Chapter 35: Eyes of the Victor
Frustration and despair raged inside of Tai as he floated before the strange spherical shield Xavius had erected. It was unlike any other magic barrier he'd seen. Tai's sword didn't rebound off of it but stopped instantly upon contact, as though all of the blade's kinetic force would simply vanish. Whatever he was hitting did not behave like a solid object. Likewise the magic he had used hadn't been deflected, it simply broke apart and vanished.
Xavius was bleeding and did look pale, but Tai didn't think he was lying. He did not have the look of a man who was dying. The wound was serious but not mortal.
Veemoli and Randall came in from the side, followed closely by Paige. Without hesitation the wizard and the ex-knight unleashed a torrent of magic into the shield. Blinding white flashes of lightning and acid green clouds that boiled chaotically sprung into existence only to vanish just as quickly once they reached their target.
Veemoli paled. "No. No, damn it all, no!" his words carried a hopelessness so bleak that they chilled Tai.
With a scream of defiance Randall raised the Masamune above his head, bringing the shining white sword down with all of his might. The sword stopped as it hit, the glow disappearing as its magic was snuffed out on impact. A sphere of fire larger than any he'd seen Paige make, nearly as large as the spherical shield it was to be used against, roared to life above their heads. The three men retreated several feet back as it crashed straight down onto the shield's domed ceiling. The fire and its accompanying heat were gone the instant it fell on the barrier.
"It's no use," Veemoli said, his voice heavy with defeat. "We cannot break this barrier. What I have feared most in all these long years is finally coming to pass."
Tai glared angrily at the old man. "We can't give up! There has to be a way around this. Some trick we can use, or..."
Veemoli shook his head causing Tai to cut off short. "No, there is nothing that can be done."
As Tai struggled to find words to continue the argument, the rest of his companions made their way to them. When the others slowed to a stop before the barrier, Wroff did not. With a battle cry that put to shame anything Tai had ever heard the giant man hurdled himself at the barely visible wall.
"Stop you musn't-," Veemoli started to shout, but it was too late. Wroff slammed into the barrier without a sound. His body having no more of an impact on it than Tai's katana. Unlike Azure Wind, Wroff began to scream in pain as he made contact. Black veins spider-webbed across his body, and dark red blood began to stream from his nose.
"Get him!" Veemoli yelled. Tai lunged forward along with Randall and the wizard and grabbed the caveman, pulling him free from the barrier.
The black veins instantly faded, and the bleeding stopped once he was no longer in contact with the smoky orb. His screaming died down, and Wroff began to take deep tired breaths. He was still alive, but looked weak.
"That thing is death," Veemoli said. "We must not touch it, though it does not matter much anymore what we do."
"I refuse to believe that," Tai said. "There is no such thing as an unbreakable wall. If nothing else my recent experiences have taught me that. Every obstacle we've come across has had a weakness. This one can't be any different."
The wizard shook his head sadly as he looked at Tai. "I wish it were so, but not all obstacles are made equal. There is truly no way to break through this thing." Veemoli sighed, looking very old and miserable, then he went to his daughter and took her in his arms. "I'm sorry, but there is nothing we can do save to enjoy our last moments of freedom."
The girl was obviously frightened and clung to her father. A shadow passed across the rest of them. Were they really waiting on their doom? Tai wanted to press the issue, but Kyui Wara spoke first.
"I don't understand," he said with a calm that Tai found to be almost unnatural given the circumstances. "If Xavius was capable of such a perfect defense, why has he not used it before now."
"Because," Veemoli said, "that thing is not a defensive spell. It is a death sentence."
The assassin frowned. "Explain."
With a sigh the old man turned toward Randall, "If it pleases you to demonstrate for us, I could use your help in illustrating what I mean."
Randall nodded but stayed silent.
"Hold the Masamune out until it just touches the barrier," Veemoli said.
Randall did as he was told and held his sword out. The tip just touching the thing's smoky surface. At once the Masamune's silver-white light went out. "Now what," he asked.
"Just wait," Veemoli whispered.
Several seconds passed without anything happening, then at once the light from the Masamune returned. "Do you see what has happened?" Veemoli asked.
Tai shook his head. "I see that the Masamune's magic returned, but I don't understand why or how this makes the shield a 'death sentance' or how itimplies that it's unbreakable."
"The Masamune lost its power upon contact with the barrier," Veemoli explained. "It then regained its power when the contact was broken."
"I see," Randall said. "My arm was steady and I did not move away. Which means the barrier itself is shrinking."
"Why would the barrier be made to shrink on itself," Tai asked.
"Because," Veemoli said. "It is not meant to be used for defense. It is an offensive spell, intended to trap enemy forces. The longer the spell caster prepares the spell, the larger its area of effect. I once knew a wizard who used this spell to great effect on the battlefield. Great and terrible effect. The soldiers would call these things 'bubbles of death', because once you were caught in a bubble you did not get out alive.
"You all have witnessed what physical contact with it did to Wroff. The bubble traps its victims inside and contracts until it is touching all within. At which point they die, screaming. Because the only way for the spell to dissolve is the death of the caster, the very nature of the magic used in this spell makes it unsuitable for defense under almost any circumstance. This is unfortunately, the one circumstance that it is a perfect defense."
"The Chrono Key will activate before it closes in on him," Tai said in a half whisper, realization dawning on him. "Once he claims dominion over time he'll be able to sidestep around this self imposed death trap as though it wasn't there."
"Indeed," Veemoli said in despair. "Moving to a time where the bubble no longer existed will be as simple to him as walking around a large boulder would be to us."
"If I understand correctly," Kyui Wara said, "this place is called The Realm Beyond Time. If its truly outside of time, perhaps he cannot simply sidestep this thing. Is it possible that he has inadvertently trapped himself forever. Defeating himself in the process? It could be this is the best possible scenario for us."
Veemoli's eyes lit up as he considered the assassin's words. The uncompromising despair that had begun to consume Tai began to wane as the wizard spoke. "Yes...yes, it is possible. Here Beyond Time, perhaps Xavius has undone himself in his haste."
"That would be nice wouldn't it?" Xavius said unexpectedly. Tai gave an involuntary jump at the cold words. "Kyui Wara, my one time ally, you make a valid point, but even if the natural state of this world is timelessness, one such as myself who has dominion over time can simply create a needed time reference to manipulate. Even if that was an impossibility, which it is not, it would be a simple matter to simply leave the Realm entirely."
It was an unpleasant, sickening, sensation of surprise that Tai felt as the reminder sunk in. Xavius was there with them. Listening to them and mocking their futile attempts to beat him. If the two most experienced and powerful wizards there believed the barrier, the 'death bubble', was unbreakable, then how could Tai rationally doubt them? As much as he wanted to believe that both Xavius and Veemoli were wrong, he could not.
The truth, the horrible and final truth, was that Xavius had beat them in the end. Due to his coming transformation he had been able to use an unconventional technique to make himself unreachable, and Tai's last ditch effort to kill him had failed. The inflicted wound was not going to kill him before he transcended time. Xavius was physically beyond them. Soon he would be beyond them in ways they could not fathom.
"I suggest you use this time to prepare for the suffering you have earned by crossing me," Xavius said. "I will grant you mortals an eternity to regret the foolish choices you have made."
Like an ocean, despair pressed down on Tai. The weight of its utter and complete hopelessness pressed against him like a physical force. Life had become a nightmare with no means to wake from, and for the first time in his life Tai began wishing for death.
Death had always seemed like such a cowardly route to take when some form of life was possible. Tai had never understood suicide, nor had respect for those who would give up on their single precious life in any way.
What had he known? Until this moment Tai had not understood despair. He had not understood that sometimes death really was preferable over life. He had been an ignorant child, scoffing at those who had been burnt, never understanding the nature of fire.
The shadow of despair gripped not only Tai but those around him. Kyui Wara's perpetual cool was gone, now he shook with a silent anger, greater than any emotion Tai had seen the assassin show. His sister stood next to him, gripping his hand and crying. Randall held his downcast face in a hand. The ex-knight's anger mirroring that of the man he'd once sworn to kill. Paige and Penny were both pale. Tears formed in Gina's eyes. Wroff's face was a mask of shame. The big man looked up at Tai. "Wroff is sorry. Not strong enough..."
Only Refla looked calm. Tai's old teacher stood with his arms crossed, staring at Xavius who now wore the body of his student. His weathered face showed no fear or anger, only acceptance and a deep melancholy.
Tai wished he could be that strong. To face the coming dark with his head held high with pride. He could not. He wanted to scream. To rage at the unfairness of it all, and what if he acted like a child? It wouldn't matter, nothing mattered anymore.
A light grew within the bubble. A blue vortex swirled around Xavius like a miniature tornado of pure radiance. "The time is upon us!" He announced, his voice booming into the emptiness around them. "Witness the birth of your new god!"
While everyone else was drowning in their own powerlessness, Xavius alone was confident, he alone was empowered. He wielded that power like a weapon, and lorded it over those who had nothing left. His mocking laugh was wild with, not glee, it was far to cold to be included with the spectrum of joyful emotions. His laugh was wild with satisfaction, with power and victory, and it washed over them in a mocking chorus of ice cold triumph.
The end was truly upon them.
Gina shuddered as a sob ripped through her body. Tai put an arm around her shoulders in an attempt to give comfort that he couldn't offer. As his friend cried into his chest Tai caught Paige's eyes. She and her twin clung onto each other, their own tears running freely. She took Tai's hand and he gave it a small meaningless squeeze.
He wanted more than anything to give comfort, real comfort, to them. To Gina who had been one of his best friends for the better part of his life, and to Paige, the girl he was only now realizing how much he loved.
Paige's flowing tears and Gina's racking sobs overwhelmed the frozen despair Xavius had instilled in him. Tai's anger changed. It no longer strangled him with apathy, instead it rose up against the man who was causing the fear and pain that was tormenting those he cared for. Tai couldn't stop Xavius. He knew this. He knew he wouldn't be able to face the end with the same calm and acceptance that Refla was, but he could face it with defiance. Even if this small pointless gesture was the extreme of what he could do. He would not bow away from Xavius. Not now and not ever. Tai raised his eyes, looking up at Xavius.
Time froze.
For as long as Tai could remember, he had known Flare. He remembered when they met Gina, one of the few children who hadn't cared that they were orphans. He remembered the day they'd first met Refla. Times spent training until exhaustion, and times spent playing silly games in the orphanage. Times spent with Lara and Taban, whose inventions were at times eccentric and on occasion genius. All the time spent with Flare, all of the memories they'd shared. All of the laughter and tears. The defeat and the triumph.
For a moment Tai did not move as he stared into the smoke like bubble. The blue vortex was growing more intense, and an area of an even deeper blue revealed the origin of the intensifying light to be his left fist. Without warning Tai let out a laugh so hard and unexpected that it almost caught in his throat.
Gina looked up confused, through reddened eyes. "Tai, I don't...what?"
For a moment Tai couldn't get the breath to speak, and he became aware of the attention he was now drawing from the others. "Gina," he said, "look him in the eyes."
Without understanding she did what he'd asked. For a moment she said nothing, then comprehension dawned and she gasped. "This is...," she began, "is it really?"
"What is going on?" Veemoli asked. "What is it?"
"Those eyes." Tai withdrew his arm from Gina's shoulders and wiped tears of mirth from his face. "Those are not Xavius's eyes."
A wide almost incredulous smile broke out on Tai's face as he looked over to the others who stared at him uncomprehending. He laughed again as he turned back to face his friend.
"Those are Flare's eyes."