CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR

Times Square, New York

The clouds thundered and parted and the Shadow Man wa caught in the break of daylight. Sensei jumped at the opportunity as the clouds parted further, channeling the storm into two fronts. Fitzsimons stood up, his eyes harnessed grey fury. Lightning from both storms pulled down and around him, and drew together, making one massive bolt right through Fitzsimons. It released from the ground and the storms rained down from all sides, sweeping into the mad research scientist. He was right. This was it. The Storm Harvester was taking him over for good. Philip had to do something.

DarkFlood blasted up and snatched the Man of Shadow. Sensei demanded him, "NO!" The Shadow smiled, fulfilling his destiny as Philip transmitted his powers. What he didn’t know was the man in black was no man at all. And absorbing his powers meant inheriting his entire entity. The Shadow Man was no more, but not dead.

Sensei was banished to the Infinite Abyss for failing his mission. A treacherous place where no living being has ever returned.

Philip used the darkness he absorbed to inhibit the storm from brewing. He cut Fitzsimons off from the possession and freed him. The Storm Harvester was caught in between physical states and was at its weakest. Fitzsimons woke up and saw the storm hovering right above him.

"Thank you," he stammered, "Thank you, Philip."

"No."

Dr. Fitzsimons looked into Philip Dresden's eyes and all he saw was darkness.

"You killed my wife,” DarkFlood held his hand up and created a pulse blast inside of Fitzsimons skull, killing him instantly.

The Storm Harvester above searched for a new host.

In desperation it possessed Faulkner. Philip smiled. His last trap finally sprung. This would be the Storm Harvester's ultimate undoing. Not too long ago, in the Afghan Hindu Kush, Philip touched Faulkner's dead heart with that of the Divine Catalyst when it was still in plant form. The affects lay dormant until triggered by this very moment. The contradiction of two opposing forces living in themselves obliterated each other, cancelling them out. But the Divine Catalyst survived through Philip.

Faulkner collapsed into himself and the Storm Harvester was wiped from existence. The ultimate death for a cosmic force. But even fools knew that nothing dies forever. DarkFlood knelt down next to Faulkner and Fitzsimons dead bodies. The battle for New York City was finally over. The fallen skyscrapers lay lateral across the sporadic stone spikes still sticking out of the two streets. Times Square was in ruins. It was a nightmarish scene. But the battle for New York was over.

Stolen novel; please report.

Everything would change once again.

Lazarus carried Dr. Randolph's dead body to the square. After the tide of the battle had swayed, and enough soldiers died, including Faulkner and Fitzsimons, the Alchemist and Ollie retreated into the city.

Yvonne pounced on Jason hiding backstage. "Coward!" she hissed at him. She had been psyching herself up to make her first kill. After seeing all the death around her, her blood-lust grew past rational control. She zeroed-in on the weakest of them and had now separated him from the rest of the group.

Yvonne was finished hunting her prey. Now was the time.

The beautiful french girl with long dark hair straddled Jason as she choked the life from him. The death of Faulkner was bizarre and wrong. It fumes sought her out and compelled her away from Jason. The kid ran as she approached DarkFlood still knelt down by the bodies.

"You did this. You are more powerful than any of them, stranger." Yvonne circled around him slowly, rubbing his shoulder with her fingertips, "Why not take what is yours and stop letting life pass you by?" She knelt down in front of him, facing him. Yvonne kissed DarkFlood and he enjoyed it, before pushing her away. Yvonne fell back onto Faulkner's body and the lingering essence of death drained into her. It was a strange sort of feeling, one unlike any death she had come across. Like a phoenix, the Storm Harvester's ashes gathered in Yvonne, to one day resurrect.

Lazarus dragged Randolph's body over to Philip and released him as Moses and Vlad returned. Philip looked down on the doctor. His men stood behind him, all affected by the battle, all stronger than ever.

"Many of the prisoners died." Vlad told them, but Philip did not care. "You could have prevented all this from happening."

"That's not how it works." Philip did not face Vlad to answer him. In fact, he was growing sick of their puny human insolence. And so was Vlad, sick of hearing the same excuse day in and day out without ever an explanation.

"IS THIS HOW IT WORKS!" Vlad held Randolph's head up revealing his vacant face. "Did you know he was going to die when you brought him here to the fight?"

"He was never meant to be more than human."

"You knew and you still did it?" Moses spoke up.

"You don't understand."

"You're going to lead us all to our deaths, aren't you?" Vlad persisted.

"How long until we die?" Lazarus wanted to see for himself.

DarkFlood looked back at the first three. He knew there would be many of his disciples in the days to come, and like the first three, they would all eventually get to know Philip well enough to realize what he truly was; and therefore his fate was already decided. He would always be alone.

"Everyone dies, you should know that most of all."

End of Saga Three