Fall From Grace, page 19
part #9 of the Preternatural Chronicles Series
I shook my head hard enough that I swear I felt my brain swish around inside my skull, and forced the images and words from my mind. Dreams didn’t matter right then; whatever Depweg and I were going through, we would figure it out later, damn any visions.
Letting my gaze lift toward the clouds, I clenched my jaw as the feeling of pain I had for Depweg transformed into dread at what I knew was about to happen.
From the hole in the sky, a single figure drifted downward, and I knew instantly who it was.
“Magni…”
29
MAGNI
Portal complete, the Tall Man lifted into the air to hover directly over the open gateway.
Looking at the tentacle reaching toward the still kneeling Magni, the Tall Man lowered himself through the opening, presumably to act as herald for his master’s imminent approach.
Magni didn’t see as the Tall Man went through the portal, once again claiming Magni’s mortal body as his chosen vessel outside of this empty universe.
Magni’s mind felt blank, as if shut down from overstimulation and the inability to process what he was witnessing, glazed eyes continuing to stare up at his approaching doom.
Clear slime looped down from the reaching tentacle, spilling into Magni’s gaping mouth and choking him with its thick consistency and violently bitter taste.
That was all Magni needed to pull himself out of his stupor, and he dove forward from where he had been sitting on his feet.
Landing on his hands, Magni pivoted and did a series of summersaults to create as much distance between the looming tentacle and himself.
The monster that filled the sky roared in agitation, its willing sacrifice being taken at the last second.
Feeling the power of the Ether connecting his body and mind somehow, Magni willed a glowing wand in his outstretched hand.
Sigils that Magni had practiced countless times with both Ludvig and Taylor etched themselves along the wood, wavering with power that could barely be contained.
“EAT…THIS!” Magni bellowed, letting loose a torrent of brilliant electricity, striking the tentacle and sending a wave of hungry lightning up and toward the mass of the beast in the sky.
The creature didn’t roar, which surprised Magni, who released his attack right as several smaller arms shot down, streaking toward him. On honed instinct, Magni dodged each of the tendrils, lashing out with various forms of elemental magic when able.
He flipped, rolled, juked, and flat-out sprinted from the aggressive arms that struck out like stalking serpents.
To his dismay, none of his attacks seemed to do much except briefly slow down the tentacles, allowing for a cat-and-mouse game that would only take one mistake to end Magni’s life.
Seeing the multitude of identical arms as they swiped all around, an idea came to him.
Feeling the power of the Ether as his confidence grew, Magni acted on a wisp of an idea and willed a manifestation to coalesce beside him.
A perfect copy of himself appeared, albeit with eyes that were mechanical rather than emotional.
A tentacle slammed into Magni’s stomach before wrapping around his lower torso and lifting him off the ground.
“No!” Magni screamed as he saw the mass in the sky drawing closer.
The clone leaped into the air, latching onto the arm, and hissed with a gaping maw full of shark’s teeth that Magni didn’t recall providing.
Fangs snapped around a portion of the tendril, and black blood oozed from around the clone’s mouth as flesh was torn free.
The clone spit out the chunk of flesh before going in for another bite.
The deafening sound of metal bending made Magni’s teeth feel like they were going to shatter, but hope bloomed at the realization that his manifestation could hurt the creature.
Magni’s stomach lurched as a sudden feeling of weightlessness took hold, producing a yelp of surprise as the stone platform rushed up to embrace him. Instinct taking hold once again, Magni was able to flip in the air and land on his feet, sending the remainder of the limp tentacle which had still been wrapped around him crashing to the ground.
The clone landed next to him and extended a hand coated in claws that matched the ferocity of the fangs.
Staring up at the writhing mass in the sky, Magni smiled as another clone formed. And another. A fourth joined the party, all with gnashing teeth and flexing claws.
The sheep unzipped the costume it was wearing, revealing a wolf ready for battle beneath.
“My turn…”
In answer to the challenge, the writhing mass shot out a forest of thick appendages, rushing to strike every inch of the platform with enough impact to crush coal into diamonds.
30
LOCKE
From the hushed but hurried footsteps the pair made, a layer of dust rose into the air, tickling Locke’s nose and tempting him to sneeze.
As if to remind him of what was at stake if he made even a whimper, the monster—just feet on the other side of the stone wall—growled in agitation before stomping into the hallway once more.
Squeezing his eye shut while his free hand clamped down on his nostrils, Locke focused everything he had into controlling the undeniable urge to sneeze. And he was a very loud sneezer indeed. Where Hayley could empty a theater with her piercing and often inappropriate laughter, Locke’s auditive bomb stemmed from a sonic boom that made innocent victims in the vicinity pause and ponder if that had been a sneeze or a speeding train violently derailing, screams of dying passengers and all.
“Pink centaurs,” Russell whispered from only a few inches away.
Locke’s eye shot open in surprise, and he had to fight back a yelp, but then his mind registered what the troll had said, and unconsciously imagined a pink centaur.
“What?” Locke whispered in shock, letting his hand drop from his face.
“You don’t have to sneeze anymore.”
“I…” Locke thought about it, and his brain confirmed Russell’s comment; the sneeze had been squelched.
“Works every time,” Russell said before turning and making his way down the narrow corridor. “Up here.”
Locke followed, and the pair reached a closed wall with a golden latch a few feet off the floor.
Bending down, Russell undid the lock and pulled the stone open as quietly as possible.
The metal hinges squeaked once, making the pair freeze in place, as did the monster lurking in the hallway.
A low growl rumbled as heavy footfalls slowly thudded toward King Taylor’s room.
Russell and Locke remained as if frozen in time, neither one daring to move for fear of ringing the dinner bell for whatever monster waited just outside the wooden door.
An explosion from the battle raging outside the castle walls violated the silence, giving Locke the odd sensation of both gratitude and anxiety at the simple question of who had launched the attack.
The monster outside the door hissed and began galloping down the hallway in the direction of the fight outside.
Locke and Russell let out a long breath in unison, the built-up anxiety fluttering apart just beneath the wizard’s skin, making him shudder and have to pee all at the same time.
Pushing the stone door the rest of the way open, Russell slipped through on hands and knees, moving with the efficiency of a four-legged animal.
Locke, on the other hand, crouched down and duckwalked into King Taylor’s chambers, his feet loudly scooting over the stone floor and making him cringe with its volume.
“Over here,” Russell indicated in a normal speaking voice, making Locke freeze midway between crouching and standing up.
Locke waited a few seconds, desperately willing the huge monster to continue moving toward the battle outside. When there were no thumps of wolf paws coming back, Locke straightened his stance and quickly walked to the other side of the large room, where Russell waited for him.
Opening a wooden door smaller than the room’s entryway, Russell revealed an impressive closet filled with clothing, all the living colors of the Seelie Court.
At the end of the large closet, nestled behind ancient clothing hung with modern hangers, was an iron safe.
“Whoa,” Locke exhaled, realizing how odd it was to see iron within Faerie. John would probably have likened it to Superman having a safe made out of Kryptonite.
Russell stood a few feet back, staring at the secure container.
“Are you going to open it or what?” Locke whispered, still not willing to risk the monster outside hearing them. It wasn’t that he couldn’t defeat the thing—probably—but the best way to win a fight was to not get in one.
“I can’t touch it,” Russell replied in his normal tone of voice, making Locke almost recoil.
“Why not? You said you’ve been in it before.”
“Only the royal bloodline could touch the metal without dying. Ghle was always the one to open it.”
“Do you at least know the code?” Locke whispered, stepping to the safe and crouching to examine the normal-looking dial.
“Thirteen,” the troll answered flatly, eyes locked on the safe as if it were an unmoving predator that would strike should he look away.
“Thirteen? That’s it?”
“She said it didn’t matter when I asked because no Fae could touch it.”
Locke could all but hear the memory of the one Russell called Ghle playing in the troll’s mind. Though he had never met her, Locke knew love when he heard it. The indomitable emotion was a universal language, even across planes.
“And no one would expect such a simple combination,” Locke concluded, reaching out to gingerly place his fingers on the dial.
When no booby trap killed him, Locke spun the numbers around a few times before carefully slowing, and then ending on the number thirteen.
Moving his hand to the lever, Locke pulled down on the end and slowly eased the safe door open.
Locke’s breath caught in his throat as he saw that the safe, which was only a few feet tall, held an entire room inside its iron walls.
“It’s bigger on the inside,” Russell explained, kneeling beside Locke to peer inside the enormous space.
“Doctor Who fans are either going to love that or hate it. There is no in between.”
“Who’s, um, Doctor Who?”
“Never mind,” Locke answered as he crawled on hands and knees into the safe room.
Russell followed behind, though he took his time, extremely careful to not touch the walls or ceiling of the iron entrance.
At least the floor isn’t iron, Locke thought to himself as he got to his feet and dusted off his robes with a few pats of his free hand.
Looking up, Locke was amazed at the space. Its dimensions were those of a football field, more or less. Giant stone pillars held up an arched, painted ceiling every twenty-five yards, standing fifty yards tall. Row after row of white, crystalline, warehouse-type shelves lined either side of a central walkway covered in living dark-green moss. An assortment of objects rested on the shelves, each illuminated by an unseen light source.
Looking around, Locke could see that everything was well illuminated, in much the same way a museum might be, and lowered his wand, letting the glowing tip fade.
At the center of the room sat a pedestal with a brilliant white sphere resting in the middle.
“Here,” Russell called out, jogging to the center of the safe, stopping once he reached the glowing orb. His voice reverberated off the stone floors and ceiling, making the skin on the back of Locke’s neck prickle.
As his own quick footsteps padded on the stone floor, a muffled crack of wood sounded from somewhere far away, barely registering to Locke’s ears with the prize right in front of him.
“This doesn’t look like a necklace to me,” Locke answered in a hushed tone after catching up to the troll.
“Typical human,” Russell replied before sticking his hand into the orb, pausing for a moment, and then pulling back a clenched fist. Silver links spilled from either side of his closed hand, clinking together as he moved.
“Neat trick.”
“I know,” Russell beamed as he extended his hand out to Locke, who mirrored the gesture.
Opening his fist, Russell let the silver necklace drop into Locke’s palm, right as a growl spilled into the room from the direction of the door.
The pair gasped in unison, Locke hastily pocketing the necklace as he turned and took a step toward a cloud of black smoke that was flowing in through the tiny door.
“Stay behind me,” Locke ordered, sweeping Russell back with his free hand, putting himself between the young troll and the monster that was coalescing into a giant wolf-spider.
Eight thick, fur-covered legs formed beneath a frame the size of a car, making Locke’s mouth run dry and heart rate increase.
Holding up his wand, Locke willed his power into the weapon, honing his energy in preparation for the battle he couldn’t escape.
31
JOHN
“Let Magni go!” I demanded, letting my expressionless mask give a boom to my voice, amplifying it so all could hear. I could see Depweg pivot one of his ears toward me before shifting back to face forward and toward the threat descending from the sky.
“The boy belongs to us, now. As does this world…and yours,” Magni said with a tone that wasn’t his. The voice was the same, but the cadence was that of a predator instead of the innocent young man with the heart of gold that I had known…did know.
“See, I have a problem with that,” I replied, shifting to one leg as I grabbed my hips and tilted my head up at the sorcerer. “I kinda like both worlds. And I’d appreciate it very much if you backed the fuck off and released Magni.”
“There is no Magni…only—”
“I swear to Bill Murray if you say only Zuul, I’m gonna report you to—to…to whoever deals with copyright crap! And trust me when I say you do not want the government on your ass!”
The Ether continued to descend from the sky, soulless eyes locked onto me with a flat face that mirrored my mask’s, and that creeped me the frick out.
“You’ve come to die, then?” the Ether asked as it stopped about a hundred feet above mine and Depweg’s heads. Well, a hundred for me, and ninety-four for the wolf who was double my height, but I digress.
“Die? What, you aren’t going to, like, tell us to bend the knee or some other Game of Thrones shit like that?”
“Subjugation is irrelevant. Oblivion is your only fate.”
Inside my brain, in the back corner of my thoughts, a tiny, high-pitched voice said, Uh-oh.
If the Ether had no desire to become emperor of the galaxy or some other generic bad guy trope along those lines, then that meant I couldn’t fake my surrender, allowing for a surprise karate chop to the neck when he inevitably approached like all the Saturday morning cartoon villains.
That worried me to the point where a dry throat audibly swallowed as I thought about Ulric, and even Samael, who wanted to sit atop the thrones of eternity. That made sense to me, and it also provided me with hope that they would probably play the game within the confines of certain rules, such as not nuking a city that you wanted to live in…’cause there’d be no city left in which to live.
Samael might let eternity crumble if he didn’t get his way, but that was the worst-case scenario; at least, it’s what I told myself. Because his goal was to sit on God’s throne and rule over all of creation, there was wiggle room to play around in, even to the point where God could literally step down if it meant saving the universe. A Hail Mary, if you will. Yeah, it would suck to have Samael become the new God, but it was probably better than total annihilation and eternal oblivion for over a hundred billion souls.
Now, if we considered Lolth, who wanted nothing but to bathe the universe in darkness, things became much more terrifying. There was no wiggle room…no concession. The choices became to defeat her or watch all life be extinguished.
And now, I came face-to-face with another entity demanding complete termination of all life. All or nothing.
As I pondered the situation and viewed the battlefield from a mental perspective of ten thousand feet up, what I had to do became clear.
Despite what the prophecy books said, I had to stop Magni today, even if it meant killing him.
Then it struck me.
What if today was the day. What if time dilation had occurred without me realizing, and the doomsday clock on Earth had moved forward to the event horizon of the upcoming apocalypse? I didn’t know if Meli not having a time crystal, like Depweg and Magni, or celestial armor, like me, could push us all forward in time, or just her. I could only surmise that Locke didn’t need anything because wizards already dealt directly with time, considering their entire order resided within the In-Between. But Meli…
Either way, it was entirely possible, not to mention likely because of how my luck worked, that today was the day I killed Magni. I had to accept that as a possible outcome rather than put fingers in my ears, squeeze my eyes shut, and cry out, “Lalalaaaa. Lara-la-laaaa. I can’t hear you,” and just hoping the problem went away.
Taking in a deep breath, I stared up at the monster that wore Magni like some sort of suit, and forced calmness to ripple throughout my thoughts.
“I’ll kill you…if I have to,” I said flatly with a downward tilt of my face, unconsciously making my throat less of a potential target.
From the edges of my vision, I could see Depweg’s long wolf ear pivot my way again, as if attempting to verify what I’d just said. Unlike before, it did not immediately face forward after verifying my words, as if I were just as much of a threat as the thing floating above us.
“You have to,” the Ether coldly responded to the declaration of what I was willing to do, making a shudder run down from my neck to my tailbone. It wasn’t that he had called my bluff. Rather, my body ran cold at knowing I would do what had to be done in order to save Faerie and Earth.
