Chapter 9 Part 2

Avery stood beside Trina, the sapphire unicorn. Together they gazed across the valley from the ridge line above the Janus Valley. "We are home," the unicorn muttered. "It has been a long run, but now it is done. I have fulfilled my obligation to you and my lord. I trust you can find your way down to the valley?"

"I can," Avery replied. "Thank you for bringing me here."

"It is no trouble, and is a great pleasure so long as you do what you must." With that last, the unicorn bounded across a thicket and vanished leaving a puzzled Avery to contemplate the mountain trail leading back down into the valley.

When he arrived at the foot of the ridge, it was mid morning and the ranger sat next to a fallen log to rest and drink from his water bottle. It was while waiting that Armegon and Ultrecht appeared atop the ridge. Avery may not have even noticed them except that a flash of light--most probably the reflection of the suns on some piece of gaudy jewelry--caught his attention.

Avery had moved to a spot in the shade of a fir tree and awaited the pair of mages' decent. They were surprised to see him, but more than welcomed the sight of the cheese and bread that he had unpacked while waiting.

"Would you look at this," Armegon said with mock disgust. "We climb down the side of a mountain only to find this wayward rogue sitting under a tree having a picnic."

"Hardly a picnic," Ultrecht objected. "There are no ants."

"We could conjure some up," Armegon suggested.

Avery took the jest in spirit, for he too was glad to see his companions. "You can talk or you can eat," he told them. "But I doubt that even you can do both."

Armegon and Ultrecht settled beneath the tree with Avery and the three discussed what had recently transpired.

"So you actually beat old Blackpuss," Armegon repeated with approval. "It’s about time someone made him put up or shut up."

"It was much closer than. I’d have liked," Avery assured them. "If it hadn’t been for the sword, I might not be here right now."

"Don't underestimate yourself too much," Armegon countered. "If it hadn’t been for his sword, Blackpuss would never have gotten as far as he did either."

"So tell me again about Tyson's demise," Avery urged. Armegon and Ultrecht's story was so much more detailed that Avery had trouble following it the first time they had told it.
Armegon repeated the story. He told of his conversation with the warlock and the warlock's attempt to get close enough for the monster within him to attack.

"Do you think Quickdraw was possessed?" Avery asked.

"No, I don't," Armegon answered. "He didn’t display the schizoid behavior of a possessed persona. He was fully aware of what he was attempting. Tyson just blundered into the middle of it at the wrong time. When Quickdraw couldn't get at me, he turned on Tyson." Armegon's voice betrayed the horror that he had witnessed. "It was awful. Tyson just lay there with his mind, his spirit, his very essence being drained away. I don't recall for certain but at the last moment, I think he called to me for help."

"As if he deserved help," Ultrecht sneered.

"No one deserved to die like that," Armegon said quietly. "I witnessed that thing up close. It’s so..." Armegon went silent for a lack of words. "We have to stop that thing."

"Hey," Ultrecht objected. "Now wait a minute. That thing sucked down Tyson, Blackpuss and the Godking. I do not think it wants to be stopped and I get the impression that that’s the kind of monster that does what it pleases."

"You don't understand," Armegon explained frantically. "For a brief moment after it got the Godking, while it was gorged, I felt its mind. It desires to consume everything. It won't quit and with every passing second, it grows more powerful. It won't quit until the whole planet has been digested and destroyed."

"Look," Ultrecht gave in somewhat. "Let's assume that we do have to stop this thing. How do you suppose we do it?" They resumed their walk and spent the next four hours moving through the quiet, peaceful forest until at last they came to the Glade. By that time they had discussed the situation in great length.

"That thing feeds on bio-energy," Ultrecht summarized. "Avery, you are the expert in biochemistry. What do you suggest we use to kill it?"

The ranger frowned. "I'm afraid I don't know. We could try a virus or something, but that thing drains life like an undead, so it’d be a good bet that it’s immune to disease."

"When we fight undead, we use non-life energy like fire or lightning. That’s usually very effective. Do you think that’ll work in this case?" Armegon asked.

"It might if we hit the thing with enough power, but if not all we are going to do is awaken the proverbial giant," Ultrecht stated. "Whatever we do it has to work first time, because I don't think we are going to get a second chance."

"That thing also feeds on magic," Armegon reminded them. "It absorbed some of my best bolts without flinching."

"So if we use magic on it we are going to have to hit it with so much that it can not possibly absorb it all," Ultrecht concluded. "Too bad we do not have the siege spell. We could try that."

"But if it didn’t overpower the monster, we’d only make things worse by feeding it an enormous amount of energy," Avery pointed out. "It would help if we had something big enough to throw at it; something that would give it a really good fight," Avery sighed.

"Or weaken it," Ultrecht agreed. "We need something similar to itself that can oppose it."

Suddenly Avery's head snapped up as did Armegon's. Ultrecht instantly came to the same conclusion as his companions evidently had. "Do you think..."

"I don't even know if one exists in this world," Armegon stated, "but if one does that could be the answer to this riddle."

"It will either solve the problem, or double it," Avery warned.

"If we can't defeat one, what will it matter if there are two? The world will be doomed either way," Armegon countered.

"There is one other option," Ultrecht said under his breath as they approached the campsite. The others had seen their arrival and were coming out to meet them. "We can still escape the world altogether."

The look on Avery's and Armegon's faces instantly told the mage that they would not leave Nikki and Sam. They were a part of Asille, and were trapped to it by the same curse that had trapped the gods. Ultrecht also knew that even if it cost him his own life, he would not leave his friends to face the monster without him.

The trio were welcomed by a small crowd of happy faces. Only the minotaan was missing from those they had left behind and there were several new faces to be seen. Though saddened by the parting, the trio were glad to hear of Ruk's decision to go home.

That afternoon, each of the three late arrivals related their individual stories to the listeners. The audience was appreciative and even applauded as if the whole thing was a fictitious story told for amusement.

When the day faded, the Janusians departed and went about their business leaving the former gods in the company of the new arrivals. That evening Woeden explained what he had envisioned before relinquishing his divine powers. They also listened as Armegon told again of the Abomination's attack on the Godking.

"I am not very surprised," Woeden admitted. "I suspected that our master's powers and knowledge, so long unused had faded considerably. In the end, he was not the being he had been before."

"But you say that the Tome has the answer to what will stop that thing?" Ultrecht asked.

"I looked into the future in my last moment as a god and the two futures I saw revolved around you three, the Abomination and the Tome of Creation."

"Look," Avery interrupted. "We don't completely understand everything we’ve read in that book. It could take years, even decades to be able to successfully cast the merest cantrip from that book. It’s true that Ultrecht has deciphered one or two spells, but any idiot can read a list of words. Understanding the words is entirely different."

"You must try," Woeden urged.

"We have another idea," Armegon offered. "It’s a cursed device of magic from our home world called a Reflective Opponent. It was mostly used as a trap, but its function was fairly certain and simple in concept." He went on to explain. "We use a specially spelled mirror. The mirror constructs a pseudo life form from any reflection that appears within the it. The reflection is exactly like the original in every form and will attack the original and fight until one or the other is killed."

"I can tell you that no such object exists in this realm," Woeden stated.

"Then we shall have to construct one," Ultrecht countered. "The formulas are not difficult, only getting the components pose a challenge. In the end, the only question will be as to whether the mirror will have enough power to affect the Abomination."

"There is a chance it may fail?" Woeden asked worriedly.

"Theoretically, yes. The chance of it failing is proportional to the power of the creature it tries to reflect and inversely proportional to the perfection of the reflective surface. Since we are assuming that the Abomination is less than infinite in power..."

"...or we would not be here discussing this," Armegon explained.

"Right," Ultrecht agreed. "But that is the only limit we can set on its power. So let us assume it is almost infinite in power. Then for the mirror to work against it, it will need to be composed of a white body, a perfect reflector."

"Does such a thing exist?" the former god asked.

"No," Ultrecht declared. There is no substance that does not absorb any radiation at all, but we have thought of a way around that problem."

"Armegon, here is an astrophysical genius," Avery announced, "and he has an answer."

"It’s far fetched, but it’s just crazy enough that it might work. First," he explained, "a mirror reflects by reversing the vector of light one hundred and eighty degrees about. The magnitude is unchanged in an ideal situation, just the direction. What we want to do will have the same overall effect as a perfect mirror, but will not use a white body. We will use gravity--strong gravity to bend the light back on itself inside a vacuum bubble. Since a vacuum is a perfect conductor of light then nothing will be absorbed. The effect will be a perfect reflection."

"I must confess," Woeden stated, "that I am unfamiliar with much of what you said."

"There is a problem," Ultrecht interrupted. "To generate that much gravity would require a black hole or a neutron star. It would likely destroy the planet should it escape our magical confinements, and we are not yet certain if our magic is strong enough to confine that kind of force. Also we do not yet know how we are going to obtain a black hole, or a neutron star."

"That won’t be a problem," Avery spoke up. "We’ve had a neutron star with us all the while." He drew Liberator. "This is the Sword of Justice," he said for those who had never seen it. "It’s also called the Dawn of Law, and the Godslayer. It was forged in the heart of a supernova, an exploding star, by the hand of the Creator. It’s a shaped neutron star and only the Creator’s own magic prevents its gravity from destroying the entire world."

"How did you learn this," Ultrecht asked very, very impressed with the innocent looking weapon.

"I asked it why it could break Reaper when no other weapon in creation could," Avery replied. "It told me."

"But we can not counter the Creator's own containment," Ultrecht objected.

"We won't have to," Avery declared. "The sword can expand its magical aura and anything within that aura will be subject to the full gravitational influence of a neutron star. All we have to do is devise a way to enchant the reflection, because the sword is immune to spells cast on it."

They discussed many other things that evening as they sat around the fire. Woeden had joined the trio, determined to aid them in any way he could. Thor had simply stated to call on him if there was to be a fight, the other ex-gods parted company and went out into the world sans divinity.

Nikki, Calista and Sam spent their time visiting with Yoan and his father. The kind old centaur that had been chief when Calista had first visited had died two days after they had left for home. The mantle of leadership had fallen to Yoan's family as the chief had had no heirs.

Sam and Calista lay in the shadows of the wigwam making passionate noises while Nikki and the elder centaur spoke of nature, starry skies and the creatures of the valley.

"You appear to be blessed as well," the old centaur. "Y’mate is the healer?"

"Yes," Nikki confirmed.

"I don’t know what to think," The old horseman declared. "Y’are both of elven blood, yet like Armegon it is the elf blood that sings strongest in y’heart while in Avery it is the nonelven blood which sings loudest. And yet he’s not quite human is he?"

"No," Nikki confirmed. "His father was an elven druid, but his mother was a Dryad, one of the tree maidens."

"How does he feel about the coming addition to y’family," the old man asked.

"The dolt has not even noticed," Nikki laughed lightly.

The horseman joined in on the joke. "It will be quite a surprise then for I sense that y’are getting close to that time when y’ll labor." He patted the young elf maid's hand. "Will y’honor us by blessing our valley with the event?"

"It would be a pleasure," Nikki assured him. "But I worry for Avery. Should he not survive this upcoming battle..."

"Y’ll be welcome to stay with us," the Janusian said.

"At least until the Abomination comes," Nikki added and the centaur placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Have faith," he said.