CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Dreams
There the wizard stood, leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest with the ever familiar scowl on his face. It annoyed him as he watched the girl at work, tinkering with a machine that was far beyond his knowledge. But he continued to keep watch as she worked, both admiring her genius and hating his own ignorance. Feeling as she knew he was staring at her, the girl turned to the wizard.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"No," a flustered Janus sharply replied.
"Awwwww, is the big, bad wizard confused with what I am doing?" Lucca teased over her shoulder.
"Perhaps," Janus coolly said, narrowing his eyes. "Or perhaps this magic, science, is quite so pathetic to me that I simply don't care."
The scientist soon got up and turned to the still scowling wizard. Ever since the party split up, for some reason unknown to her, Janus wanted to follow her, though what she would be doing wasn't dangerous in the slightest. The wizard didn't care if there was a battle or not, just so long as their final destination was the same. Lavos. Other than revenge against the beast and sometimes at night, a look of sorrow filled his face, a longing for a sister he lost, he shown no other characteristics. No, Lucca wasn't angry at his sharp statement but she was eager to learn more about him. Now was her chance.
"Knowledge is power and so science is the greatest power of them all. To get stronger is your goal, isn't it?"
"Of course it is but science is a false power," Janus passively answered.
"A false power?" she asked skeptically. "Science has saved countless lives, answered many difficult questions and made life so much easier for all, so how can you call it a false power?"
The wizard's answer came from that of a look around the ruined dome of the future after the apocalypse. Lucca turned and took in the sight too. Once a beautiful civilization was laid to waste by the great beast and science couldn't stop it. Was that what the wizard thought? As if reading her mind, Janus spoke.
"Technology, born from science, becomes commonplace. I have no respect for knights but even they show the real power. One can pick up a sword but a man has to train for years to be the best at his craft. A wizard has to study to learn the powers of the elements they control. But technology…" the prince emphasized more of his speech by spreading his arms out wide. "Anyone can use. A child with a gun could kill. That's not power. And these ruins could have easily been made by man and his ambition for greatness. Magic, true magic, is the real power to the world for one must earn it, not have it given to you by another and it is magic that will end Lavos's terror."
Lucca listened intently and even though Janus tried to belittle her strong faith in science, she did not seem upset. Quite the opposite. She got a glimpse into the soul of the mysterious wizard and with a genuine smile, she went back to work.
Stunned by his own foolishness, now realizing Lucca's true intentions, the wizard stood there baffled. Slowly, he regained his composure and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. He admired the silly woman's determination and stubbornness, not unlike his own. The only difference, she never voiced her opinion in a way that would offend others. She may not think much of the wizard but the prince knew how he felt in his heart of hearts. She did seem, in many ways, a kindred spirit.
The prince smirked as the girl got up, rubbing some sweat off her brow. Though the deadly and endless winter was bitter outside, they were down below and in close, stuffy quarters. Obviously, the scientist was hot. To relieve such discomfort, she began removing her shirt. The prince frowned as the world faded. He felt danger about.
Rolling off the bed the moment he felt conscious, the wizard narrowly escaped death's door as a huge axe split his bed in half, length ways. A curse escaped the shadow over the now destroyed bed and Janus echoed that curse. He was enjoying that dream, unlike the many nightmares that haunted him usually, and someone now interrupted that. Unforgivable.
"I'm impressed, Zealian. You have the instincts of a warrior!"
Janus rose from the ground to his full height in nothing but his white cotton underpants. Though such an image would be found amusing, the attacker wouldn't drop his guard. The wizard was confident, armor or no, weapon or no. He could have been naked and his deadly aura would still linger about and he wouldn't show any emotion, like that of a brick wall.
Before the wizard squat a tall, lean yet muscular humanoid male. It's skin was a dull gray, like the stone statues back in Janus's old castle and it's hair was long, wavy and green, as if someone took seaweed from the lake and simply dumped it on his head. The mystic was crotched with the largest axe the prince had ever seen. Two more large axes rested against his back, crossed over one another, while along his waist rest many, many throwing axes. Donned in chainmail, the warrior was more than ready for combat but his caution the wizard could only take as a matter that Janus was a Zealian and thus, a magic user.
"Tyz I presume?" Janus sneered at the brute.
"Ah, my reputation precedes me. Have you heard the time—"
"That you ran away from a rabbit?" Janus interrupted.
The warrior paused, his mouth agape. No one, with the exception of his rival, would dare say such a thing. He couldn't help his eye from twitching but if it was from confusion or rage, Janus couldn't tell. Soon the warrior regained his senses as he noticed Janus's eyes moved to his left. On instincts, the warrior quickly looked to his right and noticed a huge, bulky white scythe.
For some reason, the mystic couldn't guess, the wizard wanted to get to a weapon. Why would a magic user want one and what stupid magic user would wield a farmer's tool as their weapon of choice? Still, Tyz felt more comfortable fighting a fellow warrior than a tricky wizard. Pointing with his chin towards the scythe, the warrior took a step back but wouldn't take his gaze off the white haired, paled skin Zealian.
Janus couldn't stop the wicked smile inching its way to his face. Never taking his gentle, lavender eyes off the brute, the prince made his way to his weapon. He didn't know if the Mystic would attack him the moment his fingers caressed the shaft of his scythe but something told him that Tyz would wait until he was ready. Why? He couldn't guess. He doubted it was honor but perhaps he wanted just a real fight. Taking his scythe in hand the wizard sigh a genuine sigh.
"Feels good touching a weapon, aye?" the mystic grinned.
"No," Janus slowly closed his eyes and slowly opened them again. "I'm just relieved. Your pride, your ignorance and most importantly, your cowardice to assassinate a defenseless opponent while he slept shows that you are the prime example of a Mystic. How different I've seen your kind. It's a relief to find that you are no different from the bias your race should be."
A burst of outrage exploded from the Mystic as he howled and slashed out to his opponent. Janus, as graceful as a hunting cat, swiftly moved to the left with such fluent and lack of energy, it seemed as if he vanished to the mystic's eyes for the briefest of moments. Down came the white scythe with such grace and speed, the warrior almost… almost, lost his head in the unexpected move. Bringing his axe up to bare and parrying the blow, he quickly reversed the swing for a counter attack but he hit only air.
Far below the swing the wizard ducked, using the pole end of the scythe behind both the Mystic's knees. Again, the unexpected move had the warrior reeling, falling on his back by the impressive trip. But even in a prone position, he was still a deadly opponent. Before the wizard could finish his would be assassin, he was dancing to keep from having a rain of throwing axes thrown his way.
Kicking off the floor, the Mystic charged again, going into a systematic pattern of swipes. Intercepting each attack with his huge blade of his own, Janus kept up to the ferocity and axesmanship the Mystic through at him. Until he heard the faintest of sounds, that of a crack.
One powerful swing of the axe came down to the expected parry, shattering the Death Scythe to millions of fragments. Taking the advantage as the Mystic thought Janus confused and defenseless, Tyz followed up with his axe, swinging high. Yet even though the extremely powerful weapon, very magical or at least was, was indeed a great shock to the wizard, such trivial things he pushed from his mind. Walking below and into the overhead chop, Janus slammed the top of his now white pole underneath the Mystic's chin.
Both blood and spit erupted from the warrior as his world began to spin. A comforting darkness awaited him but Tyz quickly shook the blackness away. His foe, a wizard no less, truly knew how to fight. If he lowered his guard for even a second...
His thoughts became reality as the white staff connected with his abdomen. How accurate it was thrust along with the surprising strength had the warrior flying back. And out a window. Normally falling from ten floors would cause anyone to lose their nerves but Tyz kept his focus, twisting the end of his axe. In a split second, the head of the axe shot out with a chain attached to it, embedding itself onto the seal of the window he just flew out of.
With another twist, the handle retracted itself back to its head and to the window it held. A grin, one of determination and confidence spread across the warrior's face. How surprised the wizard would be, seeing the warrior's return. As Tyz began lifting himself over the window, he froze.
With his staff in one hand, the wizard had his other out, palm almost right at the warrior's face. Then, a thousand watts of electricity from what seemed like a maelstrom of lightning blew the mighty warrior from the window again. This time, he was blissfully unaware he was falling.
"To defeat Tyz as quickly as you did, you most definitely have quite a bit of skill of arm," a voice said from nowhere in particular.
"Do all of you Mystics so enjoy invading other's privacy?" the prince sneered as he went to get dressed.
Fading into view, the sorceress, Bonnie, watched the Zealian from behind. The battle she just watched and for her to care about martial arts was very distance, she was truly impressed. He was extremely skilled with a heavy and bulky weapon and his fluent movements were really breathtaking. How he adjusted when his great weapon was destroyed in the middle of combat was less than short of magnificent. But what really blew her mind was the level of spell the wizard used to finish the battle.
"What truly brings you here? If you are able to cast such a powerful spell, I don't see a need for you learning magic."
Throwing his white cape over his shoulders, the wizard took measures of the woman. It took him more than a moment to consider her words and then he knew his weak spell was something even the most experienced lightning mage had difficulties learning. His attention soon fell to his scythe, or what was left of it. Nothing in all the multiverse should have had the power to destroy Charon's Scythe but it seemed Noah's spell weakened it tremendously to a point of frailty. With a shrug, he felt all he needed was a new scythe.
Soon his keen senses told him that he was alone. Taking in his surroundings, it seemed that the sorceress left without getting an answer. Time, such an unavoidable enemy that the prince ever knew was growing long, even though it was only an hour after daybreak. He wanted to get his training underway and leave this hovel as soon as humanly possible. However, he couldn't help but think the "hovel" was impressive, quite a few similarities of the castle he ruled back in his timeline.
Annoyance soon crept into his very being. First he was awoken from a blissful dream and thrown into mortal combat against these peoples mightiest of warriors and in that battle, he lost his scythe. Now, when he could start his training, the sorceress vanished as quickly as she appeared and now he had to go look for her. He wondered what would happen next.
"Perhaps I'll misfire my fire spell and lose all my hair," the prince grumbled.
Moving from corridor to corridor, receiving some stares that promised death while others were more curious, the prince continued his straightforward march to the back doors of the castle. As costumed, wizards and their mighty spells needed as much room as possible. With close quarters, many expensive items and the rooms themselves could be destroyed and more importantly, innocent lives could easily come to an end, even the caster of the spell. So, if the prince was to train, it would be outside where he hoped to meet Bonnie.
However, what met his eyes was astonishing. The snow was descending on the land, instantly chilling the wizard's sunburned face but before him as far as he could see was a huge garden of many different types of flowers. The snow seemed to stop ten feet above the garden and each snowflake changed into a drop of refreshing rain upon the flowers. The wizard was curious about how such a magic barrier was made or the purpose behind the flowers. Perhaps the flowers were just for sight, to beautify the dreariness of the dark castle or maybe they were used for ingredients for alchemy. Janus thought the latter was more believable.
Such a spectacle could wait investigation during his own time and only if he cared then. Taking in more of the surrounding around, he did find the Mystic he was looking for in a field outside the garden, as if awaiting the prince. With a smirk at the irony of it all, the wizard soon moved towards the woman.
"Cast your weakest, attacking spell," the mystic commanded.
Janus flinched. It was an order he couldn't shake. Bonnie made it sound like he didn't have a choice in the matter, which he wasn't going to be a student but a servant. So many died trying to control Janus and it took all his will not to add Bonnie's name to that list.
Dropping his white pole, the wizard began his chant, falling into the coldness of death. Now, even the flakes seemed far warmer than the wizard, as his hands moved in rapid succession. The words rolled off his tongue, the chant easily came to him. Pointing his finger out to the middle of the clearing, the wizard dropped his hand to the side.
From the heavens a slab of ice fell, crushing the earth with its weight, then a second crushed its sister, shattering the first in millions of shards of shrapnel. A low whistle escaped the sorceress's lips, for she was indeed impressed. She thought this Zealian a lightning mage with the performance he showed during his battle with Tyz but now she had just witness him summon ice. But something tugged at her…
"I said your weakest, attack spell," she clarified. The prince smirked at the sorceress.
"That was my weakest spell. Slow to cast with a none-too-impressive outcome. One can easy dodge the first block of ice and only the little ice projectiles would do some, though minor, damage. The second block only advantage is that it acts as a shield. So the best way to use such a weak spell to a better advantage…" the wizard trailed off, falling into another spell, this time, tapping into the burning rage in his heart.
In a blur, faster than the sorceress could keep up, his hands almost made her eyes crossed while his dazzling chant had her head spinning. Not a flake could touch his skin now and if he wasn't so enthralled in the spell, he would have noticed his sunburn face felt like it was going to melt off. In a few heartbeats, the wizard pointed at the ice wall, releasing a huge ripple of fire from his person, melting the ice in an instant.
"If the enemy tried to move around the wall, they would be quite surprised to see a rolling wave of fire coming at them. Any who stayed behind the wall would now be exposed to arrows or other projectiles—" Janus then cut his description of a possible scenario short as he watched a baffled sorceress and her jaw hanging low from yet another powerful spell being unleashed. Or perhaps how Janus kept thinking several steps ahead is what befuddled her, he didn't know nor did he care.
"Again I ask," Bonnie began, futilely hiding how impressed she was, "if you have such spells, why do you wish to learn magic that you already know and are beyond my own?"
Janus flinched at the woman. Saying his weakest spells were already signs that he was the stronger of the two. He flinched again that he would have to reveal his own weakness.
"Sometimes my spells work, other times they don't. Obviously, I want them to work full time," Janus answered.
"Well, first we must know what your element is than and mastering three, I can see how you can be confused by which element is yours."
"Shadow is my element. The other spells are just something I decided to pick up so I'm not held back by one element alone," the wizard stated.
Bonnie turned to the barren land that was quickly beginning to be covered with snow, as if the mighty fire never happened. Many thoughts ran through her head. She had no idea where this Zealian came from but his surprising action, one after another, shown her that he was perhaps stronger in arms than Tyz, more tactile and clever than Orion and could be more powerful than she with magic. It was obvious this Zealian skipped over the lower level lightning, fire and ice and went right on into the more powerful, second level of each of their power, all of this because he didn't want to be tied down by a single element. But from one magical glance at the wizard, she had a question that needed answered.
"Alright, let's see some shadow magic."
Janus grinned, enjoying the fact that these weak Mystics were so impressed by his feats. Waving his arms about, he called upon the darkness within his soul, demanding to bring it to the physical weave of energy he desired. He wouldn't dare open the gates of Dark Matter, so a simple Dark Bomb would easily impress the sorceress. Pointing his finger out, he called out the spell. Nothing happened, with the exception of Janus feeling his magic draining too quickly, engulfing his heart. Soon, the wizard was on a knee, gasping for breath.
In that instant, as he struggled for air, that his spells weren't chaotic but his shadow spells were beyond him. No… not beyond him… but not there altogether. He, a shadow mage, could not cast a single shadow spell. And unlike the time he lost his magic to Lavos, he knew this was different. He would never be able to wield shadow again.
Counting back the days, the prince sought when he at last used his shadow magic and the first time it faltered. He remembered using his magic against Saturn in the Temple of Black and then when it failed him when battling Noah. So what happened between those two times that caused him to lose his magic?
The Black Wind! Janus thought, his eyes bulging so much that they may roll right out of his head. Indeed, the source of his magic of shadow was gone. His dreams to grow stronger had been shattered. He bowed his head, completely defeated.