Authors: Rain Oxford
Sen reached into his pocket for a gem. “I got it.”
“No magic,” I said. “We have to be clever to hide our
magic here.”
“I say we just do what we have to and if they don’t
like it, we’ll overpower them,” Sen said. The ten-year-old glared at the
massive gate as if he could melt it. Of course, with the right stone he could.
“No. We can do this without disrespecting their
culture,” Drake argued. “Right, Ron?”
“I don’t care about their culture. The people here
slaughtered half their population because they were afraid of magic. They are
no better than the dile as far as I’m concerned. I just don’t want them ganging
up on us when we’re trying to fight the monster.”
“We can scale the wall,” Drake suggested.
“Yeah, because that is so much less suspicious
than---” Sen started.
“Both of you shut up. I don’t need arguing and
stress, I need… Oh. Okay, that could work.”
“What would?” Drake asked.
“That’s part two. We got to get in and attain the
dagger first. How do we get their attention without magic so we can get
inside?”
“We could stand outside their door and be weird until
they notice us,” Sen said, pointing up at the two view posts framing the gate.
In each post were two men who had clearly noticed us.
The posts were high enough that it was difficult to make them out, not that
their appearances mattered. One man held a small black box to his mouth. “Turn
around, travelers,” he said. The mechanical box amplified his voice so that it
could easily be heard.
“Does he mean travelers here or world---”
I held up my hand and Sen stopped. “We want to visit
the castle,” I yelled in my gentlest voice.
“We do not let outsiders in.”
“Open the gate and let us in!” Drake demanded. They
instantly obeyed.
“I knew there was a reason I brought you along,” I
said quietly as the doors opened.
The white castle towered over the village of huts and
tents as a crowd of people went about their business. Most of the women wore
colorful, if not ragged dresses while the men wore more drab clothes. Children
worked beside their parents as they sold materials, transported water, or
cleaned. There were no cobblestone or paved streets; merely dirt paths that
made everything seem filthy. Strangely, there were several medium-sized, white
cats meandering around.
It wasn’t a large enough community to warrant splitting
up. We blindly made our way through the dusty, densely populated streets for
about half an hour until the crowd thinned out. Hidden behind the castle was a
statue of a monster horrendous enough that both Sen and Drake winced.
“We have to wake that thing up?” Drake asked.
The creature was enormous to the point where the
castle itself barely hid the statue from someone viewing the front side. In
fact, its claws were as long as I was tall. “Son of a biscuit,” I said.
“That’s similar to what I was gonna say,” Drake
agreed. “Are you in my nightmare or am I in yours?”
Its face was more a mass of tentacles than anything
with red eyes that glowed even in stone. Hell, it seemed as if it was glaring
down at us. The creature’s body was shaped like a giant, muscular person’s
except for the massive wings on its back stretched out in an attack position
and wicked claws on the end of its hands and feet.
“Do we really need the dagger?” Sen asked. “Because
I’m going to need bigger stones.”
“This thing is invulnerable to magic. Once we remove
the dagger, hiding our magic won’t be necessary. If my brother was here, he
could use his bow, or if my uncle was here, he could use the azurath blade. We
have no weapons and our magic won’t work on it.”
“Then what do we have?”
“The balance. I can open a tear into the void.”
“That doesn’t sound safe,” Drake asked.
“The void is the space outside the universe and it
destroys all life and magic besides the void energy. If the tear becomes out of
control, something could get out or the actual structure of the universe could
begin unraveling. Also, I’ve never opened the void before.”
Both of my friends stared at me like I was nuts. “We
should take the dagger and leave before the creature wakes,” Sen suggested.
“You shouldn’t risk every world just for these people.”
I sighed. “I’m not risking anything; I can do this.”
Drake rubbed his hands over his eyes. “Hail never
tells you ‘no,’ does he?”
“Why would he?”
“Because you’re insane!” he insisted.
I gaped at my friend, once a docile sweetheart who
wanted nothing more than to help us. He loved Superman and followed Hail around
like a little puppy.
When did he start talking back?
“Leave him alone. Ron can do anything,” Sen snapped
at the fae. “That being said, I think we should just take the dagger and
leave.”
Honestly, I would rather Drake say I was insane than
to wake this creature and leave the people to deal with it. From what I heard
about Dayo, they deserved to be wiped out for their hatred and ignorance, but I
wasn’t going to be the one to do it. I wouldn’t have been able to look my dad
in the face if I hurt these people, because how would I be any different than
the demons?
“My dad would put the people first,” I said. “I know
I can do this. Hail would tell you if he was here. I’m going to do what Dad
would do, and I’ll succeed.” How could I possibly become more powerful than the
gods if I couldn’t even outsmart the balance?
“Don’t do this,” Drake said, dejectedly.
The sensation that pressed against my mind like an
urge startled me, not because the fae would try to use his powers on me, but
because I could feel it. My mind and power were easily able to overcome the
half-hearted coercion, yet Hail’s spell should have protected me better than
that. Even worlds apart, our magic over each other was impenetrable. If Drake’s
power was able to get through, it meant my brother was no longer protecting me.
It wasn’t a conscious thought but a reflex of my fear
that caused me to strike Drake with raw Iadnah energy. He gasped and fell to
his knees. Sen was there in an instant to try to sooth the fae. I wanted to apologize,
but he had to learn not to use his powers on me, and I knew he wasn’t hurt so
much as startled and uncomfortable.
I turned to my frozen opponent, then studied the
ground beneath the creature. “Sen, do you have a stone that can make this beast
stuck in the sand?”
“No,” he answered.
I sighed. I needed a way to slow my foe enough to
force it into the void. “I need something localized; not loud or dangerous but
that only affects a specific target. A diversion or distraction wouldn’t work.
I need a trap, or a way to lead him where I want him.”
Drake shrugged his black backpack off his back,
pulled it around in front of him, dug through it for a moment, and pulled out a
rope. “Tie him up before you wake him up.”
“Rope would never hold… oh, wait. Magic won’t work on
the creature, but it will work on the rope, so I can strengthen it. Do we have
enough?”
“Not while it is a statue. If its feet were close, we
could tie two toes together. Or we could trip the monster. We could tether it
between two trees and make it chase us through it.” Drake sounded so hopeful.
“Okay, that’s a good idea. Go find two trees that are
close enough together.” When Drake took off, I turned to Sen. “Go with him.
He’s half human, which is like a delicate sago; he needs to be protected.” Sen
nodded and followed the fae.
Drake could get us into places and sen could protect
him, but this was my mission. I would prove to the gods that I wasn’t just the
son of Dylan, and more importantly, I would prove to my brother that I could
handle the darkness.
With my friends out of the way, I could do what I had
to do, which was to remove the dagger, open the void, and infuriate the
creature enough to chase me into the void. Both my parents warned me of the
danger of the void many times, but I would survive. I could do it.
I used the left crooked knee and outstretched wing to
hoist myself up and onto the base of the wings, where I could reach the dagger.
It was stuck hard, so I had to wiggle and jerk it free, which made me flinch in
sympathy for the creature.
The black handle of the double-edged knife was
simple, while the small hand guard was covered in fancy etchings. As soon as
the blade came free, the stone around the wound turned dark brown. I jumped
from the wings onto the ground softly and got a good ten feet away before
turning back to the creature.
Stone turned to flesh far faster than I had expected.
Having never been taught to open the void like my father had, I visualized the
effect and focused on the light of the void. My Iadnah energy rose to obey my
will, but the darkness inside reacted instantly to stifle my magic. The
sensation left me feeling out of breath and frustrated, as if my magic was
panicking.
The wings of the creature before me rapidly shook. I
tried again to open the void and once more, the balance stopped me. I formed my
energy into an orb to strike the monster with, but the balance killed that as
well. The balance wasn’t letting me do anything to this creature.
When the tentacles of its face began moving, I knew I
was out of time. My magic was working, but the balance was preventing me from
harming it. Somehow, the darkness must have thought the monster was acting on
behalf of the balance.
I can’t do what Dad would do or what Hail would
do. What would Mom do?
No, Mom wouldn’t have to fight the balance. Vretial
was not powerful enough to fight the balance either, but… he knew how to use
other people’s strengths to his own advantage.
I’m sorry, Xul.
“Hey, ugly creep! Down here! Tell me the truth; was
your mom an octopus that slept with a bat or was it the other way around?”
Glowing red eyes focused on me and narrowed angrily. Though the creature may
not have understood English, he must have understood that I was insulting him.
This monster was large enough to kill me by stepping
on me and I couldn’t use my magic against it. In order to overcome my
weaknesses, I had to admit them, so I would concede that I didn’t have the
power to beat this foe.
Instead of running, I held my ground. “I heard octopi
were incredibly intelligent. I was obviously told wrong, because you’re a
moron! I mean, who gets defeated by an itty-bitty knife?”
A rumbling sound, which I assumed was a growl, came
from the creature and grew in volume until I felt vibrations through the
ground. The sound became a roar so loud I felt true fear. When the creature
reached for me with his huge claws, I doubted my plan.
Finally, Xul appeared with Mordon, who struck as fast
as lightning with the azurath sword. The blade easily sliced through the
creature’s hand, eliciting a roar that nearly damaged my eardrums. I felt pity
for the monster I provoked into attacking me, but not enough to help it. When
Mordon pulled back the sword in a threatening pose, the monster didn’t heed the
warning.
Xul pushed me into the stone wall of the castle and
created a shield of energy around me as the monster attacked Mordon.
Fortunately, my uncle had no trouble separating the monster from its arms… I
shuddered.
The monster tried to eat the dragon, who dived under
his larger foe and stabbed it in the heart. When Mordon slid the blade back out
of the creature’s flesh, the monster turned back into stone. Mordon sighed,
tired but not injured. I noted the fact that his black, button-up shirt was
torn and the right knee of his black pants was wet with blood.
“What happened to you?” I asked as Xul’s shield
disintegrated around me.
“I got in a fight with Miko.”
“What the hell were you doing pissing off that
thing?” Xul asked. It took a second to realize he was talking to me and not
Mordon.
“I couldn’t fight it, but I couldn’t let it hurt
these people. I knew if that in order to protect me, you would have as much
power as you needed. Why did you bring Mordon?”
“I have the power I need, which was the power to
bring Mordon here with the azurath sword. This beast was created during a war
against magic; magic is never the answer against an enemy like that.”
I was about to tell him that Drake and Sen were with
me when the darkness rose unexpectedly. It felt like the darkness was burning
away the feeling in my arms as they moved without my control. Energy formed a sphere
between my hands that was both Iadnah and nominal energy, which I aimed and
shot at Mordon.
The Ancient formed a shield around my uncle barely in
time to protect him. Even as I sighed internally with relief, another attack
was materializing. This time, the energy struck Xul, who wasn’t fast enough to
defend himself. The demon was tossed several feet and landed hard on his back.
A harsh grunt was the only sound he allowed himself to make even while he
clutched his stomach in pain.
I wanted to go to him and heal him, but my feet
wouldn’t move. When the darkness drew on my energy for the third time, all I
could do was cry and hope I didn’t kill them. Then, to my shock, bright light
filled the air and I felt myself being pulled away. Then the light cleared, I
was standing before Vretial.
Recognizing the dark god as a former servant of the
balance, it relented and retreated back into a dormant state. “Thank you,” I
said, tears streaming down my cheek. “It’s too powerful.”
“I know, I really do know. I told you the balance
would become out of control if you didn’t find Hail.”
“Teach me how to control it.”
“I never figured it out myself. Besides, I don’t owe
you anything; you owe
me
a favor. I did agree to help your father by
getting Zero out of him.”
“What do you want?”
“The mage staff your father never destroyed.”
“No. I don’t trust you, and I could sense the evil of
that staff the second I saw it.”