CHAPTER 38: THE AUTHORS OF THE NIGHTSKY
There was an uneasy tension all around him. A blanket of discomfort. For some time, this tension had steadily covered him, wrapped him up tightly in a swaddling affliction. He felt the pains advance - their pains - as tonight slowly became the tipping point.
Their sorrow would soon reach its limit, and Morgan worried he didn't have the strength to bear it for them any longer.
Since his parents and Uncle Calcifer had left, the haunting voices from above pecked away at him incessantly. He couldn't play games with the boys; he barely ate anything Aunt Lona made. And now the joyous reunion of Wynne returned to their family was all but a slight convenience amidst the turmoil Morgan knew to coexist at this very moment. He hardly paid any mind to Aunt Lona's relief nor Ryo and Griff's excitement nor the strange old lady's entrance with Wynne.
The only thing Morgan could focus on were the haunting wishes from the stars in the sky.
"Wait, mom, slow down." Aunt Lona said, hugging Wynne tighter and tighter by the second. "What did you just say?"
Morgan pressed his hands over his ears, scrunching his face as their words bled into his mind. Pleading, begging - they saw whatever future was in store for them, and it did not appear to be in their favor. Tonight, many stars would fall. They had told Morgan on countless occasions that this night would surely come to pass.
They would fall, and they would die. Yet they feared a great evil upon their deaths.
Dying was easy, they said. Dying was expected. Their souls being forcefully abused for another's purpose was a completely different beast to tackle.
"Where's Dad?" Ryo asked. "Where's Aunt Gwenda?"
Morgan pushed his hands more fiercely, though that did little to mute their internal cries. If anything, it made them stronger as everything and everyone around him grew silent. Why me, he asked gently in his mind. Why do all of you tell me this? I can't do anything to save you. I'm just a kid. I'm sorry.
How could he, a child not even in double digits, stop whatever horror they were about to witness? Morgan was just a young, naive kid; he'd had minimal practice with magic and goofed off during the majority of his lessons. Magic was all but fun and games while Dad and Uncle Kenta and Uncle Calcifer used real magic.
But not just them - Markl was also extraordinary at magic.
"Morgan?" Wynne whispered, though he could not hear her through the millions of voices scattering through his brain. "Morgan, I'm home."
The stars were the ones who told him about Markl's situation. They knew him, or at least knew enough of him to understand his importance in all of this. Morgan didn't believe in himself, but he certainly believed in Markl.
"Go to Markl." Morgan whispered. Wynne, close to touching his shoulder, stopped when she heard him speak. He couldn't have been talking to her, because she just finished telling everyone that she had just seen Markl. Morgan was in his own world, a world far beyond their own like she had been. The way he stared out the glass door toward the night sky, it was as if he were talking to a person right in front of him that didn't exist to her.
He opened his eyes, everything so clear before him. The stars silence their cries, so Morgan said it louder. "Go to Markl when the time comes. If you have to fall and you're scared, Markl will help you."
Everyone now stared at the boy, Serena more fearfully than the others. However, no one could understand the depth of this child's mind. He was a child of wonder, a child of special purpose. He did not know what purpose that was, but he believed it was to guide those in need toward a greater power who could be their savior.
In another life, in another time, he might have been that savior. But that time didn't exist now. Markl was their best chance.
Only one star bravely spoke. "Do you trust him?"
Morgan smiled purely. "With my life." A soft hand touched his shoulder. Wynne. Morgan turned around, gracing her with a smile, and hugged her. "Everything will be better now that Markl's back."
･ﾟ: * ･ﾟ: * ･ﾟ: * ･ﾟ: * ･ﾟ: * ･ﾟ: *
The odd sensation of constriction against his own throat was awkward and uneasy. He couldn't remember a time when he wasn't in control of his own breathing, not to mention his own movements and being thrust straight to the rough, jagged ground below.
Markl had learned a lot in recent weeks, but the element of surprise in this respect was beyond that knowledge.
As the dust settled, slowly dispersing into the darkening air, the figure of a man he was so accustomed with interrupted the shadows and made his presence known. Not one for grand entrances - or rather entering any communal area whatsoever - he was a peculiar arrival. A man of calm stature, a vision of demure reticence, Xarx pried himself from solitude just for this moment.
Surprisingly, his emotions had become a full frontal assault. Xarx's voice seethed with the kind of anger only adults could muster for children. "Markl, what the hell do you think you're doing? You were going to kill him with that spell!"
"Wonderful," Markl rolled his eyes. "It's like a fucking reunion here."
He did not hesitate. A scatter of light shots burst from Markl's fingertips, sparking fiercely in Xarx's direction. The elder wizard watched this spell - one he had taught the boy himself - and hardly shifted his hands to mitigate the shots. A simple light cutting maneuver swiftly deactivated a novice move.
"Xarx," a ragged sound echoed from the rocky wall, "don't hurt him. I'm begging you. Please."
Xarx kept his focus on Markl, yet responded to the injured Howl without so much as a glance. "You need to leave. You're too emotionally attached to the boy."
Markl scoffed. "Wow, tell me how you really feel, Xarx."
"I just did."
"I'm touched."
Xarx narrowed his gaze, intently scanning Markl. He searched him for any hint of the child he once called student, yet hardly a trace could be found from his aura. His soul was empty; the life and love he once relied upon so heavily during times of turmoil and even war had been replaced with boiling rage and thunderous grief.
His pain had become his being.
"You have no idea what havoc you're about to wreck on this world, on your own family." Xarx shouted into the wind. "You should be ashamed of yourself."
Markl tilted his head sideways, pointing an open hand in his direction. "Coming from the man who has no sense of emotion whatsoever."
"Emotions are the reason why you're flying off the handle."
"Really?" Markl flared. "Because this is the most clear-headed I've been in… in literally my entire life!"
His spells were wrought with fury, yet thrown with careless movements. Emissions of light projected at Xarx, yet a casual bow was all it took to evade. Markl cast light bullets in a quick, sequential procession, yet this also was dodged with ease by his former teacher. With each spell, Xarx took methodical steps in his direction whilst maintaining composure and escaping all of his attempts to land a blow against him.
When Xarx reached the boy, he merely slapped Markl across the face with the back of his hand.
Markl, more enraged than when Xarx first arrived, attempted a light bomb. Xarx, quick to notice, whisked the bomb toward the mountainside, erupting a catastrophic blow against the structure. Attack after attack, move after move, Xarx was unfazed and unharmed by all.
Markl, however, was growing furious by the moment.
"You think you're such a big shot now?" Xarx uttered low. After one attack unbalanced Markl, he grabbed the boy's head and forced it against his own knee. Blood splattered from his nose, drizzling in an uncontained pool. "You are still the same, ignorant child as the day I met you."
Markl stepped backwards, assessing his broken nose yet refusing to quit. He knew Xarx's game; he had encountered similar torments during their training sessions. When Xarx refused to use magic, it was only because he didn't find his opponent intimidating enough.
Markl looked to the bleak, cloudy sky. He could not see any form of light, but he knew it existed. The stars, the moon, the electricity from faroff cities - they all produced the light he would need to match Xarx's power. If he could harness such energy, such potential even from a distance, he stood a sliver of a chance against him.
That's all he needed. That, and Xarx's emotions running wild. "Why don't you stop fighting like a man and show me what it's like to fight a magician?"
Xarx cracked his knuckles, knowing this fight was inevitable. Student against teacher was no rarity in this country, and he expected this day would come.
"So you want to prove yourself, huh?" With his two forefingers, he ushered Markl forward. "All right - prove it."
Xarx's speed was unmatched. One split second he was yards away, the next his hand was formed like a dagger filled with a blinding light aimed upward for Markl. He wished he was more abrupt in his evasion, forgetting his incredible haste. He barely twisted enough just to receive a slight cut on his chin.
The fight between master and novice was already in favor of his elder, yet he refused to give him all the glory of such expertise.
They moved in a sickly, sweet synchronous symphony, a ballet of gold and silver clashing in a symbolic pattern. Such raw, precise power that only few magicians were fortunate to understand, and even less to experience themselves. A battle of light versus light was unheard of and thus a sight to be reckoned with. It was a battle like no other.
Howl, beaten and half conscious, forced himself awake to witness Markl engage in yet another struggle. Twice in one day - merely moments apart from the other - he chose to fight someone who fought constantly for him. While Xarx was never one to put on an outward display, there was no denying his care for the boy.
What he didn't understand was Xarx's contribution to this battle.
Howl begged him to stop, pleaded for him to spare Markl. How little they both understood about their purpose tonight and Calcifer's potential risk if his curse's counterpart fed deeper and deeper into the evil that festered inside. If only Xarx would listen to someone other than himself, maybe he could stop this catastrophe from worsening.
Yet his strength was all but fleeting. Howl could hardly move without forcing a pain within himself to amplify. Xarx was in control of his own choices, as was Markl.
And that worried Howl more than anything - especially with those two.
Xarx had years on his side; his skill, his strength, his finite attention to detail had been perfected to the very core of his source. Even though his light had been sheltered for so long due to the war that ravaged on his kind of magic, he still cast spells and moved as if he had done so his entire life. No interruption, no pause in study - he was an expert by nature.
Markl, still, showed signs of novice behavior - not only that, but a harsh focus on his fury aside from his skill was evidently clear. Xarx had taught him otherwise, yet in recent weeks, it appeared, this lesson had been unlearned by his student. Such infantilism, he thought, to learn from magicians who would seek out the pain in youngsters and extract it for their own selfish gain.
However, this did not mean Markl was weak.
Slash for slash, beam for beam, Markl kept pace. If he hadn't drawn his energy from such flittering emotions, Xarx expected he would have surpassed in this battle. Xarx would have been one step behind instead of half a step forward. His skill gained greatly, that much was evident.
Y et he still relied on the one thing Xarx urged him to revoke.
"You're a little off in your step," Xarx said amidst dodging his attacks. "If your arms were closer to your chest, I'd consider you a threat."
Markl groaned. "This isn't a training session."
"Well then, stop holding back on me."
Markl's roar ricocheted with the howling wind as his temper rose with each spell. After the hours he spent training, honing his craft, and expanding his skills, Markl hoped at least he would show a slight sense of advantage over his former teacher.
He held his arms out fully, almost as if he were summoning a deity, yet produced with his whole being a blinding white light. Xarx, though familiar with this spell and even had experience casting it himself, was taken aback by the intensity of its light. It was as if the moon had gained the power of the sun, lighting the night sky into daytime.
Nevertheless, this was not the purpose of such a spell. It was a distraction from Markl's true objective. In order to complete this spell, he needed to run at lightspeed.
And that he did.
Though he moved with brisk strides, Xarx caught the boy just as a thin bolt of lightning grazed his ear. He grabbed his hand and plunged him to the ground, driving him farther into the rugged terrain. A divot dented the dry rock due to the force of Markl's body digging into it.
Xarx had a strong hold on Markl, his palms pushing against his depleted body to hold him steady. "Where did you learn to run at the speed of light?"
Markl gritted his teeth, pressing deeper into Xarx's grip. "Not from you."
"Obviously."
"Xarx!" Howl shouted against the wind. "Markl is not the enemy! That is enough!"
Xarx gripped the back of Markl's shirt. "He hasn't had enough yet."
Tight fingernails grasped the cloth tightly as Xarx lifted the boy off the ground. He spun him in quick succession, one turn after the other until his pace sped faster. Once he had enough momentum, Xarx threw Markl upward, casting a light beam to carry him higher and higher into the sky.
The air was still - peaceful, even. To the height of the clouds nearing the tip of Seren Saethu, he felt like a cloud himself floating like a leaf in the stream. No fighting, no pain, no anguish. The feeling of flying took all that misery away. Markl was too dazed to understand what had happened, where he was thrust upward to or even whence he came.
All he noticed was the peace of the air - and a light buzzing.
The sound gently drifted him out of this tranquilty. Not a consistently quiet buzz, but rather gaining volume by the second. Its sound vibrated against the wall of the mountainside, zooming like a ray of light. As Markl gradually opened his eyes, making himself more conscious to his surroundings, he saw that zooming truly was a ray of light.
Xarx was sprinting around the spiral of Seren Saethu.
Markl tried gaining control of his own body, but Xarx's light beam shot him upward with absolute directive from its source. This spell was like binding chains ordering him to go in whichever way its magician cast it to move. And for some reason, Xarx wanted him to go up.
Markl chuckled. If only he knew this was exactly where he was meant to be.
As Xarx's light sprints wrapped around the mountainside in quicker rotations, Markl knew the summit was closing in. He grabbed the light beam that bound him, snapping it in half with ease. In one swift motion, Xarx leapt from the peak in Markl's direction. Markl returned the momentum tenfold and catapulted the fighting pair onto the flat surface.
They were diligent in their brawl so as not to intersect with the various others engaged in their own conflicts. Gold and silver zigzagged around magicians and fire demons alike, their spells aimed with direct precision. The others who surrounded them were torn between the intensity of their newest arrivals and holding their focus on the foe before them.
"Markl-" Had he lost focus for a moment longer, Calcifer may not have noticed Perseus taking advantage of the situation. A lavafall of emerald flames oozed down onto him, though his own flames acted as a barrier to clear it away.
Perseus' cackle echoed from the nightsky. "Oh, how the night just got a whole lot more interesting."
Every soul on the mountaintop witnessed master against student in a fight that seemed close to the death. Sophie recounted to Ben what she witnessed, though he was well aware of their visitors solely based on their powerful entry to the exterior of his home. Gwenda nearly released the sword in her hand as the display of of light filled the sky with wonder and woe.
Noe smirked. She counted her confinement as an advantage, since the boy magician had not seen her ture form since The Magicians' War all those years ago and still believed her to be the guise of an innocent witch. She stopped her deactivation spell, allowing Kenta a few moments of temporary triumph. Kenta followed their movements as quickly as possible, but their lightspeed was inconceivable. Though only their power was visible to the naked eye, it was impossible not to stare in awe at their electric dance.
Their competing lights slammed into one another midair, however Markl's silver beam catapulted into the rocky surface once again. As he gasped for breath, Xarx grounded himself only several yards away. He punched one final spell in the boy's direction - a light prison - to contain his power.
Had he known these faces would appear tonight, friends and enemies alike, he never would have pushed Markl to this location. Fire demons, magicians, humans - he analyzed each and every creature on Seren Saethu. Though he knew most, the green and blue demons floating above were complete anomalies to him.
Which meant they were not to be trusted.
Everyone turned to the boy in the prison, noticing the drastic change he experienced in such a short span on time. His exaggerated panting and unleveled gaze sent shivers throughout each and every single person who knew Markl in a different light.
It was clear which choice he made. No one could fake that look and not internalize evil intent. Calcifer exhaled deeply, expecting the worst of the curse to begin its effects on him.
If they hadn't already begun.
"Don't give up just yet," Vega whispered to him, detecting his dejectedness. "He's withheld for now."
"For how long, though?" Calcifer spoke. Markl stood in his circular prison of light, only controlled by its creator. Though he knew Xarx was unmatched in his skill, he had not seen Markl fight since his disappearance. He worried about what lessons Noe and Perseus had taught him during his absence.
"Now, Markl!" The voice of Lily Angorian spoke from inside Kenta's confinement. He had become too distracted and gradually Noe had reverted herself to her falsified state and relinquished herself from his natural restraints.
From within the golden prison, Markl's eyes glowed. Xarx narrowed his gaze, calculating whatever plan he may have formulated, yet even he couldn't predict the result. Markl pressed his arms into the walls of the prison, draining the light of its power. Golden beams funneled through his veins in silvery rivers. As the prison completely diminished, it channeled into Markl's arms with his radiance.
Xarx dropped his gaze. With one swift motion, Markl siphoned the light into the ground itself.
The entire mountain of Seren Saethu tremored, like an earthquake ready to tear the peak apart. While everyone stumbled for balance amidst the trembling ground, Markl walked placidly to the center of the peak. Xarx stumbled and fell backward, partially from the pulsating mountain but more so from the fact that Markl had done an impossible task.
He had forced light to pass through solid ground.
Markl, however, was unfazed by his legendary feat. While the crowd around him ogled at his newfound prestige, he prepared them for his next stunt. From inside his vest, he pulled out a scroll lain with an array of objects. They floated evenly in a circle surrounding him, and he sat crosslegged in the middle.
He wasted no time in beginning the chant.
Calcifer shuddered. Vega pleaded. Perseus grinned.
Though not many were familiar with the Stellae language, the authors of the nightsky heard each and every word of their native tongue as their fallen brother declared their long remembered curse.
Xarx knew enough to vaguely understand his words. "Markl, what spell are you casting?"
Markl refused to end his chanting. The air atop Seren Saethu chilled to the bone and wrapped around him in a whirlwind. The items he carried began floating in the air - cleft hoof, mandrake root, broken pocket watch, and mermaid's lullaby - and spun until their essence turned to dust. Violet beams encircled him as the power of such items in connection with one another magnified.
Calcifer begged him, "Markl, stop your chanting!"
"You cannot undo what has already been committed." Perseus shouted from above. "You should know that more than anyone, old Cal."
As Markl's eyes glowed a deep violet, as a shadow spell from the peak's entrance attempted to reach him and pull him from this mistake, the whirlwind propelled everyone to the farthest edges of the peak. The force whipped the clouds away, revealing the dazzling lights of the night.
Markl stood up, his arms outstretched to the stars. "It must be here on Seren Saethu; it must be on a Night of Falling Stars. They will speak the truth to me. They will seal my truth into existence."
"Oh, something's getting sealed tonight." Perseus muttered. As Noe took one step forward, she was flung back once more by her own fire demon's will. From his height in the sky, Perseus' green flame spiraled downward toward the vulnerable boy's human body. However, the moment before he made contact, a wave of burning orange blocked his path.
Perseus seethed, watching as the flames emerged from Calcifer's fists from the edge of the peak. His projectiling flames were a nuisance to his plans, yet simply a minor roadblock from obtaining his true objective.
Perseus burst through his firewave only to find a waterwall on the other side, still between himself and the boy prodigy. Markl, now starting to notice his surroundings, watched as Calcifer and Kenta created barriers to separate him from Perseus.
"What?" Markl, still under the influence of the spell, watched in wonderment at their tactics. Xarx and Ben simultaneously projected light shots at Perseus, to which the green fire demon bounced around the sky in defense. Vega chased his light, a vortex of blue swirling from her being. Her power was just out of reach of his circumvention.
Gwenda strategically placed her sword at Calcifer's firewave, aiming the flames in the various directions that Perseus scattered himself. As she tightened her grip on the handle, as her voice thundered against the raging air, her movements were radically in tune with the green demon and compelled him to change courses in order to evade their duo attack.
Then Howl. Markl hadn't realized he had arrived at the top of Seren Saethu. How painful it must have been to trudge back up the mountain with his wounds. Yet he was there as well. His first shadow block had almost been Markl's saving grace moments ago, yet he had been just out of range. Rather than taking another chance, he wrapped his shadows around the boy similar to Xarx's light prison until he was trapped inside.
Markl sat stunned in the darkness. Why were they doing this?
He heard a voice muffled from outside the shadow wall. Calcifer. "We will not let you take him, Perseus. He is not yours to claim."
Were they… saving him?
Perseus cackled at the scene before him. Magicians, though they were, could not compete with his prestigious power. It was rather a decent attempt, he had to admit, watching their futile tactics working in such a superb unison. He felt like applauding their struggling endeavor.
Because no matter their strength, his was about to escalate to infinity.
"Well, our spell never specified I needed the body of whoever cast it." His eyes turned casually to Calcifer, his sinister grin rising. "Yours will do perfectly."
All eyes watched as if in slow motion the green flames besieged Calcifer. Like a misting cyclone, his energy surrounded only his oldest rival. Gwenda screamed and tried running toward him, but Sophie restrained her. Calcifer knelt to the ground, his muscles twitching involuntarily. He couldn't breathe; he could hardly see anything but the slimy green around him. In all his time knowing that the Novus Ortus might one day go into effect, he never once thought he would be its victim.
All he prayed to the stars for now was that he made the right choice so Markl could finally do the same.
The green swirling ceased, and Calcifer collapsed to the ground. Seren Saethu was dead silent.
"Cal!" Gwenda's voice pierced the eerie void. Kenta surrendered his waterfall, mouth agape while Howl's shadows vanished from sight. Vega floated down slowly, keeping a fair distance away from her friend. Xarx and Ben held light shocks ready and prepared, not quite expecting Perseus to have abandoned his post and keeping a watchful eye on Noe, who still actively waited in awe.
And Markl, no longer under the state of the curse he enacted, stared in terror.
Sophie released her grip, allowing Gwenda to rush over to Calcifer's comatose body. She threw the sword on the ground and slumped to his side, leaning his head up against her chest. His body was warm, yet she couldn't feel the beat of his heart. His breathing quit; his eyelids remained closed. To any human, he was the definition of dead.
Her eyes streamed endlessly, her words barely audible to those around her. "Don't you dare." She allowed the tears to fall down her cheek, resting in Calcifer's vibrant hair, combing through softly in an automatic repetition. Anger would have been better than tears, better than grief. Better than the guilt magnifying inside her soul.
Yet she cried knowing the reality. She cried knowing her part in all of this, how small it seemed before, now every decision weighing down on her in regret. She cried knowing how much she wished she could turn back the clock.
She wished for him to come back to her, knowing the stars above would never grant her so much.
Until his chest started rising.
Gwenda sucked in a hopeful breath. She held his face out, pushing the orange locks to find a hint of a smile gracing her tragedy. For a moment, her heart leapt with relief. Yet when he opened his eyes, they weren't the fiery blaze she longed to see.
A fierce, savage kiss embedded itself on her lips. She tried pushing away, but his hands pressed her closer for a moment longer before he sat back, admiring his exploit. She covered a trembling hand over her mouth, though her eyes dared not move from the beast before her.
He cocked his head to the side, purple eyes glaring into her. "Hey, sweetheart."
"Perseus." She shuddered.
"That was fun." He winked. He stood suddenly, basking in the new anatomy he had taken. He formed fists with his hands; he bent his knees, however feeble they were in the old sap's body; and for the first time in his life, he inhaled a long, sweet breath with human lungs.
Yet the befuddled gawk on his former host, Noe, was the cherry on top of his own personal victory.
"It's a great day to be alive, a great night actually." He said, his gaze directed to the twinkling lights in the sky. He tilted his head back to Gwenda, laughing at the onslaught behind her that would be no match for his new, eternal power. "Till next time, sweetheart."
In a single jump, in a single pounce directly at the center of Seren Saethu's peak, Perseus destroyed the summit, plummeting everything and everyone around him. The ground crumbled in a hasty descent toward the flat surface of the Wastes.
As everyone she knew and loved tumbled downward in a death sentence, as the man she loved more than anything stood basking in the glory of a fiend's conquest, Gwenda watched as the guise of Calcifer gleamed greedily for the stars above.