Kael Sunwright stood upon the precipice of his favorite mountain as he surveyed the plains far down below. He cycled his mana through his eyes and enhanced his vision to see down to the plain where his army fought a last ditch battle against the Edorian forces. He could see the three valleys of his country in the distance, flooded with more Edorian forces. The fertile fields and beautiful mountains of his home were now filled with death and horror.
“How did it come to this?” Kael whispered to himself.
Kael knew he was culpable in what was happening. He hadn't taken the threat of the Edorians gravely enough. There had been signs that members of his government were conspiring against him. He had just ignored them. He had believed in the balance. For someone who had lived for so long and reached such heights of power, it was difficult to relate to the commoner. The greed and avarice that drove them were alien to Kael. He had spent so long living through his various aspects, disconnected from humanity.
“Kuthal, sound the retreat. I will protect the army while it seals itself and the citizens in the mountain.” Kael whispered on the wind and used his mana to ensure it reached his oldest friend.
“Yes, my lord.” Kael heard his reply and took a deep breath. He cast one final glance at the world around him and took in its beauty, tried to remember it in better times.
Kael stepped off the edge of the cliff and glided down twenty thousand feet to land on the battlefield in front of his infantry line. He flared his mana and every Edorian for one hundred feet disintegrated to ash. His aspects joined the battle all over the valley, buying his army precious time to retreat to safety. He knew he didn’t have long now. The seven princes had lain in waiting for his arrival. Individually, none of them could stand against Kael, but together with that eldritch power they were harnessing, he wasn’t sure. That doubt was why he had waited so long, allowed his armies to fight conventional warfare. He regretted the loss of life but believed he had made the right choice even now. He had given humanity a chance to resolve this without resorting to drastic measures. They had failed.
Kael had spent the last year preparing the mountain to house his people until the aftereffects of the coming battle settled. He prepared it as best he could. It would be up to his generals and councilors now. His people would live, if they would prosper or not, that was for them to decide. Kael activated the first part of his plan and flared his mana outwards, covering the entire valley and activating the hidden runes he had carved deep in the bedrock.
“Kael Sunwright, you finally show yourself, you coward.” The crown prince Avoiwa magnified his voice as he descended opposite of Kael on the battlefield. “Your armies have been defeated and your people cower in that inhospitable mountain. The war is over, submit yourself to your betters and we may yet let you live. You have valuable knowledge in that stubborn mind after all.” His mask hid his likely smile. His six counterparts landed around him, making a semi-circle around Kael. “And she wants it.”
“This is the last chance to end this peacefully, Avoiwa. You have hundreds of thousands of citizens inside Agorra. What comes next will cripple your nation for centuries.” Kael tried to reason with the arrogant prince. His mana continued to build, drawing deep from reservoirs planted throughout his home.
“Begging for mercy this late in the war is fruitless, Kael. Agorra will fall and you with it. You have reigned over this continent for a thousand years. Your time has come to an end. Today the Mad God dies.” Avoiwa responded in his snide voice.
“You are right about one thing. My time has come to an end, I have lived so long now, I have forgotten more than I ever knew. I can’t even remember the face of my first wife. Can you believe that? Maybe I am a Mad God after all. I have not always been kind, nor just. I have lived a long and complicated life, but you forgot one thing, Avoiwa.” Kael responded. He circulated his mana, an incredible amount that saturated the air around the last Sunwright as it coursed through his body.
Kael watched with fleeting satisfaction as the seven princes tumbled to a knee, fighting to stabilize their own mana cores in the face of his unveiled power. He activated the long buried runes deep beneath the mountains that rimmed his home. Amplifiers of his own design that collected and focused mana for him and him alone. As his power swelled, the princes began their counteract, unleashing everything in their arsenal at him. Resorting to such desperate measures as they had, their mana was corrupted, no match for the purity flowing through Kael’s veins.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“I am the one who banished that creature from this plane all those years ago. You think yourself the winner of the bargain you struck. You do not know the powers you mettle with. THIS IS MY HOME. ” Kael said as he let his power ripple outwards and crush the seven prince’s attacks. Trees flattened for hundreds of miles. Humans, beasts, and fiends cried out in pain.
His power reached a crescendo as the mana in the valley swirled around him so thick it could have been fog. Soldiers of the Edorian army died all around the valley. Distance mattered little. Kael was ripping the mana from their bodies and claiming it as his own. The seven princes, all tier thirteen mages in their own right, attempted to counter with every spell and magic they possessed. Kael could see in their eyes that they were starting to realize the depths of their mistakes, their hubris disintegrating alongside their men. A chime went off in Kaels’ mind as the last of his army crossed the threshold and sealed themselves inside the mountain. No turning back now, the mountain was sealed by protections even he could not breach.
His reached out to his aspects as they fought, the many forms he had taken throughout his life answering his call. Wolves howled deep in the Luka valley. Great Hawks let out an ear-piercing shriek high above the Crystal Falls. The Dragon roared as it dove through the clouds, and so many more. Each a part of him as much as his human side was now. Every version Kael had lived over his long life roared in unison. The anger and sadness, happiness and grief, emotions of human and beast flowed through connections so vast and complex.
“It ends now.” Kael whispered to himself. He thought back to better times, his first wife and true love. His friends back at the academy, his former colleagues in the mage guild. The faces blurred as they whipped through his mind, his emotions reaching a crescendo to match his mana. He raised his arms to the sky and started the final sequence. He pulled in more and more, his body began to crackle with blue streaks of lightning. One prince attempted to teleport and Kael crushed the space near him. "No." He plainly said.
More and more mana swelled through Kaels’ body, more than he had thought would exist on the entire continent, let alone the small country of his birth. He felt himself pass the point of no return, his indescribably intricate mana circuits overloading one at a time in a cascading failure. His left arm flared first, followed by his legs, his abdomen and torso, his right arm and finally he felt himself let go. All the pain and rage, regret and sorrow, in that moment, it all seemed so small. The war and the foolish princes, the countless deaths he had witnessed or caused. Every trial and tribulation that had shaped his life.
Kael smiled as he felt his heart flare and overload. “I’ll see you soon, Vivi.”
————
Kuthal watched from the viewing chamber Kael had built near the top of the mountain, safe from the destruction. He watched Kael cycle an impossible amount of mana. Even inside the mountain and thousands of feet above, he felt his own core nearly empty itself to join his lord. Tears rolled down his eyes as he watched his mentor and closest friend enact the irrevocable part of his plan. Kuthal had begged Kael to find another way. There had to be another way. Agorra would never recover from the loss of such a brilliant mage. Kuthal sobbed as he watched Kael’s Cloud Rider aspect dive and fade to mist.
Kuthal wrapped his arms around his chest as Kael detonated in a blue flash that swallowed the world. Hundreds of thousands of people died in an instant, every animal, beast or human not inside the mountain. Kuthal watched for a moment longer before activating the protection runes as Kael had instructed. The transparent screen of mana flickered off, and it sealed Kuthal inside the mountain with everyone else.
Kael had estimated it would take near eight hundred years for the manasphere in the valley to recover after today. He had sealed the mountain until the ambient levels would activate the runes unsealing it. It was his job to shepherd Kael’s people now, and he couldn’t, he wouldn’t fail. He moved down the stairs to the council chamber and began issuing Kaels’ last commands.
“Thank you, my friend. I won’t let you down.” Kuthal whispered to himself. “Long live the Mad God.”
———
Far away on the other side of the continent, across a distance most humans couldn’t cross in several lifetimes, a titanic golden dragon lifted its head and stared off into the distance.
———
Centered in the heart of a great desert, a massive sphinx uncoiled her wings and braced herself from the assault of such raw mana, such raw emotion roiling out across the ether.
———
Deep down in the darkest depths of a deep, old ocean, a colossal turtle the size of mountains hunkered down inside of its shell.
———
Atop the rim of a massive volcano, just as it was about to dive and bath in lava, a gargantuan worm stopped and shivered in fear.
———
Across the frozen tundra north of the Agorran mountains, inside of a blizzard that raged endlessly, a wolf with eyes of silver turned his head south and howled.
————
Deep in the caverns far below the mountain upon which Kael had just stood, far below the depths any mortal had ever traveled, a dark mass twisted and shook as it woke up for the first time in a millennium.