the hallway towards the
stairs was Master Pryce, white eyes and all.

“
Where do you think YOU’RE going?” he asked as I removed the
staff from my back.

“
Out,” I answered as I pointed it at him.

He threw up a
shield and I sent a massive Pulse his way. The sheer force of it
launched Pryce through the nearest wall. I ran for the front door,
not interested to see if he was alive.

It wouldn’t be that easy,
Cathy
said.

He and
everyone else will be dead in a minute.

I left the
building and ran to a comfortable distance before pointing the
staff at the Tower. I grabbed the ritual page from my pocket and
got ready to start it. I performed the Stasis spell and a dark blue
beam shot from the end of the staff and engulfed the Tower.

“
Now we have time to think,” I said.

So, what are you going to do?
Cathy
asked.

“
I don’t know,” I answered. “I’m not prepared to destroy
magic. Not when it has been so helpful to me.”

But we can’t be selfish about this,
Cathy said.
The Keeper was right
about some things.

“
I know,” I said. “I’m shocked that you would feel this
way.”

Trust me when I say I am not happy with how this turned
out,
Cathy said.
Living in your head has been simply a dream come true. I got
to experience life, even if I am just a passenger. I don’t want to
throw this away, or even remove the option of ever coming back.
That is why I can’t help you make this decision. This is too
important and I can’t let my feeling sway your decision.

“
By doing this, I am sacrificing my life too,” I
said.

A necessary sacrifice according to your Keeper,
Cathy said.
One that
will give a new start to the world.

“
If the world needs a new start, it needs to get rid of the
Tower,” I said. “How many good people have died today in there
because of a few evil minded people? How many good people will be
saved because we remove the Tower’s influence? We don’t need to
destroy magic; we need to destroy the Tower. We can give the good
Mages in the world, the Lily’s and the Vanessa’s, a chance to prove
that magic can help everyone.”

So there are you choices: destroy the Tower or destroy
Magic,
Cathy said.
Which will help people the most?

“
Destroying the Tower,” I answered without doubt. “The Nao can
protect the forest, the Evenawks have a second chance to prove
themselves and the Humans are free to govern
themselves.”

Then do it,
Cathy said.

I looked over
the ritual page. The spell called for a ball of energy about thirty
centimetres in diameter. If I did half of the power, it would be
enough to banish the Tower to the Spirit Plain but not send out the
Pulse. I pocketed the page and gripped the staff with both
hands.

My hands grew
itchy and I focused my power as the ritual described. A glowing orb
started growing in the middle of the blue stream from my staff. It
grew slowly as I pushed more and more power into it. The staff
started trembling as the orb grew to ten centimetres. With each
additional centimetre, I grew more and more drained. The staff was
started to tremble uncontrollably and when it hit fifteen, I
released it. The orb travelled into the Tower and the ground
started shaking. A light shone through the windows growing brighter
by the second. The orb travelled back into the staff.

Smash it into the ground!
Cathy
exclaimed.

I raised the
staff above my head and slammed it into the ground. A crack raced
from the staff to the Tower and the Tower exploded the same time as
the staff did. I was launched off my feet.

There was a
sharp pain in the back of my head a moment before everything went
black.

Epilogue

I opened my
eyes slowly and the world refocused itself. The night sky stared
down at me and I sat up and rubbed the back of my head. My hair was
sticky and as I pulled away my hand it saw it was covered in blood.
I put my hand back and focused some power to heal the wound.

Are you
alright in there?

Cathy groaned
. I’ve been
better.

I looked at
where the Tower used to be. All that remained was a giant
distortion in the air, the wavy lines of reality stretching from
the ground to the full height of where the Tower had been. The
Tower really was banished to the Spirit Plain and I still had
magic.

“
We did it,” I smiled as dragged myself to my feet.

It’s about time you became excited about mass
murder
, Cathy said as I noticed a shard
from my staff. I picked it up and pocketed it as a
memento.

“
I don’t know if it counts as mass murder when everybody was
already dead or dying,” I said.

I’m just screwing with you,
Cathy
said happily
. I’ve had to be good for too
long because your stress levels were high and you needed to focus.
Now that it’s over, the fun can begin.

I chuckled.
“Alright but first we should decide what’s next.”

Easy
, Cathy said.
We find a bandit camp and slaughter everyone.
Because, you know, you are into mass murder now.

I laughed. “I
thought you would be ecstatic by the Tower’s defeat and me saving
magic. What’s with calling me a murderer?”

It’s a compliment and I am happy,
she replied
. Why do you think I want
to kill someone as a celebration?

“
After our little adventure, I say it is time for a break,” I
said. “Aaron’s farm is close by. We should check on the
lovebirds.”

Yes and see if I was correct about them,
Cathy said excited.
If I’m right and
they’ve broken up, we attack a small bandit camp, if you’re
correct, we’ll do what you want.

“
Deal,” I said turning my back to the distortion and walking
away. “Though I’d probably choose the bandit camp thing
too.”

I knew you
wouldn’t hold out on me, Cathy said.

With the
Tower’s destruction, Kalenden wasn’t going to be the same. I
couldn’t bring myself to destroy magic as the Keeper wanted but I
did the next best thing. The number of Mages left would be
manageable and the four provinces would be free to do their
business as they saw fit.

I felt like I
had done the right thing. But only time would tell…