Chapter Twenty-Two

“Dad?” Callan almost choked on the word.

Marcai had died, I had seen it with my own eyes.

But Varian hadn’t left his corpse behind. Like the others, his body was skeletal, his skin blackened and festered with putrid wounds. His entrails spilled from a stomach that was slashed open. His mouth was open wider than his jawbone should have allowed, hungry, guttural sounds punctuating the air from a smashed throat.

It was a horrible way for Callan to see his father again.

Callan, Ashe, and I were once again huddled together, weapons at the ready.

The Shamblers were closing in, Marcai several paces in front of the others. Ashe blasted a Shambler that released an air-splitting screech as she exploded. Another one’s meaty fist came for my head, but I ducked, body-slamming him so he stumbled to the side, then sending the blade clean through his neck.

Callan jumped back before Marcai could grab him, but wouldn’t raise the ax.

“You have to stop him!” I called out to Callan.

“I can’t kill my father!” The anguish in his voice was so raw.

“He’s already dead, and he’s suffering more like this!” I cut down two more Shamblers then ran over to Callan while Ashe covered me. At my words, realization finally seemed to settle on him. His face contorted in pain and it hurt to see it.

Marcai released a guttural cry and grabbed Callan before he could move out of the way, aiming gnashing teeth at his neck.

Oh hell no.

I lashed out with the sword, cutting into Marcai’s back. He released Callan and turned on me. I danced back, twirling the sword and keeping his attention on me. Marcai advanced.

Behind him, Callan let out a strangled sob, raised the ax, and cut his father in two, after which Ashe blasted him with Divine fire.

His body hit the ground in smoldering pieces, and an eerie quiet settled over us.

When I looked around, all the other Shamblers were on the ground. Ashe and her Divine fire had done well.

Ashe trotted over, staying alert for more danger.

Callan stared at what was left of his father, the ax sagging in his grip. Once again I wished I could have spared him from coming with me. I couldn’t have imagined he’d have to cut down the reanimated corpse of his father.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, laying a hand on his shoulder. “But that was not really your father. Marcai was killed. That was a reanimated construct controlled by Varian.”

“I know…but…”

“Callan, I know this can’t be easy.” And we did not have the time to unpack what it must feel like to be faced with the corpse of his father who’d wanted nothing more than to rip our hearts from our chests. “But we have to get through this and make sure our plan has a chance in hell of working.”

Before Callan could reply, another voice pierced the silence.

“So nice to see you again, Pennrae.”

My attention snapped to the conservatory entrance.

Varian walked in with careless ease. He wore a well-tailored black suit, patent shoes, and his hair was impeccably neat. He looked ready to go to a high-powered business meeting. Or to the unleashing of a powerful magic construct. Suits were versatile like that.

More Jigori and Shamblers rose from the shadows, fanning out until they ringed the conservatory floor but not attacking us. It seemed like Varian was keeping them at bay for the time being.

Finally facing Varian made my anger surge, but I held myself still and tempered my emotions. I was a warrior on a battlefield. I had to keep as level a head as possible.

But Varian Chambers would be feeling my wrath very, very soon.

“All along, you were the Necromajin,” I said, stepping forward. “You never wanted to help the magic community, you wanted to feed off them.”

He walked down the short flight of steps and strode forward. Then he smiled. “Do you know what hunger is like?” he asked. “Oh, I don’t mean the hunger you feel when you skip a meal, or when you wake up in the morning. Do you know what it’s like to be able to find true sustenance in only one thing and be denied it? For years, for decades, for centuries?”

It didn’t seem like a question he wanted an answer to, so I said nothing. Callan stood tensely at my side, and Ashe was hunched low, a growl rumbling in her throat.

Varian sighed and shook his head. “What a folly, all I did to ensure my power, only to fall victim to my own schemes.” He looked up at the moon. “Was it my intention to unleash something so powerful it caused those infernal Diviners to remove magic from the world? Of course not.”

My eyes narrowed. “It sounds like you’re saying you were responsible for the Majimorta.”

Varian lowered his head, and the smile on his face made my stomach twist. “That’s because I was, dear girl.” He gave a little laugh and stepped forward, spreading his arms wide. “You don’t recognize me?” I looked him over carefully, but nothing dinged in my memories from either lifetime.

“Who are you,” I asked. “Who are you really?”

“A leader, a Necromajin, a king,” he said. “Three hundred years ago you would have known me as King Thareon.”

Callan startled beside me, which was my reaction as well. I tried not to stand there with my mouth agape, but it was no easy thing.

“King Thareon,” I repeated. I looked Varian up and down as though that would make the recognition click. But now that I thought about it, I had never lain eyes on King Thareon during the magic-era.

“I never knew his face,” Callan said softly. “We lived in another territory and rarely traveled…north, was it?”

“Yeah, he was king of a northern territory. Maylestra.” The memory the Cillari Stone had shown me came rushing back.

Back then, what I had known of King Thareon was that he was the only one in his lineage who had no magic, and thus was obsessed with hoarding any magical items he could find and plundering places of Wild magic. He’d even been after…

“Stasis Water,” I said, realization dawning on me. “You’re still alive because you found Stasis Water in Drisdari Forest. You drank it and became immortal.”

“Smart girl,” he said. “Indeed, I did, for what could be better than an immortal Necromajin that would live through ages, feasting off magic?”

“You were said to have no magic,” I said. “How the hell did a Necromajin become king? Diviners would have purified you and tossed you in a dungeon before your ass could hit the throne.”

“You kept it secret,” Callan said before Varian could reply.

“Yes, my foray into dark magic could not be known to anyone, least of all my father, who was king before me. Rightfully, my older sister should have succeeded my father, but alas, my entire family was met with an untimely death.”

“You killed them,” I said. Probably so he could use their magic in the ritual to become a Necromajin.

He shrugged and walked a slow circle around the room, admiring his small army of Jigori and Shamblers. Callan and I had to turn to keep him in our sight.

I couldn’t believe how cunning Varian had had to be to have kept his dark magic secret and taken the throne. Dark magic was powerful and dangerous, but there hadn’t been that many Necromajin around because many didn’t survive the process, and others were easily found and purified because they went big with their nefarious schemes. But Varian had stayed under the radar and become a king. And then he’d become immortal.

“Imagine,” he said. “I made myself immortal, only for magic to collapse.”

“Which was apparently your fault,” I said. “What the hell did you do?”

“I tried to bring my dear wife back to life.” He stopped walking and looked at us again. “She was taken by a plague and I destroyed all the healers who failed to save her. I performed a ritual to bring her back. I know you Temporals have your ways, but it can be done with dark magic as well. I tried to draw her soul out of her Mortalstone, hoping I could capture it and return it to her body. I was counting on the Auraxa Reiv to provide the power I needed.”

“But instead, you released her soul from the Mortalstone and the Auraxa Reiv turned it into a massive magic eater.” Callan said.

So the soul of Varian’s wife was the Majimorta the Diviners had sacrificed themselves to stop.

“You almost destroyed the entire world to bring your wife back to life?” This was staggering knowledge.

“I see that you have no comprehension of the depths of true love,” Varian said. “Where there are no limits to what you would or wouldn’t do for the one who means the most to you.”

“I understand love,” I spat. “But what you did was chaos. You brought death and destruction to innocent people, started to rot away the entire world, and caused magic to be removed entirely.”

“That’s why you hunted down those descended from Diviner’s apprentices,” Callan said. “So their souls wouldn’t continue to purify the Majimorta.”

“Yes, I knew I needed the Temporals to break open the nexus points, but I also had to make sure she’d be there when the time came. So I hunted down everyone who would stand in my way.” He fixed his eyes on me. “Or so I thought. Clever to keep one hidden.”

The Jigori had been aiming for Toji. And Gideon had taken the hit to save him.

My anger was raging, and it was all I could do not to start slashing at him and see if he would still live if he was cut to pieces.

“I planned to get them to use their magic to open the nexus one way or another, but what a marvelous thing when I heard they already had a Chronsphere with enough time to do that.”

“You’ve been following me,” I said flatly.

“You were intended to be a meal,” Varian said. “I knew exactly who you and your Familiar were at the museum event, since my Jigori had scented you. I was going to especially savor killing you, since you destroyed one of my Jigori.” A nasty smile twisted his lips. “That night did not go according to plan, and your ability to combat my dark magic was concerning, but once I saw your skill in the conservatory chaos, it proved much better to keep you alive a little bit longer.”

“You decided to use me to find the magic community,” I said through gritted teeth.

His smile took on a cruel edge. “Yes. Oh yes. I must thank you for leading me to that wonderful underground world. I was able to flesh out my ranks for the first time in a very long time.”

I felt sick.

Varian had defiled the bodies and souls of all those in the community his Jigori had killed. My eyes slid to what was left of Marcai. To all the Jigori and Shamblers that surrounded us. Despite everything, he and the others didn’t deserve for their bodies and souls to be turned into these twisted, feral things.

“You have given me all that I require. I will no longer starve. I will have a world with magic once more, and my beloved with me to feast on it all. I will be the king the world needs.”

“You sick, evil, son of a bitch,” Callan growled. “You killed my parents and turned my father into a…a monster!” Callan lunged forward, and I wasn’t able to grab hold of him in time.

“Callan!”

He ran at Varian, ax raised, his yells echoing throughout the conservatory.

Varian watched him come, standing calmly, arms clasped behind his back. I ran after Callan, but before I got close enough to do anything, Varian raised his hand and his own shadow rose up like a wave and slammed into Callan.

He flew back and hit the ground hard, and his ax went skittering across the ground. Callan rolled to a stop and didn’t stir. I screamed his name again and ran over to him, hearing Varian chuckle darkly behind me.

“Callan? Callan!” I rolled him onto his back.

His head lolled and I quickly held it still. My hand came away slick with blood. Fuck.

I released his head and gently tried to rouse him. Ashe came over and licked his face a few times, but he didn’t move.

“Shit. Callan, wake up…please!” I wanted him to be okay, needed him to be okay.

I felt for his pulse, and relief flooded me when I verified he was still alive. His chest rose and fell rhythmically, but if he didn’t regain consciousness, then he couldn’t open the portal for me. Then we’d be well and truly dead.

Still holding my sword, I stayed kneeling near Callan but turned my attention back to Varian, who’d walked to the center of the open space. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something that almost made me start forward.

The Chronsphere with my three hundred years.

I tightened my grip on the sword’s hilt.

What should I do? The original plan had been to let Varian use the Chronsphere, but with Callan unconscious, all that would happen would be the Majimorta’s release and my collapse.

I could cut Varian to ribbons before he could use the Chronsphere, but that would only put a Band-Aid on the problem.

The nexus points would still contain the Majimorta, and there weren’t enough descendants left to purify it once their souls became Cephis. It would never be truly destroyed. I was also sure those left in the underground community would regroup and start over with storing people’s years in Chronspheres and trying to open the nexus points again.

I had to stop Varian now and figure out something else to take care of the entire problem once I got us out of here alive.

I stood up and held the sword ready.

Varian was looking at the Chronsphere reverently, a twisted smile curling his lips. “There are no Diviners to stop us now, my love,” he whispered. “Once I release you, once I open the world to magic again, it will truly be ours to shape as we wish.”

I ran forward, leaving Callan behind. “Protect him!” I called to Ashe.

Varian looked at me and laughed, then knelt down and placed the Chronsphere on the floor.

Immediately, a large, glowing white circle appeared, with Varian standing in the middle. The light spread across the ground, and four other connected circles appeared around it. Green, orange, blue, and purple. Just like we’d seen on Toji’s nexus map.

I raised the sword, ready to send Divine magic at him, but Varian raised his hand, snapped his fingers, and all of the Jigori and Shamblers came straight for us.

I was breathing hard, my chest heaving, skin slick with sweat as I swung the Gladius around, whipping out Divine magic and slicing into any Jigori or Shambler that got close. Ashe stayed next to Callan as she used her Divine fire to blast them away.

I backed up until I was close to her and Callan again. I sliced the head off a Shambler, disemboweled a Jigori, then took a punch to the head and went crashing down before rolling out of the way of shadowy fangs.

My ears were ringing. Blood pounded against my temples, my lungs felt like they’d burst from the exertion, and my muscles burned. My shirt was soaked from the wound on my chest and my ribs ached, but I couldn’t stop. If I stopped, we’d be ripped apart long before my Chronsphere could have any say in my fate.

“Callan! Wake up!” I kept screaming at Callan, who still hadn’t moved. If he didn’t come to soon, we wouldn’t be able to stop the Majimorta. That almost three-century nap was waiting for me with open arms.

Finally, I heard him groan.

Relief flooded me. Thank goodness.

Callan slowly rose, holding his head, and I felt hope flare through me.

Minutes…did we even have minutes left? Could we still do this?

The ground shook, throwing me a foot in the air before I slammed to the ground and pain exploded through me.

The quake was followed by a primal, bone-grating, nightmarish shriek that echoed throughout the conservatory. I gritted my teeth and clamped my hands over my ears, but it did nothing to dampen the horrible sound.

It was like the death wail of every person or creature that had ever died. An eldritch sound belched up from the depths of the oldest grave. Terror like I had never felt before seized every nerve in my body as I saw a huge, clawed hand snaking out from the middle of the nexus points.

Like the Jigori, it looked like darkness made tangible—a roiling mass of putrid shadows. The scent made me want to cut off my own nose to avoid it. I retched, feeling an aura so dark, so full of death and destruction rise up, I could hardly fathom it.

The Majimorta was being released. We were almost out of time.

I shoved down the terrified feelings that gripped me and turned my attention back to Callan, but a Jigori slammed into my back and I went down hard, losing my hold on the Gladius.

No, damn it!

I brought my hand up and the Jigori bit into my forearm viciously.

I screamed as blood splashed into my eyes.

Screamed because I couldn’t believe Callan and I were going to die like this, and the rest of the world was going to suffer because we’d failed.

Gideon and Toji were waiting for us to end this, waiting for us to tell them it was safe. Gideon had already died because I’d failed once, how could I fail him again?

And Kinari. She’d given up a second life because she believed in me, believed I could fix all of this. The idea of her sacrifice being in vain was one I almost couldn’t bear.

Suddenly, a blinding white light burst out of nowhere.

It was so intense, I had to squeeze my eyes shut, but it still felt like my eyeballs were burning. With that bright light came amplified howls from the Jigori and Shamblers, but now they were howls of pain.

Seconds later, I felt the weight on top of me ease and cracked my eyes open to see the Jigori disintegrating into wisps of smoke that progressively lightened until they were shades of gray.

I rolled over quickly, cradling my injured arm against my chest, which was burning in pain from the Jigori’s claws. I shielded my eyes with my other hand, trying to see what was going on. Everywhere I looked, screeching Jigori and Shamblers were falling apart.

No, they were being purified, and the strength of that purification magic was unlike anything I’d ever felt.

“Luce,” I breathed.

High above our heads was a small but brightly burning ball of light. I could just make out Luce’s form within it.

Spears of light shot out from her in every direction, dozens of them, and no Jigori or Shambler was spared. Varian stood below, crouching and covering his eyes.

If I was still standing, that meant my Chronsphere was still being drained.

Luce was helping us, but this wasn’t over yet. Another shadowy Majimorta claw appeared, and it howled again, the sound vibrating against my bones. I could live another three hundred years and I would never forget that sound.

I scrambled to my feet, picked up the sword, zeroed in on Varian, and ran forward.

I knew the sword couldn’t take down the Majimorta. Varian was a different story.

He saw me coming and made motions with his hands, causing Jigori and Shamblers to come for me. But they didn’t make it far before Luce’s light purified them, leaving smoke and ash in their wake. Her light also touched the Majimorta and sizzled off it in smoky gray wisps. For that big bastard, even her power wasn’t enough. But hopefully I’d be sending assistance soon.

I refocused on Varian and smiled, feeling a burst of energy course through me as I ate up the space between us.

“No!” Varian screeched. His eyes were wide, his expression frantic as he tried to regain control. But time was almost up for me, and it was definitely up for him. I couldn’t savor this as much as I wanted to.

“Three hundred years was long enough, you filthy, dark magic piece of shit.” I speared him with the Gladius. I shoved it in deep and watched with satisfaction as Divine light thundered through his body, making it look like he was breaking apart as glowing white cracks of light crisscrossed him.

His mouth twisted open in shock and pain, a gurgling sound bubbling in his throat as he collapsed. He shattered to pieces as he hit the ground and the Divine magic ate up all the darkness inside him.

I had no time to savor the victory, because this wasn’t over yet.

I ran over to Callan and Ashe. He was covered in blood and wounds, his shirt hanging off him in tatters, and looked as emotionally beat up as he was physically, but he was standing.

“You’re hurt, I know, but can you still do it?” I pulled out Mixuné’s card box and held it close. “It might already be too late.” Any moment now, I could fall. Any moment now that Chronsphere would be empty, the Majimorta would finish clawing itself free, and this would be over.

“I can do it,” he said, even though he looked to be in a lot of pain.

He took a deep breath and drew himself up, then quickly grew a time bubble between his hands. He let it suspend in the air, then continued making intricate hand movements until it grew larger. It soon turned into a swirling mass of air, twisting and turning around itself.

A feeling of triumph surged through me. I could still make it.

“Keep him safe!” I said to Ashe.

Callan planted a fierce kiss on my lips. I held him close, letting myself sink into the touch of his lips, his hands around me, and the resistance to let me go because we both knew I might not be able to see him again.

“Find a way back, please,” he said when we pulled away, voice raw with emotion.

I wished I could guarantee that.

Just before I jumped through the portal, Luce’s light suddenly cut out, and the last thing I saw was her tiny, glow-less body falling to the ground.