5. Jupiter Spirits
Their Psynergy flashed in simultaneously, and both Jupiter Adepts were encased in a massive, swirling cyclone of purple and silver energy. The wind picked up at the same time, and within seconds all the Adepts stood in a chaotic gale which yanked at their hair and clothes. A thick cord of power leapt between Ivan and Aria, joining the two like a mother and child via an umbilical cord.
"Ivan!" Mia shouted dismayingly over the wind. "Ivan, wake up! Come back to us!"
But Garet didn't waste his time. "What the heck is that?" he asked, pointing to the cord which connected the two Adepts.
"It's Mind Read," Isaac said, finally pulling himself to his feet. "I've used it enough times to recognize it. But it's much, much stronger now."
As if in response to these words, ribbons of Psynergy flashed out to Isaac, Garet and Mia. The power encircled their heads like crowns, and sliver-thin lines connected their thoughts to the waiting Jupiter Adepts.
"This is bad," Garet said, gazing uneasily at the cord of Mind Read protruding from his forehead. "This is really bad."
"How are they able to do this?" asked Mia. "Mind Read's never worked like this before!"
"It's some kind of super Mind Read," Garet agreed.
"I don't know," Isaac said. To Mia, he seemed almost infuriatingly calm. "Somehow, when Ivan and Aria are together ... their powers have increased dramatically. I don't understand it myself ..."
"Well, what do we do about it?" Garet demanded.
Isaac considered. "Ivan's still in there somewhere," he decided. "She's controlling him somehow. We've got to find a way to damage Aria--we don't want to hurt Ivan."
"You cannot harm us," said Ivan and Aria together. Mia shivered--their voices were perfectly synchronized, every syllable, every inflection matched. It was as if one mind were controlling both of them.
"Go!" Isaac shouted, and the battle began.
Garet lunged at Aria, and Isaac hung back, focusing to use Psynergy. Mia was quicker, casting Ply to restore Isaac's strength--he was still hurting from Aria's last attack. A heavenly apparition hovered over Isaac, a pattern of light in the air which resembled an angel. Isaac stood up straighter, and had almost called his Psynergy when--
"Glare Plasma!" screamed Ivan and Aria.
Mia had time only for one curt thought as she leapt out of the way. Bad, she thought. Bad! Bad! Bad!
Electricity poured from the sky with the thickness of a waterfall, flashing so brightly Mia couldn't see Isaac through the furious blue lightning.
But she could hear him screaming.
Flash after flash, column after column, the attack continued until blue burned on Mia's retinas. She could feel the numb electricity in her own fingers, crackling over her arms even though she was well out of range. Isaac had long since stopped screaming.
Finally, the electricity died down, leaving a smoking ruin in its wake. Huge craters had been torn out of the stone path leading to the Lighthouse.
Isaac lay face-down in the middle of this ruin, unconscious and bleeding.
Mia didn't hesitate at all as she called forth her Ply again. But much more quickly than she could cast it, almost faster than she could think it, she was thwarted.
"We'll have none of that," the Jupiter Adepts said, and Mia was thrown aside by a whirling burst of wind. Tornado--not very powerful, but very fast, enough to break her concentration and knock the wind out of her.
"It's no use," they said. "We can see every move you make ... Like that one!"
With a flash of lightning, Aria knocked a revitalized Isaac out of the air. While the pair had been distracted with Mia, Isaac had regained consciousness, cast Cure Well on himself, and launched himself at Aria. There was no way they could have seen him coming, but of course they had--with Mind Read.
Tottering to her feet, Mia looked up at the tendril of Psynergy emerging from her own head. If only there were a way around it! She thought suddenly of the monks of Fushin temple, who had managed to clear their minds totally through meditation. Could she accomplish such a feat? In the middle of battle, she thought not.
The wind cycled around the two guardians, and in its swirling, the images of Aria and Ivan distorted, as if they were just another part of the wind. Violet eyes gleamed, sadistic smiles hovered on their faces.
"This time we'll send you somewhere no Psynergy can ever call you back from!" They moved apart slightly, and each raised one hand into the air.
Bad, thought Mia again. She began to run away from Isaac, knowing there was nothing she could do to help--except avoid the blast herself.
"Prepare, Isaac, to feel the ultimate Psynergy of wind!"
"Aiolus!" shouted Aria.
"Aiolus!" shouted Ivan.
The attack came thunderously, what Mia would later call the "Pyroclasm of Jupiter." Poor Isaac, she thought. Poor, poor Isaac.
There was a massive roar, as if the air itself were tearing open. From the sudden expression on Isaac's pale face, the change in consistency in the space around him, Mia realized with a shock what had happened--the air around Isaac had simply vanished in a massive radius. He tried to breathe for a second, and fell to his knees. Then, the air rushed to fill the space around him, emitting a huge crash like that of waves hammering stone. The wind tore at Isaac from all directions, slamming him against opposing currents like a stone wall. And then an explosion detonated, spilling chaotic winds in all directions, hurtling Mia to the ground.
This time, she never heard Isaac scream at all.
Mia ran toward the fallen warrior, her Ply already glowing around her staff. But Ivan appeared between her and Isaac with ghost-like speed, his humble features stretched into a hideous grin, his violet eyes--usually so tranquil--now positively gleaming with sadism.
Mia's jaw tightened. Now it was only herself ... and Garet, who now stood shakily on his feet as Aria approached. The two Jupiter Adepts were perfectly symmetrical as they attacked, Aria for Garet, and Ivan, her other half, to finish Mia once and for all.
And Isaac was probably dead already.
"Slash!" shouted the Jupiter spirits as they attacked with blades of air. Mia saw Garet go down, but she would have none of that herself. Without thinking, she dropped, ducked and spun, feeling her momentum in the tip of her staff. Then, she rose, spinning, and out of pure defensive reflex bashed Ivan in the head with her staff.
The boy went sprawling, a choked gurgle emerging from deeper than his throat, from his stomach, as if he were about to puke in mid-air. Saliva sprayed from his mouth, and when he landed on the ground with stunned eyes, a huge welt already swelled on his cheek.
Aria watched with huge eyes as Ivan climbed to his feet, groaning. "How dare you!" she snarled, her voice crackling with rage. Rage ... and something else, as well. Was Mia imagining it? That note of pain?
Ivan did not speak with her.
"Mia," said Ivan coldly, finally regaining his feet. "How dare you strike me!"
"How dare you strike him!" repeated Aria.
Mia blinked. She really cares for Ivan, she thought suddenly, remembering the pain in Aria's voice as Ivan had struggled to get up, the way she had whirled from her attack on Garet as soon as he had been struck. Why does she care about him? She doesn't need Ivan at all! All our attacks go right through her. She's invincible on her own ...
Her thoughts trailed off, and in a sudden, painful flare, Mia understood.
She raised her staff to attack, but Ivan was quicker. With a lunge of fists and a curl of wind, he knocked Mia to the ground and send her staff spinning out of reach.
Helplessly, Mia raised her arms in defense. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Garet calling up his Psynergy, but could he know? Had he seen?
"It's no use," the Jupiter spirits said triumphantly. "We shall rend your souls!"
And the two of them called forth a dark Psynergy, the likes of which Mia had never seen.
Ivan's disheveled hair was whipped about by the intensity of the wind, and the air darkened around him. But something began to glow red in the black, if illumination were truly what it brought. The power centered in Ivan's hand, a concentration of wind so potent its color looked like blood, and the light it emitted seemed more like darkness in itself. The hideous color alighted on Ivan's face; he grinned maniacally, and his eye sockets had grown shadowy, except for the pupils, which reflected that bloody glow, pinpoints of evil inside a grinning skull.
At the limit of her vision, Garet's red Psynergy was swallowed by that of the Jupiter spirits. But Mia had forgotten Garet. This Psynergy, she knew, the darkest of all Psynergy, could only be cast by someone with a black, wicked heart. All she knew was Ivan's death-like face and the glow of blood in the dark. Seeing Ivan's face twisted, seeing such evil coming from one of her friends was too much for Mia. Cringing, she squeezed her eyes shut, suddenly sure just looking at Ivan's spell could kill her.
"Bleeding Notus!" shrieked the two Adepts as one.
An explosion. Mia felt it hot upon her cheeks, and began to scream. But hers was not the only scream. In fact, her scream paled next to another, a single scream from Ivan and Aria, screams not of glee, not even of terror, but agony.
The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was Ivan's smoking body flopping to the ground. Aria was beside him, as if she had been thrown impossibly far from the blow, or were diving for his side.
Panting raggedly, Garet stood a distance away, his own hands steaming from the force of his Psynergy. His eyes were huge, and Mia could all-but hear his mental chant--What have I done? What have I DONE?
He had done the only thing he could have done. Since Aria was ghostly, untouchable, attacking Ivan had been their only recourse.
And it had worked. Somehow, Aria's power was tied to Ivan's. Defeating their friend had caused their enemy's demise.
The two Jupiter Adepts lie next to each other, splayed and smoking on the gray stone. Ivan's eyes drooped druggedly, and one hand flailed, searching for something. He found it at last, and the weakening girl at his side clasped his hand in her own.
Sighing out a final breath, Aria whispered in Ivan's ear.
"I love you."
As Ivan's eyes closed, his girl vanished, her form blowing away like smoke in the wind.