He got to his feet and moved to help Miles up. Keira gave Roland a friendly pat on the back as she passed by him. He nodded and gave a thumbs up to say he’d follow soon.
As they moved toward the other room, Raziel felt a tingling sensation running over his body. It was like the feeling he'd had standing next to the teleportation circle back at the tower but more pervasive. It ran over every inch of skin, even down his throat as he breathed in. It pressed against his magical sense like an ocean current.
Raziel stepped through the doorway just after Hoeru. This room was also oddly shaped but not all of it had the melted candle wax look. In fact, the vast majority of the room was smooth and covered in more glowing runes. Each rune was slightly different from the others but there was a jewel at the center of each. Despite the different shapes every rune suggested a cage to Raziel, holding in the jewels. Taken singularly, they were individual prisons, but together the lines and patterns all swirled together to converge on a single point of containment; a door at the back of the room carved into the stone.
In the middle of the room on a raised piece of stone shaped to hold it in place lay an enormous silver-grey egg. The top of the egg was a little higher than Raziel. He could have fit inside it with room to spare. The shell had delicate, almost watercolor patterns that suggested clouds. All of the intricate, magical script in the room met at the focal point of the egg’s base.
The light in the room was not uniform came in rolling waves, pulsing out from the egg. The light flowed through the runes in the room back towards the door in the back of the room. Raziel couldn’t help wonder why a door would need so much power.
He and Hoeru came close to the egg. Raziel could hear Keira and Miles talking behind him but there was another sound beneath that. Raziel has to stop, focus and draw nearer to hear it. He could not understand the words but he felt it was a lullaby full of slow, sad notes in the voice of a woman he thought must be on the verge of tears. Hoeru stepped closer to the egg transfixed by what he heard.
Raziel was about to ask if Keira or Miles could heard the song as well when he noticed something. At the base of the egg’s pedestal there was a well-worn, leather bound book. Raziel’s eyes went wide. He ran and fell to his knees to pick it up. He would have recognized it anywhere but all the same he had to be sure that it real. The moment he touched it he knew, right down to his core, that it was his father’s book. He fell to his knees and clutched the book to chest, as though it could make his breathing steady again, stop the tears springing to his eyes.
“Raz?” Miles asked, looking at him the way that people looked at an unfamiliar dog that might be friendly or might bite.
Raziel struggled to put together words,but even he barely knew what he wanted to say. “Kusa… It left the book here.”
“What?”
“It—” Raziel paused to blink away tears that had sprang into his eyes and snort up the huge, embarrassing amount of snot that had appeared from nowhere in his nose. “Kusa put it here. This is the safest place it knows about. It didn’t leave any of its books here, but it brought mine down here to keep it safe.”
Keira came over to Raziel and put a hand on his shoulder. He turned away. Of all the people in the world, he didn’t want her to see him like this.
“Okay. Okay. Raz? This is not the right time for a breakdown. I need you to get it together,” she said in a firm but not unkind tone. “If Mask gets past Kusa, we’re the only thing left standing between him and whatever it is he wants. We’ve got to be ready when he comes.”
Raziel wiped the tears away with the back of his hand. He forced himself to take a couple of quick, deep breaths, and pushed back the emotional tide. He turned to Keira and gave her a nod. She held his gaze, evaluating him before returning the nod. He put the book in one of his pockets and tried to focus on the situation at hand.
“So what are we going to do? Do we just wait for Mask to show up?” he asked when he was ready.
“Miles, can you make another trap like you did before?” Keira asked.
“I… I don’t think so. No, I’m sure I can’t,” he said, resolute.
Keira gave him an irritated look. “Why not?”
“I just used the ambient energy back at the tower. If I try to do something here….” He trailed off. “Well, I’d have to put down some symbols that could redirect the magic in the room to do it. But the problem is making sure I get the right magic in the room. Can you tell the difference between the directed energy and what’s ambient in here? I can’t. And if I end up tapping into the wrong flow, or changing something without realizing it, there’s no telling what could happen. We can probably do magic the normal way. Any magic we pull into ourselves should come from what’s ambient in the room, but I’m not strong enough to do anything combat related like that.”
“What do you mean? Could it end up releasing whatever is behind that door?” she asked, gesturing toward the back of the room.
“Yes. It absolutely could. It could also make the whole room explode, or change the air to cotton candy. When I say there is no telling, I’m being literal. When there is this much power in a room, all kinds of insane things can happen.”
Keira flattened her lips into a line but she didn’t try to fight Miles on the issue. “Alright, well we can’t let Mask win. If he comes through that portal, we’re going to have to have a plan, and it’s going to have to work on the first try.”
That hung in the room for a few moments.
“Why are you all looking at me?” Miles said.
“Well, you’re… smart? Do you have any kind of strategy that could work?” Raziel asked.
Miles looked at him like he’d just asked if Miles could grow a second head so he could think faster. “What? This isn’t some board game! I don’t know what that nutcase can do!”
“Well, he’s really fast. Keira was the only one who really could keep up with him. Keira, do you think you could tie him up fighting you again?” Raziel asked.
“Yeah, probably. For a couple seconds at least.”
“Alright, that’s really all we’d need if Roland could get a hold of him. That was the main problem up there. And now Hoeru can be our back up if he gets away from Roland. Once Roland grabs him…. I could try to blast him,” Raziel said, glancing down at the crystal in his hand. It was still pulsing with energy, but he wasn’t recovering as fast as he had before.
“Won’t that hurt Roland?” Keira countered. “You guys killed that wolf up there. I know Mask will be taking the main part of the energy but if you’re using that much power...”
“I don’t think I could do that again any time soon. I won’t have as long to charge it. But it could still hut him.”
Raziel shrugged and looked at Miles who said, “I don’t know either. I don’t know what you did to Hoeru to kill that wolf. I’m still having a hard time believing you did anything to it.”
“It’s alright. It’s a good plan,” Roland said from near the doorway. He’d stepped into the room while they’d been talking without anyone noticing.
Raziel turned to him. The look on Roland’s face was solid, resolute. “Are you sure?”
“I’m not easy to hurt,” Roland said with a nod. Raziel bit his lip, trying to think of a better plan, but Mask was just too fast to rely on getting a hit in any other way.
“Hoeru? What do you think?” Raziel said. Hoeru didn’t answer. Raziel turned away from the teleportation room and saw Hoeru in almost the same position he’d been in, still entranced by the egg.
“Hoeru?” Raziel said sharply. Hoeru twitched and blinked, looking around the room like he was only just now seeing it. “You alright?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You sure? You still look pretty out of it.”
“I was just— Can’t you hear her?”
“What?” Keira asked.
“The song?” Hoeru asked. “Can’t you hear it?”
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“I don’t hear anything. We don’t have time for this right now,” Keira said, gruffly. “Did you hear the plan, Hoeru?”
“No,” Hoeru said softly, as though he were afraid of waking a sleeping child.
“Raz, tell him.”
Raziel explained his plan again and Hoeru’s part in it. Hoeru listened distractedly but nodded at the end. “Yeah. I think that will work.”
“Alright. I’ll hang back next to you. Keira, you get front and center so you’re the first thing Mask sees when he gets in. You need to do whatever you can to get his full attention when he comes in. Roland, you hide there. Try to sneak as close to Mask as you can before you make a grab for him. Miles… uh…”
“I’ll just stay out of the way,” Miles said meekly. He was standing with his back against a wall, looking like he couldn’t decide whether it was worse to stand near the door to the teleportation room or the door in the back.
“Good idea,” Raziel said. He turned to face the circle. Roland and Keira were in place. He experimentally probed the gem with his mind. He wasn’t sure how much of the energy he’d be able to draw from it. But the room was absolutely suffused with the power he’s touched up on the surface. He wouldn’t have to hold onto the energy, just had to get some of it in one place to throw at Mask. He thought he could do that. He felt ready.
They waited.
Nothing happened.
The quiet extended, going on and on, everyone waiting for the signaling flash of light to appear in the teleportation room. Raziel’s nerves began to wear thin after what might have been a minute or ten.
“What do we do if nothing comes?” Miles asked. Predictably, that was when the circle activated. Raziel looked and saw a window in the air in the center of the teleportation circle. The edges were hard to see, hazy and fluttering. He saw Keira tense and then look surprised. Raziel peaked around her to see Kusa jump through the hole in space. It turned and made a grasping motion at the edges of the window and swiftly pulled its edges together. Then it sat down, breathing heavily.
“Kusa?” Raziel called. It turned and looked in his direction. It smiled when it saw them and got to its feet. It walked shakily towards them and Raziel came forward to meet it. “Are you okay?”
“Kusa,” it said with a nod.
“Is Mask still out there?”
Another nod.
“Well, with you here, our plan will work even better,” Raziel said, quickly explaining it once again. Kusa looked surprised and nodded along enthusiastically.
“If you and Keira work together, you might be able to take him down on your own. With everyone working together, we’ll definitely win.” Kusa nodded and moved to stand near Keira. It wasn’t quite in line with her, standing a little closer to the egg. Raziel thought that odd until something occurred to him.
“Hey, Kusa.”
The little spirit turned to him, curiously.
“Thanks for looking after my book. I appreciate it.”
Kusa smiled and gave him a nod before turning back to the teleportation room. They didn’t have to wait long this time. Again the air flashed and rippled. Raziel was watching this time, and he saw as fingers seemed to emerge from thin air and begin ripping a window open in the air. From the moment he saw the fingers, something felt wrong to Raziel.
As the fingers strained to open the window, Raziel realized his mistake. He tried to scream a warning but it was too late. What came into the room was not Mask but a second Kusa, this one bruised and covered in its own shiny green blood.
The uninjured Kusa blurred and struck Keira across the temple with a kick even as she was turning to face it. Before she could fall it grabbed her and flung her at the wall near Roland. He leapt aside to catch her before she could slam into the stone wall.
Raziel caught a glimpse of the second Kusa running to them but the first Kusa was in front of him, a terrible purpose in its eyes. Raziel snatched up all the magical energy he could into his body. Time slowed and he was able to see the fake Kusa’s hand streaking for his chest.
Raziel turned it aside but it still hit his ribs instead of his gut and a burst of pain erupted there. Raziel threw a punch of his own and knew he was too slow even as he did. The fake Kusa grabbed his forearm and jerked him forward. It slammed its head against his, and Raziel saw a flash of light. He fell, hitting the floor and trying to move but his limbs just twitched. He saw stars swimming in his vision and a wave of dizziness made him want to vomit again.
Raziel looked up just in time to see the fake Kusa dash at Hoeru. Hoeru had gotten between it and the egg. Raziel saw the fierce defiance in his eyes, but the fake Kusa was so fast. Then Hoeru moved.
Kusa tried to take him down with one blow like he had the others. Its fist struck for Hoeru’s head like it had Keira. Hoeru didn’t dodge. He didn’t hit first. Instead, he saw the fist coming for his head, stepped forward and slammed his own forehead into the blow. Raziel saw the fake Kusa’s arm blow back. The fake Kusa was completely off balance with no way to block or dodge. Hoeru’s uppercut hit it so hard it knocked the illusion off. It was Kusa’s face that Hoeru struck, but Mask was the one that was lifted off the ground by the force of the blow.
Hoeru wasn’t done. He stepped in and threw a flurry of punches into Mask’s stomach and chest that blew him back and threw him to the floor. Mask rolled to his feet, the arm that Hoeru had hit dangling at his side. Hoeru came on with bestial ferocity.
Mask was faster. Hoeru came in hot; Mask stayed cool. Again, Hoeru threw a flurry of punches. Mask only threw one. Hoeru landed a couple of strikes, but Mask’s counter smashed him back. Raziel saw something bone white fly through the air as Hoeru fell.
Raziel staggered up and put himself between the egg and Mask. He reached out, gathering what magic he could for one last attack and shouted at Mask. Mask locked eyes with Raziel and never saw Roland come up behind him. Roland caught Mask behind the arms and held him off the ground in a full nelson.
Raziel tried to force the magic he’d gathered into an attack, tried to throw it at Mask but the energy wouldn’t cohere and the effort stole what little strength he’d been able to scrape together.
Keira was there to pick up the slack. She didn’t throw a blast of energy at Mask though Raziel could sense the magic coursing through her. She came running across the room and hit Mask across the temple just like he had hit her. Keira’s blow tore Mask from Roland’s grip. Mask hurtled across the room, smacked into the wall, and lay still.
“Holy crap,” Raziel said, shocked.
“Did we just win?” Miles asked.
“I think so,” Roland said, rolling his shoulder and giving Keira an appraising look.
Kusa came staggering into the room and Raziel moved to help him. Up close Raziel could tell the little spirit was in bad shape. It was limping badly and covered in bruises and small cuts. Its cloak and shirt were gone, exposing its small almost childlike chest. There was a small indentation just above its heart, the skin inside it paler than the rest and raw looking. Around it were five round puncture wounds, four on one side and one slightly larger than the rest on the opposite side. The wounds were oozing with Kusa’s green blood.
“Kusa, what happened?” Raziel asked.
Kusa looked at him tiredly. It gestured at Mask and then held its hands together to make a circle and then raised them up making an invisible cylinder in the air. Then it took one hand and smashed through where it had made the cylinder and made a childish crashing sound. It took Raziel a few seconds to understand.
“He smashed the tower?” he asked incredulously. Kusa nodded, its face oddly emotionless, but Raziel could see tears welling in its eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” Raziel whispered.
Kusa nodded and put a hand on Raziel’s arm briefly as if to comfort him. That was nearly more than Raziel could take. His compassion for the little spirit caught fire and turned to rage. He whirled and stomped towards Mask, no idea of what he was going to do. Anger deafened him to his friends telling him to stop or wait. The only thing that entered his head was the image of Kusa’s collection, so carefully maintained and meticulously ordered, falling and crushed beneath the stone of the tower. The air in the room turn chilly as he stalked forward.
“Kusa!” the little spirit called. Raziel didn’t stop.
Mask moved with the same lightning speed he’d used on Keira. Time slowed as Raziel’s magic kicked in, and he caught sight of the hairline cracks running all through the bone white mask from where Keira had punched him. He saw the dark bruised purple energy swelling around Mask’s hand. He saw Mask fling that energy at his head and again knew he wasn’t fast enough to dodge it.
A small hand wrapped around his neck and yanked him backwards. The ball of Mask’s magic zipped past his nose. Raziel was in mid air as the ball shot past him but with his heightened perception he could see everything. He saw the wide eyed shock on Keira and Roland’s faces. He saw the fearful impotent rage appear on Hoeru’s face. He saw Miles cowering against the far wall. He saw the ball smack into the egg near the top, the ugly energy seeming to pop and dissolve against it.
Raziel hit the ground, Kusa standing over him. The little spirit was looking at the egg with its mouth hanging open. Cracks were emerging all over the surface of the egg.
“Finally,” Mask muttered, sounding annoyed more than anything. The soft light of the runes and spellwork began to pulse with bright erratic light, the same blue-white light that was shining through the cracks in the egg. Raziel could feel the magical power in the room fluctuate wildly, pounding against his senses like he was standing a foot away from an exploding fireworks shop.
The lights flashed quicker as a few flakes broke off. The room shook knocking bits of stone and causing jewels to rain down from the walls, falling down on them like hail. Everyone threw themselves to the ground to avoid the spraying bits of eggshell. Mist crawled out of the egg even as the light from inside began to reach blinding levels. Whole chunks of the shell began to fall off, hitting the ground with a sound like falling glass.
And then all at once, everything stopped. The room was plunged into darkness. The only sound was everyone’s rapid breathing.
They all started shouting at once. Raziel felt panic start to rise in his chest with no idea what Mask might be doing. He started to rise and felt Kusa’s hand on his shoulder holding him in place.
The light came suddenly, though it wasn’t terribly bright. Miles was up against a wall, holding up a crystal that shed light like a torch. Everyone stopped and turned to Miles. Miles looked like he was about to say something and then his jaw dropped. A second later his cheeks turned red, and he covered his eyes. They all turned to see where he’d been looking.
Laying still curled up in a ball in what remained of the shell was a naked girl.