Ultimate magic, p.26
Ultimate Magic, page 26
“Oh no,” Alec whispered, feeling as if something inside of him had come unmoored. “Oh, by the Archon, no!”
The door was gone.
“It has to be here,” Trystara said, pacing the length of the room. “It was here last time!”
Eleira’s worry finally began to deepen. “Perhaps it’s somewhere else?” she asked, her voice filling with false hope. “Or there’s something you need to do to open it?”
“They closed the goddamn portal!” Trystara’s eyes burned like coals in her face, her expression twisting with pure rage. “They knew we stole the Book of the Guilty, Alec! They found out somehow—so they closed the portal behind them and left this damned wall behind! There’s no path here to the Realm of Chaos!”
The jewel in Alec’s ear crackled a third time. Even before anyone spoke, he could hear the sounds of screaming and gunfire. His Majesty’s Royal Sky Watch had engaged the enemy, along with the airships of House Igneous and the other members of the noble alliance. He couldn’t see the battle—and when he heard the sounds coming through the link, he realized that made him lucky.
“Oh Archon, does this thing still work?” That was Viya. Where was Maimonides?
Alec’s finger shot to the jewel. “I’m right here,” he said, his fist hammering the wall. “We’ve run into a problem. The portal to Chaos, it’s…”
“Alec, help us,” Viya gasped. A wind blew across the dark elf’s voice, so strong that it sounded as if she clung to the side of her vessel rather than standing atop it. “The Immolator… the stalks are all active! They’re shredding the Sky Watch!”
Oh no. Oh no.
“Jolenta and Vodalus’s ship went down,” Viya reported. Despite the tight control in her voice, Alec knew she was holding back panic by the tips of her fingers. “I don’t know if they landed safely or not. Monty… one of those eye stalk monsters nearly blew the top of his head clean off!”
“Is Maimonides alive!?” Alec asked, his jaw dropping.
“I’ve got him,” Viya said. A rumble carried over the line, as if something had just exploded in the distance. “Alec, our ships are getting destroyed. You have to shut that Immolator down! We’re in a lot…”
The communication line crackled. “Viya?” Panic flared in Alec’s veins. “Viya, there’s no portal to Chaos here. We can’t get to the Immolator’s control circle…”
It was no use. The connection between the two earrings had gone dead.
“Damn it!” Alec beat the wall with his fists, tears spilling down his cheeks. “They’re going to die, Eleira! They’re all going to be destroyed, and it’s my fault!”
“It can’t be,” Eleira said, looking around the room. She looked ready to tear apart everything within the study that wasn’t nailed down, in hopes of finding some way to traverse the mortal realm and enter Chaos. “There has to be another portal! Dean Wolfe must have had a backup or something, in case the first portal was discovered. Right?”
“It’s useless,” Alec said. Now that he’d realized the truth, all his emotions drained from him. The world went gray and cold, all the colors leached from his vision. What point was there in fighting it? They’d been outplayed. “Chaos is going to win. They’ll destroy the High King’s fleet, and then the Immolator will blow up the Royal Academy. With us still inside.”
Trystara’s eyes widened. “Master, if that’s true then we need to get out of here! If we hop on Firemane’s back, we might be able to get far enough away from the Academy that we won’t be killed when it explodes…”
Alec shook his head. “Don’t you see? There’s no point. Even if we run, the Immolator will just keep destroying the Archon’s grimoires. Soon there won’t be anywhere left in the world for people to learn magic, and it will die out. Just like Baldir Diamondspear wants.” He put a hand to his forehead, his heart sinking. “He’s won. He’s beaten us.”
Alec looked up—and found himself staring into Eleira’s eyes.
“Don’t you dare say that,” she chided, coming forward to give him a hug. “You are the most resourceful man I’ve ever met, Alec Diamondspear. Even if we don’t defeat the Immolator today—even if Baldir Diamondspear wins the battle—I know we’ll win the war. We have the Archon on our side.” The corners of her mouth curled in a smile. “And you have me, Alec. Always.”
Feeling hopeless, Alec embraced Eleira. The scent of her perfume mixed with the earthy smell of her clothing, in the intoxicating combination that always made him think of home. He squeezed her tightly, the two of them forgetting about the world for a brief moment. Just two young people in love, standing at the edge of the world.
The Ring of the Archon flashed in Alec’s hand.
It wasn’t like putting on the Bloodcloak. This was no quiet muffling of the world around, replaced by another location—instead, reality itself was ripped away, the ceiling of Dean Wolfe’s study collapsing to let in the clear blue sky.
In an instant, the wave of power that had been building in the Ring of the Archon the entire flight was released. Alec and Eleira stood on the grounds of the Northmund Estate, just outside of Uriel Diamondspear’s mansion.
The pair blinked. Trystara hadn’t made the transition with them—the demoness was still in Dean Wolfe’s study, probably staring at the empty space where they’d been and freaking out. Alec felt like freaking out as well, only he didn’t have time. Why had the Ring of the Archon sent them here?
“We’re at the Northmund Estate!” Eleira gasped, pulling away from Alec’s embrace. “Why… this makes no sense! We’re safe from the Immolator, of course, but what good can we do here!? Of all the places in the world, there’s almost none further away from where our friends are. They need us, Alec—yet your Ring took us away from them! I don’t understand…”
Eleira trailed off when she saw the look on Alec’s face. He had just lifted his gaze from the rolling greenery of the estate, his intense eyes fixed on the floating island hovering over the grounds.
On top of the island floated a white marble structure they both knew intimately.
The House of Doors.
“There’s another passageway to reach the Realm of Chaos,” Alec said, the words hardening into a certainty as they left his lips. “The House of Doors connects to every Realm—and Chaos has to be one of them. Come on, we still have a chance to save the world!”
There had to be a reason the Archon chose this location in particular to send them. Alec just had to pray that it wasn’t too late to save his friends.
Chapter 20
The House of Doors had grown no less disorienting since the last time Alec Diamondspear had entered it.
With the strange surge of power in the Ring of the Archon dispelled for the moment, Alec and Eleira had been able to use the Bloodcloak in a more conventional fashion. Unlike the first time he’d tried to teleport to the floating island over the Northmund Estate, Alec had practiced with the cloak enough to send them upward and onto the island in a single lurching bound. It certainly beat hanging from the massive chain tethering the floating island to the rest of the Estate.
Their first surprise came as they stepped into the cupola shading the House of Doors’ entrance. No servants had come to clean the floors since Alec and Eleira had made their first adventure into the strange structure, and a thin coating of dust lay on the frescoes painted across the stones.
And in that dust lay footprints. Large ones.
Alec leaned down and inspected them. They led to one of the House of Doors’ many entrance ways—passages that led to different locations in the world, different worlds entirely, and even places that had yet to exist. Their first trip into the House had nearly killed both Alec and Eleira, and they had no desire to give the place a second attempt. But they had to reach the Realm of Chaos.
“Baldir Diamondspear,” Alec said, glancing up from the footprints. “It has to be. He’s been using the House of Doors to move around the Kingdoms, manipulating events from the shadows.”
“That would explain how he got to Nessus so quickly,” Eleira said, eyeing the twisted doorway. “Not to mention how he’s always managed to seem one step ahead of the rest of us.” She scrutinized the entrance, her brows furrowing together. “Alec, have you noticed something different about the House of Doors?”
He hadn’t—but now that Eleira mentioned it, he saw some changes from the last time he’d been there. Tendrils of some dark, glossy material stretched across the marble floor, like the roots of a tree. Here and there it cracked through the floor itself, reaching all the way back and through several of the doorways on the periphery of the cupola. They looked thicker in some places than others.
“It’s an infestation of some kind,” Alec said, drawing the Diamondspear. He tested the metallic edge of his weapon against one of the tendrils and watched as a chunk of it was sheared clean. Black ichor dripped from the wound, which closed rapidly. Within moments, only a puddle of the stuff proved he’d attacked the tendril in the first place. “What in the world is this?”
“Whatever it is, Baldir Diamondspear is undoubtedly responsible,” Eleira said, eyeing the twisted doorway where the footprints led. “We should follow these tendrils, Alec. Wherever they’re thickest, that’s where Chaos will have made its home.”
It was as sound a piece of advice as any. Together, Alec and Eleira stepped through the door, entering a wide hall overlooking a stormy sea. Within the House, the tendrils wrapped together into a thick cable, stretching across the center of the floor.
They had no time to waste. Every moment they burned on examining the rooms they passed through or experimenting with those strange tendrils was another their friends were being fired upon, blasted with magic, or facing down the Chaos Immolator. Even now, the massive golden airship drew closer to the Royal Academy, preparing to fire its superweapon and burn Alec and Eleira’s alma mater to cinders. So they didn’t give much credence to the bizarre landscapes through which they passed, even when they grew truly otherworldly.
Alec and Eleira picked up the pace, running from room to room. The further into the House of Doors they traveled, the more signs of the infestation of Chaos they couldn’t help but notice. Tendrils not only ran across the floor, they covered the walls and ceiling, blotting out the sun and sky in some areas. Alec and Eleira passed through a deep, silent forest, a seashore covered in thorn bushes, and a long hallway carved from obsidian, their eyes always fixed on traveling through whichever entrance had the most of those strange, glossy tendrils.
They knew that they followed the path of Baldir Diamondspear. Which is why it shouldn’t have surprised Alec and Eleira to step through a door and find themselves in the same courtyard where they’d faced Baldir Diamondspear and his pet monster on their first visit to the House of Doors.
It did, of course. The pair gave a start as their feet touched the grass, the memories unfurling behind their eyes like a film reel. It was here that they’d been invited to Baldir’s feast, given the motives for the shade’s defection to Chaos—and where they’d fought a monster that had nearly killed them both. Looking back on it now, Alec wished he’d taken one of the knives at the table and driven it right through Baldir Diamondspear’s heart. He might never have made it out of the House of Doors had he done such a thing, but destroying Uriel’s murderer before he could commit his kinslaying would have been worth it.
The fine table Baldir had covered with a feast lay devoured by tendrils. They stretched through the grass like a sailor’s net, covering every inch of available space and filling each exit from the courtyard to the level of Eleira’s knee. Worse, the tendrils seemed no thicker in any doorway than another. How would they know which direction to travel?
“This place is a maze,” Eleira whispered, running her hand over the tabletop. “Baldir Diamondspear led us here, Alec. He wanted us to see this. He wanted us to remember.”
Alec had no doubt about that. The whole interior of the House of Doors had the distinct feeling of a haunted house—something set up to scare the two of them before Baldir came jumping out at the grand finale. No doubt the shade was even behind this infestation, using it to guide their steps even as the tendrils of Chaos devoured the different worlds within the House of Doors. Whatever plan lay behind those gray eyes, Alec knew it was not for their good.
He looked from one doorway to the next, seeking a sign. A direct message from the Archon himself would have been best, though Alec would have gladly settled for some indicator that one exit was different than all the others. Yet the path remained frustratingly vague.
Alec closed his eyes and concentrated. Archon, I know you’ve been watching over me, he thought, gripping the Bloodcloak with both hands as he prayed. I also know you wouldn’t have led me this far if you didn’t intend for me to go all the way. I need a little help here. Any sign of which direction to go would do. Please, don’t let Eleira and I get lost here. Our friends need us to destroy that Immolator—if we don’t, the connection between you and mortals will be severed forever. Please…
Suddenly Eleira’s voice cut through his thoughts. “It’s this way,” she said. “It has to be.”
Alec opened his eyes. Eleira stood at one of the doorways, peering through with a furrowed brow. She held her hand up to the gate, turning it this way and that while frowning down at the digits. As Alec watched, she flexed her fingers then let out a little hum.
“It is?” Alec didn’t dare hope. “How can you tell?”
Eleira glanced up at him, her eyes penetrating. “The wind,” she said, a faint smile lighting up her features. “There’s none blowing from these other doorways, but I can feel it through this passage. That makes it different from the others—which means it’s the one I’d choose, if I needed to guess.”
It was as good a metric of determining direction as any. Whispering a silent prayer of thanks to the Archon, Alec stepped through the doorway with the Diamondspear held at the ready. Eleira entered behind him, her grimoire held beneath her arm in a posture of readiness.
What lay beyond the door was a long, sloping hallway. The atmosphere thickened as Alec and Eleira walked, and Alec’s ears popped mid-stride as if he were going up a mountain rather than down a hall.
“This is it,” he said, excitement filling his tone. “I remember this! Trystara and I went through the same thing right after we passed through the portal…”
On the far side of the hallway lay a single unassuming door. Alec barely paused to throw it open, expecting anything from Baldir Diamondspear himself to a secret passage leading back to the Northmund Estate. Instead, he found himself staring at a greasy jungle beneath an imposing purple sky. Lightning flashed in the clouds above, the pressure and humidity so thick that he could feel his heartbeat behind his eyeballs.
“The Realm of Chaos,” Alec whispered, standing in the open doorway. He’d found it.
Eleira pushed through the door behind him. She froze in her tracks beneath that velvet sky, her jaw dropping as she took in the sight of the alien landscape around her.
“This is—Alec, this isn’t our world,” she gasped, shaking her head at the impossible flora and fauna of the strange Realm. “Everything feels different here. Even magic. All this was really behind a door in Dean Wolfe’s study?”
“Trystara and I were as surprised then as you are now,” Alec said with a faint grin. “It really does feel like a whole different world, doesn’t it? I’ve never seen anything like it.” He squinted at a nearby tree, convinced for a moment he’d seen something inside of its branches. “Come on. We’re not far from where the portal let us out the first time. We’ve got to destroy the Immolator before it blows up the Royal Academy!”
Throwing caution to the wind, Alec and Eleira broke into a run. The sky roiled above their heads, as if a storm were about to erupt and drop buckets of water all over the landscape. Alec passed the clearing where the portal inside Dean Wolfe’s office had transported himself and Trystara months ago, barely pausing to note the location to make it easier to make their way back later. Even from this distance, Alec could see a finger of rock reaching to the skyline, almost impossibly large.
“Is that where you found the Book of the Guilty?” Eleira asked, panting next to him. “By the Archon, it’s huge!”
“We only entered that small building over there,” Alec said, gesturing to the smaller hill next to the great wall. It was just as large as Alec remembered, so thick and massive that the entire Royal Academy could have fit snugly in its shadow. Rather than retread the ground he and Trystara had walked on their last visit, Alec headed directly for the wall.
More footprints lay in the dirt leading to the wall. Alec hardly spared a glance at them, save to note that they were of a similar size and shape to the ones he’d seen outside of the House of Doors. He could practically taste the Chaos Immolator’s control device on the other side of the wall—they were very close now.
“It’s certainly large enough to hide a golden airship,” Alec remarked, approaching a door in the front of the massive slab. There was no lock or knob that he could see, only a smooth, featureless rectangle in the wall. He felt around it, looking for some wedge or notch he could use to pry the whole thing open. “Now how do we get inside the thing?”
Leave it to Eleira to figure out the answer. “Right there,” she said after a few moments, pointing to an indentation in the rock. “That looks just about the size of the jewel in the Archon’s Ring, doesn’t it?”
It really did. Although that made very little sense to Alec, as why would the devotees of Chaos create a lock that could be opened by a piece of jewelry crafted by the Archon? Either way, his role wasn’t to question—it was to save the world.
Alec pressed the jewel at the center of the Ring of the Archon against the indentation. There was a moment of resistance, and then the whole thing—jewel, ring, and the first knuckle of Alec’s finger—all sank into the device, provoking a rumble and a disturbingly chipper little click.
