Chapter Twenty Three

Sacrifice

When the smog finally cleared and Kane could see again, the protective aura around Moana had disappeared. Kane narrowed his eyes and aimed the snake totem at the two girls again. However, this time upon materialising, the dark red energy from the totem sputtered, blinked and died out slowly. "What?" he looked at his precious totem in disbelief. "What's happening?"

"Moana cancelled you out." Melody stepped out from behind Moana. "No more magic."

"H-how is this possible?"

"She's learnt to harness her light magic and is now just as powerful as you. The light and darkness have been balanced and neutralized. It's over Kane."

"I don't need magic to kill you both." Kane growled. He unsheathed his Falchion again and walked towards the two girls with a menacing posture.

"Stay behind me and just focus on keeping his magic at bay." Melody raised her recurve bow and closed the gap between her and the Major. As they clashed, Melody immediately went on the offensive. The world didn't have much time left. She was the only one capable of overriding Kane's spell over the trident as she was a descendent of Poseidon, but first she had to defeat the deranged warlord. Melody went low and struck the Major's left shin, using her bow as a blunt weapon.

The Major lashed out, and she quickly moved out of the way, resulting in his sword hitting the stony ground covered in snow. Melody moved to the back speedily while Kane was still lifting his sword, and used her momentum as her driving force as she drove the riser of the bow against Kane's spine. As Kane arched his back in reaction to the attack, she kicked the back of his knee with all the strength she could muster, causing him to stagger off balance and sink to a knee. With the Major's vertical base compromised, Melody swiftly spun round and used her left leg to hook around the back of Kane's neck. She pushed herself off the ground with her right leg and completed a rotation. Kane was forced to roll across the ground as she landed perfectly in a crouched position with her bow still in hand.

As Kane was forced to roll across the ground, he used his long legs to his advantage, kicking Melody away from him. Quickly breaking the roll and getting to his feet, he was unprepared as she came at him again, throwing her full weight against his midsection, causing Kane to lose his balance and tumble backwards. As he landed on his back, Melody immediately used her bow's riser to plant a short jab on his wrist, and he grunted, letting go of his sword in pain.

Moana ran up to them and kicked the sword far away from the Major's reach as Melody placed her boot on his chest, pinning him to the ground. "It's over."

An earthquake suddenly began to break out again, and just as the cave started to experience tremors, they stopped just as quickly as they started.

"Looks like Maui restored the heart in time." Moana said.

"You're done, Kane. Your mission is a flop." Melody added, making sure her boot was firmly planted against Kane's chest.

"I'm done when I say I'm done." Kane snarled, his eyes gleaming with fury. He couldn't allow his mission to be compromised now, not when he was so close to success. And especially not by a rag tag team of teenagers! The snake totem glowed red again as he focused all his energy into overcoming Moana's white magic.

"I thought you neutralized his black magic!" Melody turned to Moana in shock, realizing that Kane was still able to tap into the dark arts.

"I am! I don't know what's going on!" Moana replied frantically. She looked at her hands in confusion, desperately trying to focus on cancelling out his magic with her own.

The dark red energy from the snake totem expanded like a bubble and finally erupted, casting a red hue over the entire cave. Both Melody and Moana were thrown by the impact of the blast, and they landed hard on the stony ground. On the ground, the two girls lay dazed as Kane stood up from where Melody had felled him, and walked towards them, his face sinister.

"You're right. It's over." The Major towered in front of the two girls, pointing the snake totem straight at them. It glowed red, the light casting a red hue on their faces, and they shielded themselves, bracing for impact. It seemed like they were going to be incinerated by black magic channeled by his sheer wrath and had met their end at the hands of the ruthless Major.

"NO!"

Melody and Moana opened their eyes in time to see Tracy spring in front of the snake totem with her tentacles raised to shield them just as black magic flew forth to destroy whatever stood in its path. Tracy took the full force of Kane's unforgiving bloodlust, screaming in agony as she absorbed all of the black magic into her being. Then, it was over in the blink of an eye and she collapsed to the ground, her body limp like a rag doll.

"Tracy!" Moana dashed towards the fallen octopid. She slid to a stop and dropped to the ground by Tracy's side to check on her. "Her pulse is weak! She's fading!" Moana gasped in horror.

"Just as well, she had it coming." Kane picked up his sword without an ounce of remorse and raised the snake totem, pointing it at Moana and Melody again. "Round two then."

Dismayed, Melody fired two arrows consecutively at Major Kane, who deflected one with his sword and caught the other in his free hand. Kane hurled the arrow he caught in Melody's direction. She moved out of the way, catching it deftly as it flew past her face and placing it back in the nocking point. As she turned around to face Major Kane again after avoiding his throw, she aimed low and immediately fired the arrow at him again. He had no time to respond, and the arrow found its mark in Kane's left leg which resulted in Kane letting out a resounding roar of pain.

Giving Kane no time to react, Melody dashed towards him with full force, bow in hand. His leg was already injured, so she could use that to her advantage to keep him off a vertical base. She dropped to her knees, sliding across the slippery ground and attempted to use her inertia to trip Kane up. Knocking into his bulky legs, she felt like she had rammed against tree trunks, but managed to make him lose his balance. He fumbled and fell face first heavily onto the ground. As he attempted to get up, Melody spun round to face his back and leaped, bringing her knee down on his spine, causing him to be floored yet again.

When she was sure that he wouldn't get up, she sprinted over to the trident, which was still etched into the ground. With all her might, she grunted and managed to wrench the trident loose from where Kane had wedged it. The trident's glow subsided, and the weather gradually returned to normal, the dark storm clouds and the lightning disappearing. "Your quest is over." She said, wielding the trident in one hand and her bow in the other. "You willanswer for your crimes."

"No. You will die for standing in my way!" Kane picked up his sword, limping towards Melody. She blocked off his wild stabs with both the trident and the bow, and attempted to land some blows of her own, which were blocked off by either his skill or his blind rage. Kane raised his sword and brought it down, and Melody quickly raised both the trident and bow in a crossed formation to block the attack. As the weapons clashed, the two opponents grunted. With a skilful swipe of his blade, the Major sent the trident flying out of Melody's hand to her surprise.

He lifted up the Falchion again, and with all his might, he let out a cry of rage, bringing his sword down yet again. This time, when Melody lifted her bow to defend herself, it was split into two by the sheer strength of Kane's attack, one of the bow's limbs falling to the ground. She jumped back to put some space in between her and the hysterical Major. She dropped her now broken bow. Kane had broken her best weapon, and had left her no choice. Lifting her hands in a combat stance, Melody spaced her feet at shoulders width apart, bracing herself for an all out hand to hand brawl. She looked about, realising that she had boxed herself in, and there was nowhere for her to run.

"This ends now." Kane pointed his snake totem straight at Melody, and it glowed red.

Suddenly, a blast of ice hit Kane, and it froze his left hand. The red glow subsided, and the snake totem was trapped in the ice, rendered completely harmless. "I don't think so." Elsa walked towards Kane confidently from the entrance of the cave.

"You!" With evil intentions, Kane aimed his left hand at Elsa on instinct, only to realise that his snake totem had been frozen solid. The usual red hue could no longer be seen, and Kane couldn't feel the black magic flow out of him, no matter how hard he tried. "No!" Kane violently shook his left hand, desperately hacking at the ice with his right hand. "It can't end like this!"

"Kane!"

The Major, distracted by Elsa, turned his attention back to Melody but it was too late.

Melody sprinted towards Kane and before he could react, she sprung up and delivered a hard right knee to his midsection. As Kane grunted sharply and bent over in pain, Melody took a step back and somersaulted forward. Midair, she extended her right leg and the back of her heel came crashing down on the back of the Major's head. He hit the ground hard, and so did his left hand, causing the ice to shatter, exposing his left hand once more. "You're right about one thing." She crouched down in front of the fallen Kane and swiftly removed the snake totem from his ring finger. "This ends now."

"So you think you've won." Major Kane weakly pushed himself up. "What happens now?"

"You're going to face justice for everything you've done." Elsa joined Melody, wary of Kane as if he was going to suddenly lunge at them.

"No."

"That's not up to you." Melody replied curtly.

"I'm not going to prison."

"That's also not up to you."

"When I first started this quest, I always knew that this was going to be a one-way trip for me." Major Kane removed his military vest, looking up at the two girls who stood before him. "It still is. You may have stopped me from bringing my family back, but you can't stop me from seeing them again."

"What are you saying?" Elsa shot a worried glance at Melody.

As the two girls were distracted, Kane briskly reached for his Falchion sword. In horror, Melody and Elsa watched helplessly as the Major ran the sword straight through his own abdomen. Blood slowly seeped through the fabric of his clothes as he dropped to the ground, his head landing in the snow.

"No no no no…" Melody dropped to her knees in front of Major Kane and held the back of his head up, and Elsa covered her mouth, looking like she was about to be sick. "Kane! You're not going to die on us!"

"You can't stop me this time." Kane gloated softly as blood spilled from his mouth, running down his cheek. "But please, fulfil a dying man's last request."

"Stay with me! Kane? Did you hear me?"

"Save humanity."

"What?"

"The world needs the warriors. Save mankind from themselves." Kane looked up at Melody, the life slowly draining from his face. "Please."

Melody looked at Elsa, and then back at Kane. She nodded. "We will."

"Thank you…" Kane whispered in gratefulness, and for a moment Melody and Elsa thought they had caught a glimpse of the man he had once been. "I'm going to see my wife and children again."

"Kane?"

Silence.

"He's gone." Elsa said softly.

"Guys!" Moana's yell echoed throughout the cave, and the two girls sprinted over to where the voice came from. "She's fading!" Moana looked over her shoulder in desperation at Melody and Elsa. The octopid was lying motionless on the ground, her chest moving up and down ever so slightly that at first glance it seemed like she was dead.

"What's going on?" Maui stepped through the entrance of the cave, walking towards the warriors. He had just returned to the North Pole after restoring the heart of Te Fiti, and had found the three girls huddled over Tracy.

"The Major. He…he was aiming for us, but Tracy jumped in front of his black magic." Moana said. "She saved us."

"No…where is he now?"

"He's gone." Melody replied shortly.

"Escaped?"

"He killed himself, not wanting to spend the rest of his life in prison."

"Is she dead?"

"I can't find a pulse!" Moana looked at the rest, her face ashen. "We might be too late."

"Is there anything we can do?" Elsa asked in dismay.

"I don't know." Maui held his head in his hands, looking at a loss for what to do.

"There might be a way to bring her back."

Elsa, Moana and Maui looked at Melody.

"How?" Maui asked.

"Kane was trying to bring his dead wife and children back into 'the mortal realm', as he called it, which means that they can be reached from our plain of existence. Theoretically." Melody began. "So what if we did the same?"

"How?"

"I don't know how Kane did it, but I'm guessing that energy from the spirit realm has got to still be in the atmosphere. Maybe if we can piggyback off it-"

"Then we can use that energy to bring us into the spirit realm and get Tracy back!" Elsa cut in, understanding what Melody was trying to get at. "Tracy's spirit must still be here, but we don't have much time!"

"But I don't know how to do it!" Moana looked at Melody. "It's way above my pay grade!"

"We believe in you, Moana." Maui placed his large hand on her shoulder.

"You can do this." Elsa added.

"I'm coming with you." Melody said, and Moana looked at her with uncertainty. "I owe it to her to be there to bring her back."

"Alright." Moana sat on the ground beside the motionless Tracy, and Melody sat down with her. She joined hands with Moana while Elsa and Maui looked on in hope that the plan would work. Moana shut her eyes lightly, and tried to slow her breathing. One, two, three, inhale. One, two, three, exhale. Her necklace lit up with a warm yellow glow, casting a tungsten hue on Tracy's motionless body. Feeling a warm tingling sensation from the white magic throughout her entire being, Moana tried to focus on finding the energy signature that Kane had conjured up during his spell.

Yes, she could feel it! The warm tingling sensation had disappeared, and was slowly being replaced by a chilling feeling of dread and morbid danger. There was only one word to describe the feeling: death. There and then, Moana knew that she had located Kane's black magic energy signature that would help them tap into the spirit realm. As she tightened her grasp on the energy signature, she could feel herself and Melody slowly being pulled out from their plain of existence and into a foreign void filled with nothing but vast emptiness. Being hauled through the void, it felt as though they were in space, floating along without any gravity. Then all of a sudden, they found themselves levitating in an abyss of oblivion.

"This is the spirit realm?" Melody opened her eyes and let go of Moana's hand.

"I don't know," Moana surveyed her surroundings with uncertainty. "I hope so."

Melody floated away from Moana and she followed behind closely. "I don't see Tracy. Where is she?" She cupped her hands over her mouth. "Tracy! Where are you?!"

"Tracy!" Moana did the same. "We're here to bring you back!"

"Y'all shouldn't have come here."

Melody and Moana spun round, trying to locate where the voice was coming from. They looked down below their feet to see Tracy about twenty metres beneath where they were levitating.

"Tracy, we won," Melody forced her way downwards and reached the downcast octopid. "We defeated Kane. It's over. Let's go home."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Tracy inched away from Melody. "Not after all that I've done."

"Tracy-"

"It's better this way."

"No, listen to us." Moana said. "We won because of you. Your sacrifice made it possible. Don't you see, Tracy? I was wrong about you. You're not a witch, you're a hero. And you belong with us."

"Y'all don't understand." Tracy's eyes welled up with tears. "All my life, I've been nothing but evil. I did horrible things. At least this way, I get to die doing something good for a change. I get to redeem myself." She looked at Melody, hoping that she would empathise with her. "Isn't that what you said you wanted for me?"

"I have a better solution." Melody held Tracy's hands in her own. "Don't die to redeem yourself. Live on as a better person."

"Come back." Moana added. "You're a part of us."

Tracy nodded gently and closed her eyes, letting the tears stream down her face. When she opened them again, she found herself back in the land of the living. She sat up weakly, looking around to see the hopeful faces of her teammates crouching over her. "Ugh." She groaned, massaging her temples. "Don't crowd me, it's embarrassing."

"Welcome back, Tracy." Elsa smiled warmly.

"Whewww, we really thought we lost you there." Maui heaved a sigh of relief.

"Great, I guess I have y'all to thank for dragging me back from the dark abyss," Tracy looked at Moana and Melody gratefully. "Thanks."

"You're a part of us." Melody replied with a smile. "We weren't going to let you go that easily."

"Alright, enough with the sappy stuff." Tracy avoided any eye contact in embarrassment. "So what happens now?"

"The fight might be over, but Kane left a lot of destruction behind. It's up to us to get the stolen stuff back where they belong."

"Just when I thought we were done." Tracy lay back on the ground. "Great."

Writer's Commentary:

The battle ends here as our heroines finally manage to defeat Kane after chasing him across a couple of continents. I hope Kane's death was a satisfying conclusion to his character. In the end, all he really wanted was to save humanity, no matter how flawed his ideology was. He really did believe that he was trying to do good, despite the consequences, and he always knew that it was going to be a one-way trip for him.

It was particularly compelling for me to see this villain pass the torch of saving the world to the warriors he has been trying to defeat throughout the course of the entire novel. Deep down, he knows that they are more than capable of doing so, and is able to die at peace, concluding his character arc.

Then we have the whole segment of bringing Tracy back from the spirit realm. That was tricky to write. And also, I had to ask myself: am I doing Tracy's character justice by bringing her back? Will I water down her sacrifice if she returns to the land of the living? And then I decided, she has so much more potential that it would be a complete waste to kill her off. She's here to stay, at least for a while, so fans of her character can be at ease. For now :)

Next, we're heading into our final chapter to close the story. Stay tuned to find out what happens to our heroes in the aftermath of Kane's quest!