AN: Alright boys and girls. This is the grand finale of the Wizard City saga. Hope you've enjoyed so far. I'll probably take a small break after next chapter. Have at it! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, elements, or borrowed plot ideas from any source I acquire them from, specifically KingsIsle. I merely own any original characters I create.
"Blah" = talking
"Blah" = thoughts, writing, sound effects, or flashbacks
"BLAH"= Yelling
If they had caught it sooner, perhaps by a mere second.
As it was, Malistaire's long staff—topped by a ruby egg encircled by a golden dragon figurine—slammed against the gymnasium floor, sending out an onyx-hued shockwave that sent all around him reeling back, screams soaring into the air. Those far enough managed to move just as it appeared, but could not escape its rapid expansion.
Those that had been close—namely the professors—had all leaped well out of the way, carried great distances by magical augmentation. Cyrus himself landed in a staggering crouch. When he looked up, he saw that the shockwave had crippled everything in a large radius around his brother. Tables broken, the floor itself dented inwards. With the Head Professor of Necromancy at its epicenter.
Reaching out a hand, swathed in chaotic purple energy.
"Malistaire! M-Malistaire!" Cyrus roared over the deafening commotion. Of the million questions burning through his head, only his brother's name seemed to articulate everything there was to say. There were no words to describe what was happening before his eyes.
Dworgyn's seemed to have a few. "And now he finally shows his true nature. The Professor who destroyed his own school and had the cowardice to place blame on his assistant."
Many flinched at the revelation, but Malistaire finished the chaotic portal undaunted. He said nothing towards the claim. The other professors' magical energy began building within them, pips flaring with the speed only those of their station could manage.
"I had hoped to remain hidden, but my hand has been forced." The pale necromancer stepped in through the portal, his words resounding throughout the dome's interior.
"What are you doing, brother!" Cyrus fell to his knees, crying out with a broken voice.
"Reversing this grave sin." He made no eye contact, sealing the special tear behind him. "May we never meet again, Ravenwood."
Shattering ice, voliatile flame, and raging lightning blasted away his voice and the spot he occupied, blinding all around. Professor Balestrom, Flamea, and Greyrose stood with outstretched wands, unyielding eyes peering into the destruction. But they knew it was far too late. He was already gone, and they had no hope of pursuit.
EXSEED
Twenty-first Pip: Daybreak
From the time Aria played her hand, Sasha knew she'd been caught. The Theurgist's spirit armor had given away under her stream of lightning bats, but both were now in dire straits, on the precipice of passing out. The vines sprouting from the grass below and entangling Aria and Sasha together seemed the only thing holding the former up, and the latter was faring no better. Especially with seed growing across her body, slowly overtaking her.
"Not much time left." Aria warned, as if daring her. "You might want to make a decision soon."
The Darkwind's pouring rain waterlogged her voice, and seeped into the Diviner's wound, straining her face. But she stood her ground, firmly planted her foot, and steeled her plum eyes. An inverted Storm sigil traced in the thin space between them.
Aria grimaced. "So you'll take us both out then."
"No." Sasha said. "Just you."
Aria had neither had the time to gasp or react as the sigil dispersed and created a storm shield. The vines had locked them both in place; there was no escape for her. Electricity began building up on Sasha' skin, and she roared. Forks split off in every direction, running over both their forms and evaporating the grass and dirt beneath, gobbling up the rain as it expanded.
It all happened in a single ear-splitting shriek, and dispersed all the same. The vines singed off, Aria's badly burned body fell to its knees, swaying for a moment, then let the remaining grass catch her. Sasha remained standing only due to the shield, struggling through the unbearable pain, before starting towards the large door. An unsettling quiet loomed. The implanted seed had stopped.
She had won.
—o—o—o—o—o—
Black wings folded in after lowering his body to the floor. Waving tongues of darkness poked forth from his tattered cloak like flames. His very presence faded the stone beneath. Even the air around him, with all the vitality the Grandfather Tree provided, became stagnant and heavy, difficult to assimilate.
If anything had earned the title of death incarnate, it had been the most infamous wraith in history.
As the historical accounts dictated, his defeat at the hands of Merle Ambrose nine hundred fifty years ago made way for Ravenwood to be built after the great wizard's departure from Avalon. The great age of wizardry began and prospered, common knowledge all but leaving him behind. But whispers that he had not truly been defeated—only weakened—persisted through the ages in bedtime stories to scare rowdy children to sleep.
It seemed there'd been truth to them. And though a shadow of his former self, both Ty and Fate knew there was nothing that could stop him.
"It seems you have forced my hand, wizards." His voice was dark and raspy, and his jaw never moved as it projected. "This vessel has outlived its usefulness."
Ty forced his arms to prop his body up, even though his legs wouldn't move. "How! Headmaster destroyed you!"
"No mortal may claim my destruction." The whisper brushed passed the Diviner's ear like the wraith was over his shoulder.
Ty grimaced, collapsing again to the floor but keeping his sight locked on the wraith. Was there any hope for either of them? Fate seemed to have regained himself somewhat, but was still incapable of anything significant. Both of them were, really.
And as both wracked their brains for an answer, footfalls tapped against the stone behind them, edging closer and closer. Elation struck their visage. Could it be Aria? If anything, she could at least help them escape.
That elation shattered as Nightshade spoke with demented mirth. "Ms. Gryphonbane. How pleasant of you to join us."
The girl stopped a little ways behind the boys, too fearful of the sinister creature to move any closer. Her palm stretched across over her abdomen wound, and she struggled to remain in a stand. Her bravado was not lost in her apprehension. "So you were controlling Malorn? Figures."
"Such a weak will for one so admired. He was rather…simple to manipulate." Sasha couldn't help feel that the remark was pointed at her as well, and she gritted her teeth at it. But the wraith did not notice it. Instead, his glowing eye sockets flashed briefly, as if he had some sort of epiphany. His voice gained an ominous glee his face could not match. "Ah, the souls tell me our charge has acted. Our time for departure draws nigh."
"Well…good luck with that." Sasha remarked, gathering herself and heading back down towards the door. "My job's completed. I no longer have a reason to stay around." Her steps echoed as she drew farther, passing the towering, lifeless treant teetering on the bridge's edge.
And they stopped as Lord Nightshade chuckled. "You seem mistaken. Your task is far from over."
"What!" She spun on her heel, roaring. "Malorn promised my freedom after this job!"
"But I promised you nothing." His jaw cracked open ever so slightly, and she could see it as nothing other than a smirk. Her pupils constricted in fury, and crackling streamers began to dance around her, but the wraith continued undaunted. "You grow angry, but tell me this. Where do you plan to go? This incident will reveal your identity. Ravenwood will hunt you down as a witch. The witches will likely do the same for conspiring with us. Even your own family, name tarnished by this betrayal, will shun you. You have nothing left, Sasha."
Sasha's anger fell word by painstaking word, and despair rushed to fill the gap. The more it coursed through her head, the more she realized he was right. With so few numbers, the Wizard City witch council held a strict non-aggression rule against Ravenwood, and this had surely broken it. And as a single tear rolled from her eye, she considered the idea that this had been their plan all along. To force her into servitude through excommunication.
"Do you understand now?" Nightshade's bony hand rose, beckoning her. "Come to me."
At first, she was against the mere thought. This despicable, detestable form of pure malevolence would never…but his eyes, flickering with mesmerizing light, drowned out every sight and sound as they locked with hers. She found herself pulled by some strange force, like down a darkened corridor towards the light at the end.
Ty and Fate watched as Sasha's eyes glazed over, and she robotically walked towards the wraith in silence. They weren't sure what to make of the whole situation, but they knew one thing. She was being controlled by him, just like he'd taken Malorn. And they weren't about to let him have a second victim.
Sasha's shoe touched down next to Ty's body, and his flew out to grab it. She stopped, but made no other reaction until Fate leapt in front of her, arms outstretched, back to her and staring defiantly at Lord Nightshade. Her consciousness returned as the wraith's attention shifted to the Exseed.
"You dare to defy me, boy?"
Fate flinched and blinked, and then it happened. One moment Nightshade was a few dozen feet away, the next he was cupping Fate's hand in his chin, leaning the ashen bone of his face. The movement had no sound or warning. Just like death.
The next movement was its foil. The wraith's jaw stretched to its joint's limits, and an inhuman howling sent ripples across the lake below. Fate's eyes rolled back in his head, and every muscle locked in place. A strange ethereal substance leaked from him like escaping smoke, being drawn into Nightshade's mouth. Nightshade's voice projected from his head. "Exseed or not, you are only human."
Ty screamed, and his free hand flew up, gathering all that was left in him. A potent burst of wind slammed into Fate's side, propelling him into a lob. The boy careened off the side of the bridge head first, unconscious, then plunged into the water, sinking until he could no longer be seen.
The ethereal wisps of Fate's soul dispersed, now cut off from their source, and Nightshade calmly turned to the smirking Diviner. "I…won't let you have him."
"He matters not, and neither do you." The wraith's voice scraped against his bony neck on its way out. But suddenly, he sensed something far off, somewhere in the tower. As he craned his head, he was rewarded to its front door peeking open, and two indiscernible figures squeezing through, coming across the bridge.
Ty lost whatever vitality remained in him, as the sound of rattling bones filled his ears. The summoned skeleton and the hovering scarecrow moved towards them, the former bearing a faded burlap sack filled to the brim with items and trinkets. The latter carried a strapped cylinder over his shoulder, dyed in onyx and swathed with gold embroidering. It looked more like a map canister than anything.
But their most defining feature was the absence of any others. And the blood stains on their bleach white bone and gray smock, where fire failed to singe.
Nightshade's hand cut a vertical swathe to create a chaotic rift, but this one was more dark and robust than any Ty had seen yet. He beckoned Sasha again, and she kicked her foot free of Ty's grasp, walking undaunted up to the portal. "Take them, and escape." Both minions handed her their items, the sack and map canister, and with some effort she passed through. "He awaits you."
The rift fastened shut behind her, and the three remaining turned to Ty. Nightshade continued. "This is the end, Mr. Stormwhisper."
—o—o—o—o—o—
The darkness swelled around her, enveloping everything in a thick layer of emptiness. Light was wholly absent. All the beautiful vibrant greens that once constituted her vision, their crests and falls, their shapes that fought against the loneliness of her blindness, withered away to the overarching shadow. Her echolocation faded with her consciousness, all in the split second it took Sasha's lightning to rip through her.
She hadn't felt her limp body hit the ground, nor heard the sound. There was no pain or feeling. There was only nothing but the sound of her tears in her mind. She didn't imagine what was going to happen to her the moment she fell. She was concerned with it, and she didn't fear it. What truly frightened her was her failure to protect her friends, and the lack of sound. It scared her more than anything else. Because sound was everything to her, it was how she related to existence. And without it she was helpless, incomplete, alone.
Nothing.
And in the space left in its absence, her hazy thoughts harkened back to the past.
A time when it was just as dark as it was now. Even despite the fact that she traveled down Unicorn Way, the most beautiful neighborhood in Wizard City. Or so she was told. For all the delicious smells, twittering birdsong converging into symphonies, velvet grasses brushing her bare feet; she could see none of it. All was a pitch black curtain. She knew it was useless, but something always persuaded her to accompany Prima through town and break off.
She sat alone at the center of Unicorn Park, feet out, her six year old form clothed in a patchwork dress that'd been handed down one too many times. Her blank expression mirrored her thoughts. An empty husk housed in red hair, pale skin, and a world she longed to experience in full.
"Greetings."
She angled her head upwards towards the voice, warm and pleasant. Few ever approached her like this, and she'd honestly thought she'd been alone. "H-Hello."
"Why do you always sit here alone, child?"
"I'm not alone." She pointed ahead of her. "My sister is right over there in that shop." The girl was unconcerned that it may not have been the right direction. The visitor's giggle only confirmed her mistake. "Well she's somewhere around here."
"I know she is close, my dear. But I asked why you always sit here alone. I see you here at the same time every day, always sitting here, letting your youth waste away." The girl didn't considered being watched so often unnerving. She'd never been paid more attention from someone outside her family.
"I'm…blind." No matter how desensitized she thought she was, the word always tasted bitter when it left her tongue. "I can't play with anyone else. If I go somewhere, I'll get lost." She tucked her legs in close. "I don't like to be lost."
"You're right. Not knowing where you are is frightening. Darkness is a scary thing, isn't it?" The girl nodded reservedly. "But there's a trick to escape it."
"There is?"
The visitor nodded, with a smile the girl couldn't see. "All you have to do is sing."
The girl immediately opened her mouth, drew in her breath and began to make sound, causing the visitor to giggle again. After thirty seconds and shortness of breath, the girl's cheeks puffed in discouragement. "It's still dark. You lied."
"Here." The girl heard footsteps brushing across the grass, then slender, delicate hands rested on her shoulders. They were warm and soothing, just like her voice, and instantly all of the fatigue and conflict buzzing throughout the girl dissipated. A head leaned down to her ear, whispering. "Try it one more time."
The girl closed her eyes for all the good it did, sucked in another breath, and this time started out slowly, gaining pitch, tone, and volume as each second passed. Again, nothing happened. Darkness was still here, and seemed deeper than before. She opened her eyes, ready to reprimand the lady when her breath cut off.
Undiluted green spread out in every direction like an explosion, churning and fluctuating with ever correction of her voice. Everything around her illuminated in a soft glow. Every blade of grass, every floating speck of dust, the grooves between the flagstones, bustling insects and fairies. Her voice bounced off them all, painting their outlines in radiant emerald against the black canvas of her blindness.
Her eyes turned, full of unspeakable joy and unrestrained tears, to regard the vistor's form. Even with green as her only color, she was marvelous, and seemed to light up more as she spoke.
"If you're ever lost or afraid, just sing." Lady Oriel enclosed her in a hug. "And the darkness will always flee."
Aria's cry was peaceful and unbroken, a single note held for what seemed like an eternity. It floated to the domed ceiling, bouncing off the falling crystalline leaves and echoing to the far corners.
And just like that, a single speck of green light pierced the blackness. The dark burned away like parchment ablaze and conceded to a jade radiance of blinding levels. She remained on her back, arms and legs sprawled and unmoving, only maintaining that note. A note that called out to the soil beneath, the climbing roots and vines beside and above, and to farthest reaches of the Grandfather Tree.
A note that did not fall on deaf ears.
—o—o—o—o—o—
His body sunk from the lake's surface, swaying with the water like paper through small breezes. His breath escaped in bubbles, and his descent became more vertical. His clothes had absorbed some of the impact, but he had still hit the surface tension rather hard, and it pained him greatly. Ty had not been finicky about the method.
Even though the water at the top was clear, a murky blue covered the lower end of the lake, so much that he couldn't see more than twenty feet ahead of him. The surface illumination signaled him. Despite the pain wracking his entire body, despite how much of damage Lord Nightshade had caused him. Despite his incompleteness. His fight was not yet over.
But what good would it do? Aria was defeated. Tala and Victoria were defeated. Ty was on his last stretch. And he was at the bottom of a lake, body too exhausted and broken to even force a breathing reflex.
Sand kicked up as his back hit the lake floor. Their opponents had already secured what they needed, and that monstrosity of a wraith would finish them off.
Perhaps there was nothing to this Exseed business after all. Ambrose had made it sound so grand and important, but all it'd brought him was fainting and pain. He had no power of his own. He couldn't even cast a spell. He had nothing to save anyone. Not even to protect his friends.
Yeah…he wasn't needed after all. And with no purpose, he was better off taking his rest.
He opened his eyes one last time, to take in as much as he could before he passed this world on.
And saw a single, crystalline leaf drift down to rest on his forehead.
Another one joined it soon after, followed by another and another. But more than them, his waterlogged ears, popping under the water pressure, registered a strange sound. Strange in that it was far off, but he could hear it like it was next to his ear. It took him a few moments to place it, but eventually he figured it out.
It was Aria's voice. He didn't know how or why, but it was definitely her. And as it passed the threshold, the water itself brightened to glass-like levels. The leaves, now falling down by the hundreds, shined like firecrackers to tint the water green. Most of all, the water seemed to draw out his exhaustion, and while he could not breathe, his body no longer called for air. He paddled his way to an upright float, twisting to take in his surroundings.
And then he looked down. A single spot on his chest glowed under his clothes. A thin sliver, really. The size of the jewel Aria had synthesized into him months ago. Its light pushed through the fabric and enveloped him in a white/beige glow. And every fragment of light from the sinking leaves left their hosts and joined it.
All illumination converged at his body, just as a new voice spoke over Aria's long note. A deep, controlled whisper that nearly tore at the seams with the unrelenting force of all creation.
"Rise, my paragon."
—o—o—o—o—o—
Ty struggled for air amidst Lord Nightshade's grip around his neck, rough fingers scraping against his skin. The wraith held him feet above the ground, unrelenting from the Diviner's continued thrashing. Cavernous eyes glowing with radiant wickedness regarded his conquest, but could not fully appreciate it.
Not with the sustained singing filling the area around him.
"The Storm Witch failed to finish the girl off." He remarked in annoyance, inclining his head to Rattlebones and the Harvest Lord. "Silence her. She is an ear sore. "
"No!" Ty snarled, banging weakened fists against the wraith's arm. Using everything he had to snap the bone and escape. "Don't you dare! I won't let you take anyone else from me."
"You are in no position to make demands." Nightshade's voice rattled with bemusement. "Your comrades are dead, your remaining one shall soon join them, and your Exseed has been defeated. Accept your reality, wizard. You have lost."
Aria's singing cut off instantaneously. The sudden absence of her voice startled both Nightshade and Ty, and caused the latter's eyes to widen. Silence reigned for the better part of ten seconds, with the Diviner looking around. The skeleton and scarecrow were still there, so what could have caused the sudden—
Low rumbling forced his attention to the lake, where he'd thrown Fate, and the Storm Wizard half though the bridge would collapse from it. The water was clear now compared to before. He could see the bottom, and the form at the bottom distorted by the water. The blur began to rise, inch by inch, and with it the once undisturbed surface began to swirl. Still water churned like a raging storm, and a violent whirlpool opened its maw at the epicenter of it all.
Magnificence emerged from the whirlpool. It was the only word that could describe it. Hair that rivaled snow waved about in the small drafts encircling him. His skin shone with a pulsing beige glow, and once green irises vanished, leaving solid white sclera. Solid white sclera that regarded all in their vision with perfect equality. Nature itself went silent at his presence. If not for the clothes, Ty would never have thought this being before him was Fate Evergreen.
Fate's floating form lowered until soles rested atop the water. Then, he took steps towards the bridge. Even steps, balanced steps, never off kilter. His final leap easily cleared twenty feet, and placed him back on the bridge surface.
"So the Exseed reveals himself." Nightshade's ivory claw released Ty, and the boy fell to the ground with a thud. "But this changes nothing. Your fate has already been deci—"
The wraith stopped cold, as he noticed a plume of dust and smoke rising from his left arm. Or what used to be his left arm. Only a cracked, broken stub remained in its place, rimmed by the tatters of his cloak's sleeve. His sight flew up to Fate, with arm outstretched, excess energy from his blast dissolving.
And reforming into successive blasts. Five more hurtled towards the wraith, whose scythe swept horizontally to knock them from the air. All avoided his main body, but three passed his attack so cleanly that they couldn't have been aimed at him. A notion confirmed as Rattlebones ribcage exploded on impact behind him, and the scarecrow's straw burst in every direction, its smashed head hitting the stone with a wet 'plop'.
Ty glanced up at the wraith momentarily, and what his stoic face hid, his newfound posture and hesitance spoke.
Fear.
Fear his bravado could not mask. "Your…paltry spells will not conquer me."
Ty was sure Fate—or whatever the being was—had heard the wraith, for his hand rose high into the air, palm facing the ceiling. An orb of pure energy gathered just above it, expanding then condensing in a steady rhythm. And when it could contain no more, it split into hundreds of individual beams of light.
But not to Nightshade. The beams soared and crisscrossed to the hulking behemoth behind the boy, filling it with energy and vitality once more. Wood and bark snapped as it pushed itself up to a towering three-story stand, and for the first time, Ty was pleased to see the giant Treant alert and awake.
It wasted no time spying its target, and pounding steps shook the sturdy bridge to its pillars.
Nightshade did not move as it stopped just ahead of him, raising a crushing claw and gazing down with wrathful eyes. The creature paused for a moment, as if allowing his last words. The wraith stood defiantly, his previous twinge of fear erased. Replaced by one last malevolent flashing of his eyes, and a hideous cackle that sent shivers down Ty's spine.
"You are impressive, Exseed. I admit defeat. But remember this…" The wraith leveled his eye sockets with Fate's, and both gazed unyielding in the others. "I was here before Ravenwood began, and so shall I be here to witness its end. Do not think you've seen the last of me."
The wooden claw swiped down, crushing his frame with one powerful blow. The repulsive snapping of bones filled with air, shadows slipped from under his fingers like smoke, and his cackle flew away on the winds.
And after a full minute of waiting, Ty breathed deeply at the smashed skull, sure that its ghostly eyes would not relight.
Mostly sure.
Fate remained stoic, pulsating glow slowly fading back into his skin. White hair skipped any semblance of gray and switched straight into its normal jet black hue, and brilliant green irises uncovered. He stumbled as he returned, finding his legs weak, but before he fell forward, slender arms caught his body.
His head rested in the crook of her neck, golden hair falling over his face. "Everything is alright now, child." He wanted to disobey the request, to find his friends and make sure they were alright, but her embrace was too placating to escape.
The giant treant sunk its hand and retrieved the limp body of Ty, tucking him under one of his smaller arms. "What…Lady Oriel? What…what are you doing here?" The Diviner weakly said.
As he did, an orange sprite flew past his face, and u-turned to stop before it. "I felt that Aria was in trouble." Her eyes scoured his face for cuts and injuries.
"She is being taken care of as we speak." The Seraph offered. "I apologize. If only I had sensed this sooner…"
"It's alright." He replied. He was just glad they'd received backup at all. "You can forget about me. Tala and Victoria are in that tower. They might need a lot of help."
"I will do what I can." She said, gesturing for Nyx to follow his request. The sprite zoomed towards the tower. "I have sent a few of my fairies back to fetch Professor Wu. The barrier around the graduation ceremony has already dissipated. Everyone seems in good health."
Ty wanted to ask a thousand questions, but with adrenaline seceding found no strength to do so. Instead, he collapsed with a weary grin. As Oriel uttered her last words before he passed out.
"For now, rest. The long night is over."