Chapter 16
On Wings of Fire
We burst through the branches of an apple tree, scattering leaves and petal blossoms in our path. The angel tried blasting fire straight into my face but that didn't work, of course. I kept jumping, kept drawing us further away from the others. We passed the border of Someshta's grove and plunged into the Blight, but the angel broke my hold and pushed herself away.
I landed without difficulty, the angel landed on pillars of flame spewing from her hands that burned the grass away. A tree reached for her and went up in flames when the angel glanced at it. It writhed like a tangle of eels, somehow managing to shriek.
She plucked a twig out of her short, red hair and flicked it away. "Definitely not from this world. None here have that sort of power. So, what are you?"
"You don't expect me to reveal all my secrets, do you?" Some sort of mutated pig burst out of the undergrowth, bony growths weeping puss on its backside. My backhand sent it crashing into another diseased tree that exploded into splinters at the impact.
I racked my brain for what I knew about angels from Godbound. Servants of the Creator, very powerful, bound to Words like I was. But the less powerful ones were only bound to a single aspect and the more powerful couldn't fold themselves into the mortal realms. Not without great difficulty and losing a good portion of their power.
Yet, I wasn't sure I could handle one angel all by myself. Even the lowest of the heavenly hosts were supposed to be fearsome. But unless I missed my guess, she was bound to Fire and I was immune to that.
From somewhere behind me there was a flash of light and a faint rumble. Moiraine making her move. Hopefully. "Care to tell me what you're doing here?" If I could buy time and Aginor died, no matter what happened, this angel couldn't use the Eye. Right?
"I thought you already knew?" She moved to her left and I mirrored her action so that we circled each other. Small critters sizzled and popped when they came too close to the angel.
"You're trying to free the Dark One," I said. "The question is, why? Why go through that effort?"
"We don't need to do much. The humans will do it to themselves. A fitting punishment." Anger built in her expression like an expanding bonfire, only to wink out a moment later. "But what of you? How did you enter this world? Few Night Roads lead to this realm and we've found them all well protected. We would know if you used our breach."
"Good question. Perhaps I'm here because you're trying to undo the Creator's work? Perhaps I'm here as her agent?"
With a snarl she threw a fireball at my head, which I batted out of the way more for effect than anything else. A bush, its leaves spotted yellow and bristling with thorns, shuddered as the fireball exploded right next to it. "That's not—" A fist buried itself in my stomach and left me gasping. I bit my tongue when another hit my jaw. The blows kept coming and every one of them hurt. They really hurt.
I yelled and unleashed a lightning bolt that finally gave me some breathing room. Wincing at the movement, tasting blood, I retrieved my weapons and went on the attack myself. The angel dodged out of the way and formed an arming sword with which she parried my follow-up attacks.
She didn't even bother with a counterstroke, yet it was I who fell back, my weapons glowing in places. From the direction of the Eye, I thought I could hear screams. Moiraine needed help. So did I.
That firesword of hers was hot and with every exchange she proved to be the more experienced fighter. It might not be able to hurt me, but without my weapons I'd have a hard time holding her off. She risked getting in close for a punch, but paid for it as the club hit her in the crook of her arm and she had to duck out of the way of a thrust.
She unleashed a stream of fire in my direction. I was getting more used to being surrounded by flame and didn't bother shielding myself. But, fearing another surprise attack, I took a step back.
But that attack didn't come. When the fire stopped I saw her flying away, already out of reach of my jump or my electric blast. My own wings unfurled and I launched myself after her. I snapped the two weapons together to form a short spear. Pulling the bandages out of my pocket, I fashioned a rope out of them and tied it to the spear.
I threw it with all my might, however my aim was poor, and it sailed over the angel. She looked back to see where the projectile had come from and started at seeing me flying after her. But that distraction cost her as I yanked the spear back with all my strength.
The line held and the spear flew back, this time skimming over her shoulder. She grunted and came to a stop to face me. Her gaze caught my wings flaring out behind me. "A dragon. That explains much. But why defend humans? What do you care?"
I finished reeling the spear back into my hand. "I care because I'm a decent person. I don't think they deserve to die. More importantly, I don't want to live in a world of the Dark One's design. Or yours."
"You will not have to," the angel said before pulling something from underneath her gi. A jewel of all things. I felt its power immediately, it shone brighter than the sun, yet I could look directly at it without issue.
I expected her to pop it into her mouth, instead she shoved the jewel into her forehead. It pierced skin and bone, blood flecked with gold dripping down her brow and along her nose. I threw my spear again, and this time my aim was better.
It hit her in the stomach, on her right, but it didn't bite deep and fell to the ground. Again I pulled it back, but the time for the spear looked to be at an end.
"You should be honored I must go to these lengths," the angel said as her skin cracked and a glow oozed to the surface. Except there was a pattern of flowing lines to the cracks which spread out from the jewel, across her face and down her neck. Even her wings became more elaborate and inscribed with the pattern before two more pairs of wings erupted from her back.
Letting her finish whatever she was doing was a bad idea. We were not operating under anime conventions here. I just couldn't hold back anymore. "Right back at you." I reached deep into my power and shaped what I needed from it.
Unleash the blacksmith's shop!
Elaborate circles appeared on either side of me and above me, filled with symbols. And from them issued the tools of the blacksmith and its products. Hammers and tongs, nails, horseshoes, chisels, drifts, swords, spears, axes. Made from the raw stuff of Artifice, they flew through the air at great speed.
If it worked for Gilgamesh, it was good enough for me.
Fire bloomed and turned into a plane of energy in front of the angel, shielding her from the projectiles. They flew into the shield, disappearing from my sight. I couldn't tell if I was hitting anything.
Movement in my peripheral vision drew my attention downwards and I got my answer. The angel looked none the worse for wear and was now pointing her arm at me. Fire spun into existence and concentrated between her fingers. Instinct warned me and I dived as the portals around me disappeared.
A line of destruction sliced through the air, trailing after me. When it touched the ground, earth evaporated and a firestorm ignited; the hot air buffeted me. I jinxed and the beam winked out before it could come back towards me.
A beat of my wings and I shot up towards the angel who gathered energy for another attack. I banked out of the way as she fired off her attack but not enough, it intersected with my right leg and I screamed.
I threw myself out of the path of the attack and flew as fast as I could away from the angel and away from Someshta's grove. I hissed as I glanced at my leg. My pants leg had been burned away and the skin underneath had turned to charcoal. Shouldn't I be immune to fire? Unless that attack had been concentrated into something other than fire? Plasma, maybe?
The angel gave chase. "Come and face your death with dignity, dragon!" She threw out another pencil thick beam. The trees shook even before the destruction touched them and the diseased hell below emptied as its denizens fled for their lives.
I threw myself out of the path. The beam missed, then swung about to chase me. It seemed the angel couldn't move it around so quickly and there was a charge time. That kept me alive for now, but she didn't seem to be running out of energy any time soon. She only needed one good hit to end this.
My thoughts raced even faster than my wings as I tried to find a solution. There had to be one. I couldn't get close enough to try and use my electric blast let alone my spear. The smite I'd tried had been blocked. My dragon's breath was fire-based so that one wouldn't work. So if neither Dragon nor Artifice would work, what about Freedom?
Freedom was about liberty, about freeing people of their bonds, their ties. Not something you could really use in a fight. Or could you? I looked at the angel; there was a connection there I could break. Maybe.
"Accept the inevitable," the angel said. "Give me your name and I will see to it that it is recorded. You will die, but it need not be nameless."
Instead of gathering energy between her fingers, it gathered around her in orbs. One after the other. Whatever attack that was, I had a feeling I wouldn't dodge that one. I needed time.
Coming to a stop I drew in a deep breath even as I called upon my power. "I am Shenron." When a dragon, use a real draconic name. The world flattened, a web of lines spreading out into infinity. But my attention was on one knot in particular.
She had several ties... to her superiors, to the world. But I wasn't after those. One bond stood out, the connection so intimate it looked like they were nearly one. But, however close a tie, it could still be severed. Power poured through that link and the knot that was the angel frayed as I watched.
Sever the link!
A sword of will and power struck out and bit into that link. I poured my effort into the stroke but it wasn't enough to overcome the resistance. The angel screamed, the noise slid into my ears like needles.
"I'm not dying here!" I shoveled more fuel into the furnace of this miracle. Something impacted me and I found the angel's face nearly touching mine.
"You will! You and every human! They must pay for their sin!" Her punch rattled my brain but I kept a mental hold on the illusive sword, kept pressing its edge to the connection.
I spun us around and threw her away. "These people weren't responsible!" I realized that even as the angel had attacked me, those orbs of fire had stayed around her. Another one formed even as the angel flared her wings to stop herself.
"And you don't get to sit in judgment." With a deep breath I threw the whole weight of my soul behind the blade and with a sudden mental jerk, it went through.
Dazed, I looked over at the angel just in time to see the gem and the angel fall on separate trajectories. The symbols in the angel's skin hadn't healed and she left a trail of blood in her descent.
She landed in a patch of grass that had survived the battle like a broken doll. Not wanting to take a chance, I hovered over her position and reached out.
Unleash the blacksmith's shop!
Another set of portals opened up and more tools and weapons shot out of them. Not all hit the crumpled form of the angel, others hit the ground around her and the Blight shook for hundreds of meters around the impacts.
After a few seconds the smite dissipated and I descended while the dust cleared. I half collapsed when I tried to put my weight on my injured leg. Righting myself with my wings, I hopped over to her. The angel groaned and my heart skipped a beat. She was still alive!
One eye cracked open. "You," she said with a croak. "Not just. A dragon."
"I'm the dragon."
I didn't know what to do now. Fighting her I had managed, but finishing it when she was like this felt like murder. But she was an angel. I'd gotten very lucky to survive this fight and if she recovered I didn't like my chances. And I didn't think I could convince her to leave.
More blood welled up from the wounds in her skin as I took out my spear. Her clothes grew darker. She raised her arm but only got it a few centimeters off the ground before it shook and dropped back down. "No. Matter. Only. Delay. Inevitable."
She burst into golden flames that evaporated her clothes and blackened the grass on which she laid, leaving a silhouette behind. Some wisp of white ash drifted up into the sky and vanished.
"And she had to leave on an ominous note." It felt better to think of it that way than dwelling on the fact that I killed an angel. Trollocs and Myrddraal were a different thing, I had grown up reading about how evil they were and I could feel that in my gut. The angel had looked far too human and didn't have the same baggage.
"But in her own way she's just as evil. She wanted to wipe out everything," I told myself. Power hung in the air from our battle, raw and sparking. As if drawn by a magnet, it gathered around me. I could feel the energy find a place within my soul.
With a start I realized this was my pool of Dominion: the energy needed to change the world and, through its use, grow my own divine power. In the game players got Dominion from facing worthy foes and doing quests. So, this was how that worked from the other end of the dice.
I turned my back on where she'd lain and instead focused on the hint of power in the air. I followed it for some twenty painful meters until I saw it lying in the ash covering the ground. Even that couldn't hide the glow.
My hand hovered over the gem, but I felt no heat, so I picked it up. The moment my skin touched the gem, I knew what I had. A piece of a celestial engine; a celestial shard. With this I could make changes to the world, to how it functioned, that should be impossible. Or I could create an artifact that might allow me to return home. If I knew what that would look like.
With a little hope in my heart, I looked for a nearby piece of wood and turned it into a crutch. Only then could I fold my wings away.
The rest of the Blight had been quiet for some time now, but the world was still here. Hopefully Rand had defeated Aginor much as he had in the book. Now I had to try and find a way back into Someshta's grove.
That turned out to be not a problem at all, as I could simply walk, or hobble, towards the trees that didn't look so sickly. Whatever protections the grove had had, they had died with Someshta and the corruption was filtering in.
The journey back was slow, however, and I managed to bang my leg against the crutch a couple of times before I got a hang of the trick. Every mistake sent a jolt of pain up my leg. I entered the clearing on the heels of Moiraine's voice. "Can a fish teach a bird to swim? I know saidar—"
She broke off when she heard me, everybody looking in my direction. "That's a terrible saying," I said. "Because there are plenty of birds that swim and there are a couple of fish that can fly."
I looked them all over. Egwene looked like she'd seen a ghost, Nynaeve wasn't much better. Rand looked stricken and as if he'd been rolling around in a hearth; he was covered in ash. Moiraine lay on one of the beach chairs I'd made. Someone must have retrieved it. Several folded cloaks offered her some more comfort.
I hobbled closer to them. "Aginor?"
"Dead," Moiraine said. "The … angel?"
"Dead. Probably. As angels aren't born it's something of a philosophical question if they can die. The body disappeared, anyway." I looked around. "Where's everybody else?"
"Back into the cavern," Egwene said as Nynaeve roused herself and went to her bag. "The Eye is gone." I pretended not to notice her eyes darting over to Rand at that. "There's something there, a crystal column. Moiraine said, she said they should see what was hidden in the Eye."
I awkwardly sat down at Nynaeve's direction who set to work examining my injuries. My jaw clicked with every word, but it was the throb in my leg that drowned out all the other little aches. "Someone used the Eye? But the world's still standing," I said, looking over Nynaeve's head at Moiraine. But it was the Wisdom and Egwene that tensed as I continued. "So someone else must have used it, then."
Rand turned even paler when our eyes met. "I…"
"Perhaps you will now tell us just what sort of ally came with the Forsaken," Moiraine said. "You called it an angel. She summoned fire but wasn't an Aes Sedai. And you can't fly with the One Power."
I hissed as Nynaeve applied something to the black and red wound on my leg. It had started to seep something and I quickly looked away. "I prefer to wait for everybody to come back. Then I only need to tell the story once."
"Neither Loial, nor Perrin and Mat, need to know," Moiraine said.
I looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. "Why ever not? Not like this story's a secret. Part of history, if you take the trouble to learn it."
Time ran out to argue the point as the others emerged from the tunnel. Rand looked at Moiraine, who softly said, "They do not know. Not until the Pattern makes it so."
Lan came first, his posture stiff and a bandage around his head. Loial followed, carrying a large orange chest, richly decorated with gold and accentuated in silver. After him came the two young men from Emond's Field; Perrin had a bundle of white cloth while Mat cradled a shattered plate.
Mat laughed. "You're alive! You're both alive!" His expression darkened and he indicated Moiraine, still cupping the pottery fragments. "She wouldn't let us look for you. After the forest stopped exploding. Said you'd be fine. Her and the other women practically threw us through the arc."
"But they're here," Perrin said. "They're alive, they're here, and it's done. Whatever it was, it's done. We can go home."
Loial set the chest down with a thump that spoke of its massive weight. "I must say that traveling with ta'veren has turned out to be even more interesting than I expected." His ears flapped like a hummingbird's wings. "If it becomes any more interesting, I will go back to Stedding Shangtai and confess everything to Elder Haman. I'll never leave my books again."
The Ogier's mood switched in a snap and he grinned at us. "It is good to see you, Rand al'Thor, Ron Shen. The Warder is the only one besides you two who cares much for books. And he rarely speaks."
"I speak when words are needed, master Ogier," the Warder said, before studying Rand. "I see you've hung onto your sword, sheepherder. So you've learned at least one lesson."
Loial turned his attention towards me. "And Ron, what happened to you? That woman, you called her an angel. And you jumped like no man I've ever seen."
"He bleeds like every other man," Nynaeve said as she finished fitting the bandage. I winced as she tightened it. "And creating more work for us sensible women."
"I'm sorry," I said as I gave her a smile. "Which one of us jumped a Forsaken with just a knife?" Nynaeve huffed and stood up, but gave no retort. "As for your question, I was waiting for you lot to come back. I don't suppose either one of you thought to bring my mug with you?"
They shook their heads and Egwene spoke out. "Are you stalling?"
"No, just a dry throat." I swallowed and took a deep breath. "Well, I suppose I should start at the beginning. The very beginning. You may know that this is not the only world with humans in it?"
"Other worlds?" Loial quickly retrieved a pen and a book to write in. "Our own history says the Ogier came from elsewhere. But you say that humans live on other worlds as well."
"Among other things," I said as Mat expressed his disbelief. I ignored Mat and the Aes Sedai's stare. "But this story starts with the humans of one particular world. You see, they discovered the principles by which the celestial engines worked and how to manipulate them."
"Celestial engines? What are those?" Loial's voice hummed like nest of startled bees.
I became very aware of the celestial shard in my pocket. Best not to have Moiraine lay her eyes on it. "Celestial engines are responsible for maintaining reality. The ground underneath our feet, a mountain range, the sun, a mother's smile. All of them are maintained by celestial engines. And when these humans learned how to influence their working, a golden age began. They could ensure fields would yield a harvest whenever they needed, clothes and shelter could be made at a whim. Their people lacked for nothing."
"The Age of Legends," Perrin said. "Are you speaking of that?"
I shook my head. "No. The Former Empires were neither united nor at peace. And Theurgy is not something you are born with, it is something you learn. And with this knowledge they could fulfill their every material need. Yet even so, the various groups found other things to disagree upon. How should you govern, what is moral, what should a human be? That sort of thing. And people being people, they resorted to fighting over it. And with the power they had, it was a very destructive war."
"People really fought over that? What sort of questions are those even," Mat grouched. "You having us on?"
"No, I'm not. Are the Whitecloaks not doing the same even now?" I shook my head. "The Former Empires worried that they would destroy their world if they continued. So they came to an agreement, they would enter the abode of the Creator and lay their disagreements before her. She would be able to arbitrate their philosophical dispute."
More than a few gasped or choked at the idea. Even Lan looked surprised before he retreated back into stoicism. Of course, I didn't know how long ago this all happened. If it all had happened as I was describing it to them. But I could only operate on what I knew.
Loial scribbled furiously. "They knew where the Creator was?"
"They knew the location of Her home," I corrected. "The same realm that houses the celestial engines. It's called Heaven, and it's inhabited by the Creator's servants that maintain the engines. The angels."
"Blood and ashes, you want us to believe the Creator's working with the Forsaken? With the Dark One?" Mat threw his hands up.
"No, I'm not. And things will become clear once I finish." I held up a finger. "Now, where was I? Right, together, the Former Empires stormed Heaven and were met by the armies of Heaven—angels even more powerful than the one today—and they were thrown aside. Victorious, the combined armies opened the throne room and looked upon the seat of the Creator. And they found it empty."