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.