The Divided Knight - Chapter Thirty-Two

Atraxos the Black smiled to himself when he sensed the trap spring. While it did mean that he no longer had a wyvern to call upon, it also meant that Thaddeus was now alone. Had Atraxos's trap killed Thaddeus's Spellbreaker whore and the unholy abomination the Sprite in the Vault had helped create? That hardly mattered. Dead or alive, they were beyond anyone's reach, now, trapped in the empty, black void that existed between the different planes of reality. If they weren't dead, they would go mad, so – more because any thoughts about what conscious existence in the Void were something even Atraxos found disturbing than out of any real feeling for Thaddeus's companions – he hoped they were dead. He also hoped that, in the moments before they died, they had had time to realize the true horror of what defying someone like Atraxos the Black entailed.

Atraxos was beyond the Gates of Eclipse, now, walking through a series of tunnels that led ever downward, deeper and deeper into and under the mountain. The magic that surrounded him, here, was ancient and powerful. That made sense, though – according to Eltaran myth, the Mountains of the Moon were the place the Eltarans had emerged into the world, and it was only natural that there was strong magic, here. Of course the True would choose this place to hide the Amulet of Adarion, and Atraxos cursed himself for not reasoning that fact out on his own long ago. But how far would he have to go until he found the chamber that held the Amulet? And what if he ran into something unexpected on the way? I am one of the Demon Lords, Atraxos thought. Unexpected or not, nothing can stand in my way.

“I see you lost the wyvern.”

It was Solanas, again, appearing in mid-air before him. He didn't look quite as ethereal as he had back in Aldraden – the spell that allowed him to appear no doubt boosted by the magic within the mountain – but he was no more there, now, than he had been, before. Atraxos tried to banish him, to disrupt the spell that cast his image, but he couldn't pinpoint it. Which, despite the amount of magical energy that surrounded him, should not have been possible. How could a god be blind to a single, simple spell?

“You're no god, Atraxos,” Solanas said. “And you never will be, either. You're going to die here, you know.”

“Why can't you just stay dead, Solanas?” Atraxos asked. He started walking, again, Solanas's image continuing to float in the air in front of him.

“Stay dead? I am dead, Atraxos. Dead, and forever safe from you.”

“Once I free the rest of the Demon Lords, no soul will be safe any longer. The Divine Council is long since gone and the Nightslayers are extinct. We will have dominion over everything, and nothing will be able to stop us.” Atraxos smiled. “Perhaps, once my ascendancy is complete, I will make your soul my personal thrall. Wouldn't that be poetic?”

“The Nightslayers aren't extinct, Atraxos. One of them stalks you even now.”

“Thaddeus Alvarem is no Nightslayer.”

“Oh? And what is it, then, that makes one a Nightslayer?”

Atraxos didn't answer right away. “Surely something you never possessed, Solanas,” he said at last. “We wouldn't be having this conversation, otherwise.”

Solanas looked stricken for a moment, but the moment was fleeting. “You're right, of course,” he said. “Thaddeus does have something I never did. He has a family. He has people who love him as much as he loves them. He would do anything for them. Even something I never could.”

“That may be so, but it doesn't matter. I will reach the Amulet before he does. I will use it. I will open the Sundered Halls and free the Demon Lords. And, when I do, the power of the Amulet will be no more. Without the power of the Amulet, Thaddeus can never be a Nightslayer. Never.”

Solanas's looked disappointed. “You always assume so much, Atraxos. You always think you know so much more than everyone else. Atraxos, no one knows everything, and only a fool would believe anything else. Can you not be a fool, Atraxos? Just this once? Even now, you can turn around and avoid the fate that awaits you if you go any further.”

Atraxos stopped, looking at Solanas's ethereal form through narrowed eyes. “You're pitiful, Solanas,” he said. “You were when you were alive, and you still are, now. You pretend to care about what happens to others when all you care about is yourself. Making you a thrall will be a pleasure beyond words. Old friend.”

“That will never happen, Atraxos. You'll learn the truth of that before long. Farewell, Brother.”

“You were never my brother!” Atraxos roared, but it was too late. Solanas was gone.

With a snarl, Atraxos quickened his pace, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. Nothing that Solanas had said should have affected him this much, and yet it had, a fact which only added to Atraxos's rage and disgust. And, just as it hadn't been back in Aldraden, that hadn't even been Solanas – it had only been a spell, an image left behind in an infantile attempt to torment Atraxos in the moments before he claimed his final victory. Just because the image in Aldraden had been right about the wyvern – a fact Atraxos hadn't discovered until it was almost too late, but which had given him the idea for the trap he had set for Thaddeus – didn't mean the image he had encountered, here, was something that should be trusted. And yet Atraxos couldn't deny the way it had made him feel – the way Solanas had always made him feel, like he was something inferior, a misguided soul who, instead of being feared, should be pitied for not understanding just how wrong he was. He never understood, Atraxos thought, his lips curling. No one ever has. They soon will, though. And, when they do, they will fear me. They will!

Up ahead, the tunnel Atraxos was in ended in what looked like some kind of door. Based on what Atraxos was sensing, the source of the magical energy in this place was in the room on the other side of that door. The Amulet was no doubt in that room, as well – where else would it be if not there? Knowing that door was likely warded, Atraxos forced himself to slow his approach, coming to a stop when he was about a foot from it. He tried probing the door with his magical senses in order to determine what kind of ward protected it, but was frustrated by finding himself still distracted by his encounter with Solanas's image. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Atraxos used techniques he had thought that, now that he was one of the Demon Lords, he would never have to use again to clear his mind and focus his thoughts. It took longer than it should have – Damn you, Solanas! – but, at last, Atraxos was able to center his mind enough to probe the door. And was surprised to find that it wasn't warded, at all.

Atraxos frowned in puzzlement. Why leave the door unwarded? Without wards, anyone could step into the room beyond and learn its secrets. If that room held everything Atraxos was sure it did, leaving it so vulnerable made no sense. Unless it's a trap. But, even if it is, can it really harm me? I'm no mere mortal, any longer. His mind made up, Atraxos reached out and laid his hand on the door, which immediately crumbled to dust. After waiting a moment to be sure nothing was going to trigger, Atraxos stepped into the room beyond.

The first thing Atraxos saw was a bookshelf stuffed to the bursting with scrolls. A spell surrounded the shelf and its contents, protecting them from the passage of time. Though he knew there was great knowledge to be found among the scrolls on that shelf, Atraxos saw nothing on it that looked like it could have been the Amulet, and so he dismissed it. Turning to the side, he was confronted by the sight of a simple, wood-framed bed with a straw mattress. A partially mummified corpse lay on the bed, wrapped in a blanket. A quick probe of it with his magic told Atraxos the corpse had been female, and that she had been dead for more than a thousand years. Who were you, I wonder?

Atraxos looked back toward the bookshelf, then focused his attention past it. On the far side of the room, a marble archway had been built into the wall, and, as Atraxos watched, it pulsed with a faint, blue light. Moving further into the room, Atraxos stepped around the bookshelf and approached the archway. Here was the source of the magic he felt. And then he saw the darkness the archway framed – a darkness he had thought was nothing more than the entrance to another room – move, rippling like the surface of a pond, even seeming to bulge toward him a bit, as if reaching to pull him in.

This was the entrance to the Sundered Halls. It had to be. On the other side of that restless, rippling darkness, the remaining Demon Lords sensed Atraxos's presence. They called to him, pleading for him to set them free. But, without the Amulet, how could he? Then he saw the box, black, seamless, gleaming in the soft, yellow magelight that lit the room. It sat just in front of the archway, almost expectant in its placement, and Atraxos grinned as he looked upon it. He probed it with his magic. And then frowned.

The box had been sealed by a spell that made it impossible for one person to open. A Spellbreaker could have gotten around that, but Spellbreaking was a talent Atraxos didn't possess. Wasn't he one of the Demon Lords, though? Shouldn't breaking a spell have been child's play for someone like him? Atraxos hurled a fireball at the box in frustration, snarling in rage when the flames left it untouched. Was this how things would end, then? With victory all but in his grasp only for him to fail because he was alone?

Something tickled the edge of his awareness. It was Thaddeus, and he was coming. He was alone, now, too, and, while powerful, was no Nightslayer. Thaddeus would put up a fight, of course, but, in the end, Atraxos would have his way, and would make Thaddeus help him open the box before killing him. Laughing at the thought, Atraxos settled down to wait.

The Divided Knight - Chapter Thirty-One

Thaddeus blazed like a brilliant, blue beacon as he charged toward the wyvern. The magical sense coming off of him was some of the strongest Aylander could ever remember feeling, and that was before accounting for what Thaddeus's sword was contributing to it. If that sword had been in the hands of someone with no natural magical ability, it would have made that person a mage. In the hands of Thaddeus Alvarem, it turned him into something that could almost have been called a god. How much more powerful would becoming the Nightslayer make him? The thought made Aylander's mind reel – along with making him feel more than a little afraid – and he had to force himself to focus on what was going on in front of him. Any other considerations could be left for later, even if, by then, his brother had become something so powerful that he had ceased to be his brother, at all.

There was a sympathetic pull coming from Thaddeus's magic as he charged the wyvern, a tug that seemed to be trying to draw Aylander's power along with it. The tug made Aylander want to move, to charge with his brother, but what good would that do? Unlike Thaddeus, Aylander had no sword that could strike a Creature of the Abyss – he had no weapons at all, for that matter – and charging at the wyvern would win him nothing but a lost soul. But was that really the case? The tug Aylander felt wasn't a physical one – it was magical. As strange as it sounded, was it possible that Thaddeus's magic was somehow inviting Aylander's magic to combine with it? Would that protect him from the wyvern? Would that give him the same ability to use his magic against the creature that the sword gave Thaddeus? There was only one way for Aylander to know.

Using methods that had been taught to him long ago, back when he was first learning to tap into his magical abilities, Aylander relaxed his mind, clearing it of all extraneous thoughts. Focusing on the magical pull coming from Thaddeus, Aylander let his magic be taken up by it, and, for a moment, it was like he was in two places at once. And then all he felt was a torrent of power unlike anything he had ever experienced, before, a raging tempest within him in which, if he concentrated hard enough, he could just barely make out where his magic ended and Thaddeus's began. Aylander understood at once that he needed to maintain his awareness of that boundary – if he didn't, both he and Thaddeus would die, as, no matter how much their magic needed to work together, it could only ever belong to two separate people.

Not two, Zoe's voice said from inside Aylander's head. Three.

Aylander looked at her. She was smiling at him, her eyes sparkling with green light – blue and yellow combined – while blue flames danced around her. Aylander could feel Zoe's magic – the first time he had ever experienced Life Magic from the wielder's perspective – and it filled him with a sense of comfort, reassurance, and peace. Zoe's magic would be the balance, making it so Aylander and Thaddeus could focus on destroying the wyvern without having to worry about losing themselves to each other's power. And what would she gain from Aylander and Thaddeus? All but total invincibility. It was marvelous.

The wyvern shrieked and the platform on which they stood shook. Looking over, Aylander saw that Thaddeus had already successfully bound the wyvern in some kind of web that would keep it from being able to take to the air. Thaddeus was also moving faster than Aylander could see, a blue streak that, as Aylander watched, evaded three separate attempts by the wyvern to attack in the span of only a few seconds. And then Thaddeus scored on an attack of his own, the impact of his sword on the wyvern's leg causing the creature to bellow in pain and anger while, all around them, the sky flashed crimson as dimensional fabric was twisted and torn.

Does he even need our help? Zoe asked, clearly in awe of what she was seeing.

Without us, he will eventually tire, Aylander said. And, while he is powerful, he still does not know as much about magic as you or I. He needs us. And we need him. Aylander looked at her and smiled. Wouldn't you agree?

Because of the link they shared, Zoe clearly caught the full meaning of Aylander's words, her eyes giving a brief flare of lust as she smiled back. Indeed I would.

Aylander grinned at her, then took off toward the wyvern, readying any spell he could think of that might work. He cast them as he dashed, jumped, and ducked, each one of them made more powerful by the link he shared with Thaddeus, but each one never quite doing exactly what he hoped it would. If only he had a sword like Thaddeus's. Aylander understood, though, that the sword his brother now wielded was unique – that it was, in a sense, something that shouldn't even exist at all – which meant that, in this fight, magic was his only recourse. And that recourse, despite the enhancements from Thaddeus, was not availing him. How could they destroy the wyvern without Aylander's magic?

Let go of the spells, Thaddeus said from within Aylander's mind. They're hampering your ability. Blunting it. Just think about what you want to do and do it.

Could Aylander do what his brother suggested? Aylander had been reliant on spells for so long, he didn't know if, on a whim, he could just stop using them and go back to being the wild mage he had been before his formal training had begun. What if he lost control and the magic overwhelmed him, consuming him as he had been warned would happen to wild mages who were never trained? It hasn't overwhelmed Thaddeus, Aylander thought. And he has never been trained.

The wyvern whipped its tail around, lashing out at Aylander, and he just barely had time to jump out of the way. And then, without even thinking of the spell, he conjured a ball of blue magefire and hurled it at the beast. The ball of arcane fire struck the wyvern's tail and set it ablaze, causing everything behind the point of impact to instantly vaporize. The wyvern howled and tried to take off, again, but was stopped by Thaddeus's web, crashing back to the platform, which began to crack and splinter under the onslaught.

That's the way to do it, Brother! Thaddeus said, rushing in to launch a flurry of blows to each of the wyvern's legs, which elicited more howls and more blood-tinted flashes of light.

We need to widen the tears, Zoe said.

Aylander looked back at her. What?

It'll take us too long to kill it. We need to widen the tears in reality that happen when Thaddeus hits it, and then we need to push it through.

During his training, Aylander had been taught what little even his people had known about dimensional theory. Supposedly, the fabric of reality was alive, and could heal itself from small, unintentional tears. Deliberate tears made into the fabric were dangerous and could cause a larger unraveling, though this didn't seem to be as much of a problem for those whose physical bodies had already died, like the Sprites. Aylander, Thaddeus, and Zoe were all still very much alive physically, however, and what Zoe was suggesting – deliberately widening tears in reality that would otherwise heal on their own – sounded like madness, indeed. But then Aylander got a look at the wyvern's tail, and saw that, in just the span of moments since he'd cast his fireball, the part he had vaporized had already grown back. He could vaporize it, again – he knew that, each time he hurt the beast, he weakened it – but it would still grow back, and would continue to do so until they weakened the wyvern enough for it to die. And it was anyone's guess how long that would take.

Can you do it? Aylander asked.

With the help I'm getting from you and Thaddeus, I think so, Zoe said. It should be just like breaking a spell. Once I've widened the tear, though, I'll need you and Thaddeus to push the wyvern through.

Did you hear that, Brother? Aylander asked Thaddeus.

I did, Thaddeus said. I'm not sure I like it, though.

I think any other options we may have are severely limited.

All right. Let's do it, then.

And without any further hesitation, Thaddeus whirled and charged, a blue streak that raced up the wyvern's outstretched leg and then down its back, the wyvern shrieking and howling as Thaddeus landed a flurry of blows along the length of its spine. Catching himself watching in amazement – had he ever seen anything move so fast, before? – Aylander began to move, as well, turning his attention to the web of glowing, blue filaments that was holding the wyvern down. Reaching a hand out, he summoned one of the filaments to him, grabbing it like a rope and darting toward the wyvern's other leg. Just as the wyvern moved to swipe at him with its claws, Aylander leaped into the air, not even feeling it when he landed on the beast's leg, and only partly aware of how fast he moved as he sprinted upward toward its shoulder. Magic pulsed and throbbed within and around him, and never before had Aylander felt so alive.

The wyvern turned its head and snapped at Aylander, but he easily dodged the attack – in fact, he realized, he may have dodged it a little too easily. There was no time to think about that, however – even now, through the link they shared, Aylander could feel Zoe using her magic to force open the tears that were being made in the dimensional fabric, and, because of his own magic, could feel how little time they now had to force the wyvern through the tears before they became so wide that they could not seal on their own. It didn't matter if it was suddenly becoming too easy to combat the beast they were trying to banish – they had to banish it before what they were doing caused all of reality to unravel. And so Aylander began to loop the blue filament in his hand around the neck of the wyvern, fashioning a lasso he could pull the wyvern through the tears with that the wyvern would not be able to free itself from.

Suddenly, Thaddeus was flying through the air, knocked backward by a blow from the wyvern. Aylander saw Thaddeus fall. He saw Thaddeus lose his grip on his sword, which immediately severed the link he shared with Aylander and Zoe. And then all Aylander could see, hear, or feel was chaos – the shrieking of the wyvern, the howl and tug of some bone chilling, otherworldly wind, Zoe screaming, the chaotic, uncontrolled rage of wild magic. All of this lasted only a few seconds, but, to Aylander, those seconds seemed like an eternity.

And then all Aylander knew was darkness.