Chapter 18: Test of Faith
Before I even realize what I'd just done, I find myself laying on a platform with Wally and Artemis next to me. Looking around the room almost makes my head want to spin like an owl's, because all that is in here is staircases connected to staircases in more and different ways than you can imagine. We'd probably get lost in this maze of stairs in one minute if we didn't know where we would be going. Luckily, we're not the only ones in the room.
Looking down below us, we see three men and… one cat. The one to my right is tanned and muscular, finely dressed and his hair in a ponytail. He's holding a stick in his left hand, but if he's a sorcerer, it's probably a magical wand.
The one to my left is the complete opposite to the other; pale, thin and dressed like he's a goth that leads his own cult. He also has an orange cat with red stripes and eyes on his shoulder.
The last man in the middle seems to be in a direr situation than anyone here. He's older than probably all of us combined, and on the floor with his hands bound with rope. When he turns to face us, I recognize him immediately.
"Mr. Nelson!"
"Well, would you look at that", Nelson says.
Before anyone can do anything, the cane – which we're all still stuck to – glows a gold glow like before. And Nelson is glowing gold too. Next thing I know, he levitates past the two men and over to us. He grabs his cane, which frees our grasps from it, and releases him from his bound ropes.
"In here." Nelson raises his cane opposite of us, and we turn to find an elevator that he just made appear, or at least that's what I'm going with. We all head inside the elevator, but before the doors close, I see one of the men throwing a tantrum like a child.
"I want that helmet! I want it! I want it! I want it!" The grown man screams at us as he sends a blast of dark magic our way. Thankfully, the doors close before it hits us.
As we go up to wherever we're going somehow (magic is just… weird), I look over to Mr. Nelson, who seems to look okay after being kidnapped by two evil magicians. He doesn't even seem nervous or scared at all with the helmet being at risk. Living with Dinah, Grandpa Grant told me all his adventures with the Justice Society of America. He would mostly talk about how the JSA stopped a nuclear bomb from destroying the nation, or defeating tyrants before the took over the world, or just him kicking some Nazi ass during the war.
But whenever he would mention Doctor Fate, he always described him as a mystical warrior and that he never understood how he did all that 'mumbo jumbo'. I asked him onetime what he thought about Fate, and told me that out of everyone in the JSA, he was the most powerful one of all, and that he was the last person he wanted to go up against. Meeting him now, retired from the hero gig but still able to use magic after all those years, I can understand why Grandpa Grant would feel the way he does. I can feel the magic radiating from him, like warmth from the sun.
And if he's still as good as he is now, imagine what he was like in his prime…
"I'm Kent Nelson, by the way."
"No duh." Artemis and I elbow him in the chest for that. Show some respect, science guy.
"I'm Artemis. This is Sara, and Miss Manners over there is Wally."
"Well, Artemis, we're up against an opponent with tremendous mystic power."
"Abra Kadabra?", Wally says. "Flash proved he uses futuristic technology to simulate magic. Guy's all show and no biz."
"Right you are." Wait, what?
"He is?" Artemis and I say at the same time.
"Abra is a charlatan. But Klarion, the Witch Boy, the kid with the cat, he's an actual Lord of Chaos, the ultimate enemy of a Lord of Order like Doctor Fate."
"Right. You're a Lord of Order", Wally says unconvinced.
"Oh, no, not me. I'm just an old coot Fate used to put on until my wife Inza convinced me there could be more to life", he says as he opens up his pocket watch. There's a picture of a beautiful woman, his wife, inside the watch. "Ah, she was a real pistol, that Inza. Anyhoo", as he puts his pocket watch away, "Klarion's after the helmet. If he gets his sticky little mitts on it, he'll turn the planet into his own personal playground of pandemonium."
The elevator dings as soon as he finishes his explanation. "I guess we've reached our floor", I say.
Walking out of the elevator, we find ourselves back in the same giant stair-filled maze, but with no Kadabra or Klarion in sight. The only difference this time is there's a big golden bell in front of us.
"So, what happens now?", I ask as I pull out my staff. Call it a sixth sense, but something tells me I'm going to need this. Soon.
Then up on the ceiling above us, a shape starts to form to our right. It makes a rectangle, and like a door, it opens with a light shining out of it. Then comes our friends falling from said magic door.
Kyle, Kaldur, and Superboy shake off their fall as M'gann floats her way down to the floor. Artemis runs over to them, with Wally and I still standing with Nelson at the bell.
"Friends of yours?" Nelson asks us playfully, and as he says that, something comes striking down our way. Wally, Nelson and I duck down and avoid it. We look up to find our shooter: Abra Kadabra. Fraud magician.
"Friends of yours?", Wally asks him begrudgingly. Kadabra continues to shoot at us with his fake magic, making the others scatter to avoid his attack.
Before I can join the fight, Nelson strikes the bell with his cane, making it glow gold like his cane from before. Nelson walks toward the bell, magically walking into the bell. Like I said, magic is weird. Wally follows behind him, leaving me to either help my friends or protect Nelson. Before I can think, I see Klarion flying his way into the bell. And without thinking about it, I jump into the bell too. I must protect Fate.
"Sara! Wally!" I yell for them as they both enter the magic giant bell. I want to go into the bell too, but Abra Kadabra is not making it easy to go anywhere at all. I create a barrier construct around us, hopefully long enough for us to come up with a plan. "What do we do now?"
"Wally and Sara will protect Nelson and the helmet from Klarion. He is in good hands", Kaldur says. "Right now, we must focus our attention towards Kadabra."
"Any ideas on how we stop a magician?", M'gann asks.
"Not a magician", Artemis says. "Wally said that Abra Kadabra uses future tech to make it look like he's doing magic."
"And you believe him?", Superboy says. "He could just be saying that to prove his point that magic isn't real."
"No, he's right on mark with this one", I say. "Flash let me tag along with him and Wally one time and we ran into El Magnifico over there. I made sure that no civilians got hurt, but I still saw Flash and Wally get a hold of his wand. That's the source of his 'magic'. If we get that away from him, we got him."
"Okay then", Kaldur says, "Kyle and M'gann, distract him with your air maneuvers. Artemis, stay afar from Kadabra and try to knock him off balance with the arrows you have left. Superboy and I will try to get his wand from him. Does everyone understand?"
We all nodded in unison to Kaldur's plan. Just as soon, we hear a cracking noise come from above us. The barrier can't hold for too much longer.
"You children can't hide from my power forever!", Kadabra yells at us. "Soon enough, I'm going to make you wish you never came here."
"M'gann, link us up", to which she does so immediately. And break!
My barrier dissipates into nothing right then and M'gann and I take flight towards Kadabra. The others get themselves ready for the next part.
"Hey, Alakazam!", I yell to his left.
"My name is Abra Kadabra. Show some respect, child." He aims his wand at me and electricity comes out of it towards me. I dodge to my right, feeling the electricity pass me by. His magic may be fake, but his attack isn't.
"You like tricks, do you?", I ask the fake. "I've got one for you. Abracadabra!" I create a construct of a flock of pigeons, flocking Abra's way. He shoots two out of the sky, but most of them peck at him furiously.
"Get off me, you winged rats!" He starts shooting randomly in the sky, almost hitting M'gann even.
You okay M'gann?
I'm fine. Whenever you're ready Artemis.
I look over to Artemis, aiming her crossbow at Alakazam. She takes a second more to be precise, and then pulls her trigger. The arrow zooms its way right near Abra's feet, who is now free of the 'winged rats'. It makes a fast ticking noise and before he can realize it, a small explosion occurs and knocks his ass to the ground.
Kaldur, Superboy, now's your chance, Artemis says. As soon as she says that, they race over to the fallen faker. Kaldur uses his water-bearers to keep him grounded, chaining his feet. Superboy grabs a hold of him and punches him in the chest.
He goes for the wand in his hand, but Kadabra moves too fast for Superboy. He blasts him with a shock of electricity, sending him on the floor. He then aims his wand at the water chain on his feet and shocks it, sending electricity right to Kaldur. The attack pains him and brings him to his knees.
Kadabra then creates an electrical field over Superboy and Kaldur, entrapping them with his 'magic'. He then looks towards the three of us. I certainly hope Wally and Sara are having better luck than we are.
Thankfully, going into the bell didn't take us to another dimension.
Wally, Nelson and I find ourselves at the top of the Tower of Fate. And in front of us, we see something even more important: the Helmet of Fate.
As Nelson goes to grab the helmet, he's hit with a blast of dark magic. Wally catches him from falling as I run in front of him to block Klarion's next attack. Or try anyways. I've never fought against a sorcerer before, so I have no idea if my staff will do anything against him. But I can't let that stop me from protecting Nelson.
Nelson starts speaking in a different language… a language I've never heard of before. While he's doing that, Klarion prepares his next magic attack for us. I hold my staff in a defensive position, hoping to block his attack. Just as the wave of magic closes in on us, Nelson slams his cane onto the floor and out of nowhere, a barrier made of light rises from below and surrounds us, protecting us from the blast.
"Not bad for a former 'Doctor Fake', eh, kid?", Nelson jokingly says. Nelson then faints and begins to fall, having Wally and I catch him before he hits the ground. "The bubble'll give you just enough time to do what you need to do."
"I have no idea what I need to do", Wally says. And to be honest, neither do I.
"Have faith in what you can't explain. Believe in what you can no longer deny." And then Nelson lowers him arm and his head falls back, letting his pocket watch fall out of his hand open. He's gone… Kent Nelson is dead.
Immediately, Wally places him flat on the ground and breathes in and out, then places his hands over his heart. "What are you doing?"
"Seeing if I can revive him. I will not let him die, especially when we're about to die", Wally says. He starts to press his hands against Nelson's heart repeatedly, hoping to save his life. But it's pointless, he just won't except it.
"Wally, stop! It won't work." But he ignores me and continues to press against his chest. Before I can say anything else, something finally breaks his concentration and looks past me. I turn around and see what it is: Klarion trying to break the barrier with his magic.
"I want that helmet, and I want it now!" He screams at us as he continues firing his magic at us.
Wally looks over from Klarion to the helmet to Nelson, distraught over what's happened and what's going to happen. "Wally, snap out of it! You need to get your head in the game. If you don't soon, we'll die too."
"No one is dying today!"
Wally, Sara, we're in trouble, M'gann says to us telepathically. Tell Kent we need Doctor Fate.
M'gann we can't, I tell her. Kent is—
The link goes blank all out of nowhere. The others must be in trouble, and there's nothing we can do to help them.
Klarion then conjures up a new spell: a pair of red magic hands. He raises them up in the air and slams them into the bubble, making it shake just a bit. Nelson's cane, which is floating in the air, is burning like a match, leaving only half of it left. That cane shows us how much longer the barrier will stand, and it doesn't look like we have much time left.
"Okay, so I think I have a plan. As soon as the bubble breaks apart, you run around Klarion a couple laps to confuse him. Then when you break off, I'll knock him off balance with my staff. He probably isn't too good fighting without his magic, so I'll…" I stop myself from explaining the plan because Wally isn't even paying attention to me. "Wally! Do you even hear me?"
"A test of faith."
"Faith? Wally, what're you talking about?
Pushing me aside, Wally stands up and grabs the helmet. He's not…
"What are you doing?"
"It's the only chance we have of making it out alive. I have to do this."
"But you don't know what'll happen to you if you put it on! You don't even believe in magic. And what if the helmet won't work for you, what then?"
"I don't know. But I won't know unless I try." I'll never know unless I try.
"But Wally—"
"Hey, dumb kid!", Klarion yells at us. "You put that on, you may never get it off."
"That's a good point too. What if you put the helmet on and you're stuck as Doctor Fate forever?"
But Wally doesn't answer me this time. All he does is stare into the helmet, looking at his reflection. Klarion rips apart the bubble, leaving us defenseless. I can't believe I'm doing this…
"Do not put that helmet on!" I tell Wally adamantly not to do. I decide to do the courageously stupid thing and charge Klarion straight on. He retaliates by firing a barrage of dark magic at me. I dodge them precariously, ducking and weaving left and right. He then breathes fire my way, and I slide below the flames. As soon as the fire dies, I jump to my feet, now merely face to face with the Witch Boy, and swing my staff at him, hitting him in the face. Klarion, however, brings his head back and waves it off. What?
"I may not look it, but I'm very strong. Strong enough to knock you into another realm, brat." He conjures up a giant dark magic hand and smacks me right in the chest, sending me flying in the opposite direction. I end up colliding with the ledge wall of the tower, reeling from the pain. "Now, I want that helmet!"
Klarion then brings his hands together and fires a huge blast of dark magic aimed right at Wally. "Wally run!" But he just stands there, the helmet still in his hands. Wally then does the unthinkable: he puts on the helmet, just as he's engulfed by dark magic. "WALLY!"