Shadows of Schala - Chapter Thirteen
"Orion I have some really terrible news... You should sit down," Magus directed seriously about an hour later.
"What? What is it? Is someone hurt?" Orion asked frantically.
"Come, my friend, sit down. You're in for a rather nasty shock," Magus said solicitously as he seated Orion down with his back to the door. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Glenn taking up his position silently behind Orion's chair. Magus concealed his grin at how well his prank was playing out.
"I was out in Fiona's Forest today and well, I had the Masamune. Don't panic, it is okay but during a rather hairy moment Alpha showed up and well, I haven't seen him since," Magus feigned deep sorrow.
Glenn lowered his chin, shot a "yeah, right!" look at Magus and swallowed his laugh.
"WHAT? Oh, no, now what have you done? Haven't you hurt him enough? Hasn't he tolerated enough from you? Where, what happened? How did he disappear?" Orion shouted as he came out of the chair and grabbed Magus by the neck.
"Oh are we back to this again? How tedious! You are so lucky that Alpha's disappearance is related to how I lost my ability to curse people or I'd turn you into something that would make you long to be a frog!" Magus warned in mock anger.
"What are you talking about? Speak plainly or I will...! Is Alpha okay? Where is he?" Orion ordered as he tightened his grip.
Glenn could see that his volatile friend was beginning to hurt Magus and that the prank was getting a little out of hand, so he walked around Orion, put his hands over Orion's and pulled them from Magus' throat.
"I am right here and I am more than okay. Magus found'eth a way with Schala's, Melchior's and the Masamune's help to break the curse he hath placed upon me," Glenn explained.
"GLENN!" Orion grabbed him in a delighted hug and pounded on his back. "Your curse is broken? How...? I don't care! I am so happy for you!" Orion let his friend go and looked up at him in stunned surprise. He then looked over to the mage he had the moment before wanted to slay.
"Magus, I'm sorry. I assumed -- forgive me. And, thank you for doing this," Orion said softly. He regarded Magus a moment more and in the overflow of emotion he felt, hugged the mage awkwardly.
"You do realize that you shall have to help Glenn retrain his fighting skills, don't you?" Magus noted dryly in his discomfiture.
Orion stepped back from Magus and looked at Glenn, mouth agape.
"Oh, no! Am I going to get beaten up again?" he lamented.
"Probably. Unless thou hath truly developed into a passable swordsman," Glenn teased. "Come. Let us tell Ariel and Elora."
"You haven't heard the worst of it, Orion," Magus began conversationally, as he and Orion trailed after Glenn. "The Masamune can change Glenn's form whenever they want. He can be a frog or a man. If enough time passes between changes..."
"...I'm going to get beaten up fairly regularly. You're all heart, Magus!" Orion realized. "Thanks anyway," he added softly as he glanced at Glenn's retreating back. "You've done more good today than you know; you've become someone I'm glad to have as a friend."
"Time will tell," Magus replied as he hurried to catch up to Glenn. "Time I no longer have," he thought to himself. "It's time to return to Cyrus. I'm just glad I was able to see Glenn before obeying me Geas and..." Magus refused to finish his dire thought.
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Glenn wasn't sure what woke him, it could have been something as simple as the feel of the sheets against his human skin as he turned in his sleep, but he found his thoughts returning to the Denadoro Mountains and Cyrus' death.
"I'd remain cursed if it could bring'eth thee back," he said aloud to his long-dead friend, "but I doth not desire vengeance on Magus any longer. In his own way, he hath suffered, too, and wilt continue to do so. He is despised in this time. If he remain'eth, his sister and I may well be his only friends. Orion, Ariel, Elora and Prime must return'eth to their times..." Glenn didn't know why he felt Cyrus' presence so strongly, strongly enough to talk to, but he found his eyes closing and an irresistible sleep ebbing over him.
"No! Cyrus, stay'eth..." Sleep claimed him again and Glenn never noticed the brilliant gold light spilling from him into his room.
He had forgotten the strange midnight feelings by morning, but noticed that Magus seemed to be acting oddly. It wasn't anything overt, but Magus was gentler, kinder and friendlier than he had ever seen him before. It took him most of the morning to figure it out. Glenn realized it was as if Magus were trying to make his peace, almost as if he were sick or -- dying. He knew that it would be a few days more before the others left to return to their times, so it wasn't that, and he knew that Magus wasn't ill in any way. He wondered what Magus had planned that had him acting so oddly. Glenn remembered the empty reassurances that Magus had given him before his stunt undoing his curse and decided to watch from a distance and not ask Magus anything -- for the moment.
Glenn noticed when Magus smuggled his scythe and a pack outside and hid them behind a tree. From that point on, Glenn watched Magus intently and kept himself ready to travel on a moment's notice. He watched as Magus later wandered artfully aimlessly near the tree, snagged his scythe and pack and walked into the woods. Glenn followed.
To his surprise, Magus' track led to the Hero's Grave. He was astonished that Magus even knew of its existence.
"Orion or Prime must have told him of it," Glenn thought to himself. "How else couldst he know?" Glenn followed Magus into the monument and then down to where Cyrus' Grave actually lay. He hid himself unknowingly behind the very same column that Magus had used when spying on him and watched his enigmatic friend.
Glenn felt a chill creep through the chamber and watched as the candles guttered out. To his surprise, the mage bowed his head respectfully. Glenn noticed that Magus glowed with a sickly red light. Cyrus' Ghost appeared in front of the headstone.
"Thou hath returned. Now I can finally be avenged upon thee!" the ghost's eerie voice echoed in the chamber hollowly with the promise of death.
Glenn had never seen Cyrus like this. This was the awful power and majesty of the undead. This was the terrible aspect of the Ghost that had been hidden when Glenn had seen him before. Alarm chilled his heart more effectively than the supernatural cold of the chamber. The last thing he wanted to see was his best friend of this, or any, time destroy Magus. He tried to jump out and prevent what he feared would happen, but found he was frozen to the spot and unable to utter a sound.
"Thou hath done grievous evil to me. Thou threaten'eth the king and queen I hadst sworn to protect, thou warred upon my country, thou slew me. Most evil of all, thou twist'eth my friend's destiny by cursing Glenn into a horrible fate!" Cyrus recounted.
"But I'm not -- completely cursed anymore... Oh, Cyrus, don't! Don't do this!" Glenn despaired in his mind.
"What doth thou offer in thy defense?" Cyrus commanded Magus.
Magus looked down in quiet contemplation. Despite the ominous swirlings of the Geas in his soul, he finally felt at peace. He reflected on Cyrus' charges. He admitted that he had done each of them and that when he did them, there were no noble causes. He had done them all from a lust for power and in the spirit of evil.
"There -- there is no defense for what I have done to you," Magus replied, looking up into the gaping helm of the Ghost. The yawning emptiness shook him a little, and pure fear ran cold in his veins, but he continued to look into that void.
Glenn saw the shiver of fear that shook Magus and his heart went out to his friend. It rocked him that he wanted to protect Magus from Cyrus -- that his best friend in all the world threatened and frightened anyone.
"I canst believe that thou hath changed so much!" Glenn thought with all his will toward the Ghost of his friend. "Thou were ever gentle and kind of heart. This cannot, must not happen! I wilst not believe that thou desireth vengeance this much!"
"My Geas is in thee, the one thou accept'eth along with my aid on the night when thou followed Alpha here and witness'eth his grief," Cyrus continued.
Glenn would have started if he could have moved. Magus had followed him? He listened intently and stared in fascination at his two friends.
"Thou must answer me in truth, my Geas will tell me if thine answer is false. Why didst thou follow Alpha that night?" Cyrus demanded.
Magus regarded the ground at his feet as he answered the Ghost's command. "He had been quiet -- subdued the whole time Orion was working with me, teaching me how to combine magic. I noticed his agitation when Prime and Elora joined us and listened when he thought he was alone. I realized, for the first time, what I had done to him. I felt shame and -- regret. When he left that night, I was concerned that he might -- hurt himself... He seemed so dejected... I did not want his death on my hands as well as his curse. You know he came here and despaired. I have never seen sorrow as deep as that. I also saw how deep your friendship with him had been. It is still potent even though you are -- dead. He then went to Leene's castle and I saw how much he cared for her. Finally, he went to-- that place -- the place where I -- killed you and cursed him. I witnessed again a sorrow I had caused and could not take back. I... I..." Magus choked up and looked up into the Ghost's face again.
To his surprise, he could make out Cyrus' features faintly. The absolute horror the undead can inspire eased slightly.
"Art thou aware that my Geas allowed me to know'eth thy thoughts and feel'eth thy feelings?" Cyrus asked him.
That shocked Magus. He knew that the Ghost had watched him, at least somewhat in the beginning, but he didn't realize that Cyrus had been close enough to know his thoughts and feelings. His head dropped in shame again.
"No! Look at me!" Cyrus commanded.
Magus could not disobey the Ghost who still had a Geas in his soul. Cyrus' face was as sturdily handsome and commanding as it had been in life. Magus locked his gaze on those noble features.
"Since the moment thou accept'eth my Geas and my aid in finding Schala, I hath known thy thoughts and feelings. When thou remember'eth thy history, it wast opened to me as well. I know'eth what thy childhood was. I agree with Alpha when he wish'eth that I, not Ozzie, had found thee as the child Janus, lost through time. I know'eth how much of who thou are wast molded by him. I know'eth, and now thou doth as well, that thy skills, taught by one who wast evil, are not themselves evil," Cyrus' features became more clear as he spoke.
"Thou, at my -- insistence, useth thy skills to aid Queen Leene when the paradox Alpha presented wouldst have harmed her. Thou shadow'eth Alpha when he wast not right in his heart, out of a friendship thou didst not admit to thyself. E'en though Alpha's Slurp disgust'eth thee, thou endureth it with better grace. Thou felt my ungentle proddings and changed thy behavior. Thou placed thy very life at risk to undo thy curse. E'en now, the fact that you cursed Glenn at all revolts thee," Cyrus declared.
Glenn felt his panic subside. He knew that Cyrus wasn't going to harm Magus. He could tell that Cyrus was trying to give Magus a better view of himself, even as Cyrus done for him. He felt a rush of pure love for his friend who was so generous, even past his own death.
"I let thee see the Aura I placeth on Alpha," Cyrus continued. "Thou needed to know how high my regard for him is and he needed the bolstering of spirit that I could give. As my Geas did for thee to teach'eth thee something of the evil in thy actions, my Aura did for him; to teach'eth him his value and goodness, when he didst not want to believe in himself. It was not easy to split myself thus, but it was necessary."
Glenn suddenly noticed a soft golden glow that seemed to surround everything he saw. He wondered if this was Cyrus' Aura.
"When thou showed thyself here after Alpha had collapsed in despair, I wanted nothing more than to slay thee. I couldst see that thou had a fate to saveth thy sister and through her, Guardia, so I couldst not interfere. Thou accepted my Geas and I intend'eth when I placed it upon thee to destroy thee when it was safe for Guardia to do so," it was the Ghost's turn to look pensively at the ground. "Within minutes I knew thou wast not the wholly evil person I had thought. I hath changed my mind."
Cyrus looked up and smiled toward the mage and the knight. His features were fully fleshed out and his imposing, archaic manner dropped. He seemed to be again the dashing First Knight of Guardia that he had been in life, the one who had been Glenn's best friend, the one Magus was even now wishing with all his might he could have been friends with.
Cyrus extended one hand toward Magus. "Know that my Geas, and your responsiveness to it, have freed you from Ozzie's influence. I cannot take the memories of your childhood from you, or their pain, but I can free you from the evil they caused to rise in you. Any evil you do now is your own, but I expect it will be minimal. You have forged bonds of true friendship with each one who quested with you to save Schala and a true friendship with the queen. There will be a time when you can free the queen from your spell of forgetfulness, you will know it when it comes. I have summoned Glenn here so he would know what has happened between you and I, and that our peace has been made. I relinquish any claim to your life, Magus. I free you from my Geas."
The red haze that had taken hold in Magus' soul let go and rushed back toward Cyrus. Before it reached the Ghost, Cyrus held out a blocking hand and it dissipated.
"I have no need for such hatred any longer," Cyrus muttered.
"Glenn, my dearest friend, you have no need for my Aura any more. As I promised, all that you ever need, you already have within you," Cyrus directed toward Glenn. Magus whirled and saw the knight standing bespelled next to the pillar. The golden Aura flowed softly from Glenn, whirled around and through Magus, startling him with the positive feelings it inspired, and was absorbed back into the Ghost.
"These feelings I will ever treasure," Cyrus noted.
Glenn found that he could move and speak again.
"Cyrus, thank thee for..." he croaked out.
"Glenn, there is no reason to speak. You needed the affirmation I could give you, so I wrapped you in my Aura and bolstered all that you are until you had the strength to find it in yourself. And I am glad you know me enough to know that I wouldn't hurt Magus. If you could forgive him how could I not?" Cyrus told him.
"Magus, you will never have a better friend than Glenn. Perhaps equal, but never better. I have freed you from Ozzie and freed you from any onus to me. You are your own person now. You must make your own destiny."
Cyrus began to glow and to float toward the ceiling.
"I am truly at rest now. You will not see me here again. Some part of me has been with each of you and so you never know... Maybe some time, if the need is great, Cyrus will rise again! Farewell, my friends!"
Magus looked down from watching Cyrus disappear and noticed the faintest gold Aura still clinging to Glenn. "That is our secret, Janus, my friend!" Cyrus' voice whispered in his mind. He smiled and wondered at the smile on Glenn's face.
Glenn had noticed a new, faintly glowing Aura of gold around Magus. "Don't tell him, my friend, he should never know that I marked him thus!" Cyrus' Ghost told Glenn in his thoughts.
"He has been the best friend in the whole world," Glenn noted quietly.
"I... I can see that," Magus responded seriously, laughing ruefully at the joke and feeling a fading mirth from the Ghost. "I am so sorry..."
"Nay, I miss him, I always shall, but he show'eth me that it wast not entirely thy fault... Thou try'eth to undo what thou couldst. If Cyrus can forgiveth thee how can I not?" Glenn interrupted.
"Funny, Cyrus told you if you could forgive how could he not?" Magus noted wry.
"That he did!" Glenn laughed, "Well, whichever of us forgave first, the other affirmed it. Consider thyself forgiven!"
"Okay, my sometime frog friend! Shall we return to our other friends?"
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Author's notes:
After helping Glenn and Magus come to terms with each other, does Cyrus finally pass into his well-deserved afterlife? Who knows?
Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get.
stargarde (at) yahoo (dot) com