“If you kill me now, the golems will still try to kill you,” he explained.
“There’s not many left,” said Tedet presenting the batteries in his hands.
“That may be true,” then pointed towards the trees or the forest. “But there’s more coming.”
“Bullshit,” answered Tedet. “You had all your golems here.”
“You can wait to find out. And in any case, I hold the advantage. I have your friends in my grasp. If I want to, I could ask: Thirty, be ready to crush his neck.”
Instantly, the ex-golem held out its other arm on me and took its hand from my ankle, climbing on me like a spider. I was not prepared for a subtle command like that, I thought it would be obvious when he would command his robot to try to kill me. Instead, he calmly asked it to be ready to rip me to shreds should anything happen. All Tedet could do was twitch, as he wasn’t even wielding his gun when all he had in his hand were batteries.
“See? I hold the advantage. And you, Miss—” he turned to look at Misa “— should be aware that Mister Avarez is currently being held by his neck. You kill me, and Padrict and Avarez die.”
The silence spread out for several seconds. No one said anything except for Orlan who began pacing back and forward on top of the dragon.
“Nothing?” he asked, mockingly. “I suggest you leave. Put down your weapons and leave.”
“No,” I heard the voice of Padrict barely audible.
“You do realize your position doesn’t come with that many choices, do you?”
“No,” he answered again. “Everyone has a choice, Orlan. You, most of all here. You could walk away, no dragon in hand but another day to live. You could try to fight and live, but at what cost? Or you could die. We are your bargaining chips, and if you kill anyone of us, you go next.
“Tell me who’s gonna save your daughter, then?
“No, Orlan. I do realize how many choices I have, but not you. The only issue here, is that I have not even a single choice left for me. I have no choices at all. I am a dead man, already. I am destined to die. I am going to die. I just won’t die by your hands.
“Now, tell me, Orlan. What choice are you taking? Live? Or die?”
I thought I was going to sting the golem on my back by how hard my hairs were rising. I turned to see the green face of Tedet, who surely noticed just how scary a man is when he is convinced he is untouchable. Padrict knew his future and he knew what was meant to happen. If whatever we thought about his destiny was true, then Padrict was completely immortal before the fated moment. He could not die and he could be leaving this place alive even if a nuclear bomb were to be dropped on him. Quantum mechanics would do their best to randomly create the perfect entropical conditions to avoid all possible paths of energy, in the form of heat, electromagnetic forces, and fission vectors, to let him live. Bullets would slightly deviate due to Brownian motion enough to avoid vital organs.
Anything could be possible. Except, all of it will be possible if it meant Padrict to be alive.
“What are you talking about?” Orlan finally asked, the clear insane talk got to him.
“I cannot die.”
Padrict cast his spell and soon I saw several pebbles flying through the air. But just before it, there was a clapping of the railgun. Misa shot her gun to who knows where. I knew this would be enough for Orlan to give his order for the robot on my back to snap my neck.
“Spada,” I cast calmly, and a spike of rock separated me and the robot.
Tedet quickly glided across the distance between us and I heard the clear snapping of crystalline metal breaking into pieces. He had used his alchemical powers to destroy the robot. I managed to turn around just in time for him to hold the robot’s head in his hand and siphon all the energy in a battery on his hand. In the time it took Tedet to swing the robot above his head, sending it flying straight to Orlan atop the dragon, he had cast an alchemical spell that had turned the robot into a bomb.
Just before the robot-grenade reached its destination, its timer reached its end, detonating and spreading shrapnel all around us. Tedet took the deadly projectiles with its iron skin while I hid behind my magical coat. I just hoped the two on the other side would be alright.
Orlan fell off the dragon to our side, and he almost broke his back. He twisted only barely, as the collision with the ground had rendered him almost immobile.
“They…” he began saying between breaths. “They come.”
“Your robots?” asked Tedet. “Let them. I’ll punch them to bits.”
“I’ll… curse you.”
I peeled my eyes open. I had forgotten completely about the last trump card all wizards had. It was possible to achieve one final laugh as you drew your last breath, expending your life, spirit, and soul to the casting of the ultimate spell. A powerful magician could turn themselves into a MOAB or a mini-nuke. I almost did that to a sizeable reunion of vampirids, and if I had not been stopped, it would’ve crippled them within Al Patreck.
“Ted!” I interrupted him. “Don’t do it. He’ll cast his death wish.”
Tedet turned around and looked at me for a second, then turned to Orlan.
“You’ll waste it on us instead of saving your daughter?”
“He doesn’t know how to save her. He could wish for her recovery, but without knowing the cause or the cure, he’d be wasting it for nothing. That’s why he’s here for the dragon. If he could save his daughter this way, he would’ve already done it. He’d rather go out swinging than achieve nothing.”
“Smart…” he said almost entitled. “Let me go. It’s all I ask.”
“What makes you think I can’t just shoot you and you’ll die before you can cast that spell.”
“He already prepared it,” I said. “The golems are it. Conjurators can do that. The body dies instantly, but not the rest and the golems that are connected to his magic and spirit.”
“So, we’ll just let him go?” asked Tedet, feeling insulted.
Misa and Padrict turned around to find us just there staring at each other. I presented them with my open palm which was meant to calm and stop them before they acted.
“He would’ve killed you,” he complained again. “He almost did!”
“And I can still die, Ted. We can all die. Misa, too. Be smart about this.”
Tedet turned to see Misa and his face grew green.
“I don’t want that either,” I whispered to him. “Not her. She doesn’t deserve it.”
“So, we’re just letting the enemy go?” asked Padrict.
“He’s not an enemy,” I said. “Not yet.”
“I’m not afraid of consequences,” concluded Padrict and lifted his hand to strike a final attack on Orlan.
Tedet lifted his gun and Misa did the same only a few moments later, concerned about the new change of targets.
“You may not die, but we will!” I spoke hastily. “You’re gonna live today to see your death at the hands of the Council, but not us!”
“You can’t kill me,” he said, mockingly.
“I can make you a vegetable,” said Tedet.
Orlan laughed.
Putting Padrict into a coma would suffice the conditions. He would not die but he would not be ‘living.’ I found the irony that made Orlan laugh to be bittersweet.
“He cannot be allowed to live after what he almost did,” Padrict explained.
“Almost,” I retorted.
“The Council would not care.”
“We are not the Council. We are still decent human beings.”
“Touché,” said Orlan.
Padrict growled at him. I could sense the magic being drawn.
“Try me,” challenged Orlan.
“Don’t,” I begged. “Please.”
Padrict wavered. “You’re going to regret this, Avarez. The Council is not going to like this.”
“I will regret this either way.”
“They are almost here,” warned Oraln. “What’s it going to be?”
Padrict closed his eyes and growled between his teeth.
“This was going to be my last good deed! The last good thing I did with my life!”
He ran towards Orlan and before I could do anything to stop him, he kicked the man on the side. Twice and thrice. Padrict screamed until he cried on his knees.
“GET OUT!” he commanded the agonizing man.
Orlan did not try to make a jape or a final quip, his terribly broken ribs must have made it very hard to act like a piece of shit, even with that much bravado still within. He didn’t have the luxury either. There was a daughter to be saved, and doing anything here would most likely lead to his death, one way or another.
There was a choice to be made. There always was. It only took longer and infinitely more convincing arguments to get it through his skull. He chose to live another day to save his daughter. He chose to forgo the Panacea. But I knew this was not the end of the story, I knew there would be more out there for him to do.
Unfortunately, for us, if we ever met again. I will not count on him giving us the hospitality we gave him today. He will not give us the choice of living; not after we essentially doomed his daughter to an indefinite coma and possibly death.
He walked away, directly towards the darkness of the forest. Just before disappearing at the edge, silhouettes appeared scattered along the shadows of the trees. He did not lie about the other golems. He did not gamble with a lie. He never planned to harm us beyond the barest necessary, but that line we pushed more and more as we continued the fight and defied his ever-retreating benevolence. Orlan was never a bad man, just a man trapped between morality, duty, and love.
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
I saw myself in that disappearing shape. What would it take for me to become him? How long? I did not humor the possibility; there was no if, only when and how. And more dreadfully, a who.
I walked up to Padrict who was feeling like he had wasted another chance to forgive himself. To stop a bad guy. Orlan was just like him; both chose the wrong part. Padrict must have thought that stopping Orlan would suffice as a replacement for stopping himself and giving himself to the authorities. He had not surrendered to us because he thought it was the right thing to do, but because I had persuaded him that I would vouch for innocence.
“You did the right thing. Letting him go,” I explained.
“I should have stopped him.”
“Would that decision weigh well on your conscious?”
Padrict looked at me confused.
“You kill him, and his golems would’ve killed any of us — maybe all of us, except for you. You would’ve lived to face the Cabal, knowing your last deed was to kill your last friends, and you didn’t even die honorably alongside them.”
Padrict made a chuckle that quickly turned to a wail.
“You did the right thing. Always tell yourself that. If you must go, you leave having done all the good you could.”
“You’re right,” he said between sniffles. “You’re right. I was blinded by self-serving justice.”
“But good prevailed.”
He nodded. “Good prevails.”
I offered Padrict a hand, which he took with a sloppy smile. He had not yet fully recovered from knowing the mistake he had almost wrought. He needed to know he did not make that mistake; at the end of the day, it was the actions that mattered even when there was another intent. Padrict nodded to me, and to himself, concluding his alleged last low point in his life.
He dusted himself and looked at the dragon. The curtains closed for him. The last climactic act of his life had ended. At the very least, he could finish his final closing act knowing he did his best and he righted his wrongs.
As for me, I managed to complete a mission that did not end in multiple tragedies. It was not perfect, but it was the best thing so far. These were important news that I had to address.
“Guys?” I simply implored for the attention. “I don’t want to alarm anybody, but I don’t know if you have already noticed it?”
Tedet and Misa were the only ones who turned around to see me, grim-faced.
“We won,” I announced.
Confusion was palpable. Their faces did not change when I said those words, it was clear to me they had not fully comprehended my words.
“We won! We actually won! Ha ha! We did it!”
Misa was the first to break a nervous smile and into a small giggle. Soon after, Tedet turned red.
“We won,” returned Misa. “We won!”
Her small smile grew into a brimming grin and she laughed the most beautiful laughter I had ever heard coming from her mouth. It was like the goddess of victory, Nike, had possessed my dear friend and celebrated with us a complete victory.
We had done it. It was the first time we had managed to complete our objectives as we should have. It wasn’t perfect or flawless, but there were no loose ends. No struck deals to be paid for later. There was no looming danger that would haunt us forever. Sure, Orlan had become our enemy, but he had no reason to still haunt us. We were not out to kill him or his daughter, and he would have to spend his time caring for and trying to find a solution to bring back his daughter to full health. There was nothing we could do about that and I am sure Orlan would not want our help whatsoever.
Aside from that, even the Council would be pleased to know that we had killed a dragon. My only concern would be how to explain that we had let a warlock go. But even that one could be easily excused given our circumstances.
“I can’t believe we made it,” said Tedet. “It’s almost miraculous that we didn’t screw this up.”
“All that’s left is to call the Cabal here to dispose of the dragon,” I explained. “And our business is done. We can go home. Victorious.”
In the wave of excitement, even Padrict gave in to the joy.
“Thank you for stopping me,” he said. “I was not in my right mind. It would’ve been a mistake to taint my humanity before I left my life. If I think about it, I rather go out knowing I was a good person.”
I walked up to him and placed a hand over his shoulder.
“That’s what we like to hear. Glad to have you back, Paddy.”
Misa got close to us and searched for something within a pouch of hers. It was meant to hold ammo, but she did not pull out a magazine for her railgun. Instead, it was another device.
“What about a picture?” she suggested. “To commemorate our achievement.”
I looked back at the dead dragon and smiled.
“This one goes to the history books.”
“I’ll take the picture,” offered Padrict. Before I could say anything, he waved his hands at my face and continued: “Today, you are the heroes. Let this be a heroes’ portrait.”
He took the camera from Misa and guided us to the frame.
The three of us held each other under our arms, in a group hug, and looked straight into the camera, posing for a fraternal look. Misa between the two of us, held herself with her arms on our shoulders, using us to boost herself up and towering both. I decided on a silly face that I knew I could flaunt to Martin, while Tedet stretched his arm in front of him and signed a V with his pseudo-hand.
Victory.
----------------------------------------
The Cabal and the Knights arrived together and discussed the situation slightly until representatives arrived to agree to a decision. The corpse would be completely burned, and all traces and body tissue of the dragon would be turned into dust. The very few people who knew and came over agreed to a magical pact of silence. It would become painful to discuss the dragon with anyone who doesn’t already know about the dragon.
Padrict, Tedet, Misa, the eight envoys of the magical organizations, plus the Council and High Table members, myself, and soon Martin will take the pact to safeguard the information.
Orlan was discussed as we concluded the pact ritual, he was marked for hunting for both organizations. However, his judgment was yet to be determined. We all knew that Orlan would be killed eventually if he was caught, but maybe one day he’ll be able to change that fate. Hopefully, so he would change the fate of his daughter. She, as well, was talked about, and it was mostly the reason why he was not deemed a traitor immediately. Sometimes, I’m surprised humanity still runs through this organization’s veins. Even if that surprise is quickly merited by an act of inhumane senselessness.
“Padrict Gleissvissen,” said the Merlin seated on the Council seats of the back podium.
Only the Arch Wizards and witnesses were attending the Judgement. Within the walls of the Cupula, all the most powerful wizards and the accused were overlooked by a heterodox mixture of people. An official wizard of the cabal, a radera alchemist, a Knight Hadtherad, a mortal warrior, and a mortal academic — me, Tedet, Shkadaur, Misa, and Martin — watched the conclusion of Padrict’s verdict.
“As a wizard of the Cabal, you were our most notable researcher; pushing the boundaries of what was thought possible, and achieving the unimaginable.
“However, it was due to your shortcomings and lack of discipline that made you break the Laws that bind us to become the truest and unwavering protectors of humankind and all non-human mortals.”
Despite all his achievements, Padrict had broken one of the Principal Laws of Magic. Just like the Prime Tenets of our Constitution, in Bathering, that govern the most basic rights of a citizen and all intelligent life, the Principal Laws were taken with paramount seriousness. Breaking any would be equivalent to accepting a death sentence on the spot. I never broke one, but I broke the lesser Laws, which gave me a bit of leeway, even when I ended up helping the supernatural.
Padrict on the other hand, chose to unilaterally help the supernatural at the cost or with the knowledge that his actions could bring harm to mortals. He was never given the option to help anyone but himself; the most egoistic action you can take. Even when he put himself in death’s way to save mortals when he fought and defeated the dragon, and even stopped a traitor from releasing an instrument of chaos upon the world, that was only the barest of atonements he could provide. His real retribution would be death.
We all knew this, but there was still lingering hope within us. Hope is one of humanity's biggest strengths and one of its most crippling weaknesses. We held to this hope like we held our breath awaiting the final decision.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must judge and condemn a great wizard to the ultimate punishment. But it is to these Laws, that have held us to who we are, as humans and as protectors, that I must abide by to seal your fate.
“Thus, after thorough consideration with the Round Table of Wizards and the Council of the Cabal, we have found you guilty of breaking the Principal Laws of Magic and sentence you to death.
“It is only natural that a dead man shall be given one final wish and speak his last words uninterrupted before his death. Your death, as per the Law, shall be immediate.
“Are there any wishes you would want, Wizard Gleissvissen?”
“Yes,” he began. “That clairvoyance magic to be outlawed and barred. I want clairvoyance to be deemed Forbidden magic. It is not only dangerous to the individual, but it possesses the power to render Free Will useless. I, and the situation I am currently in, are evidence of such danger.”
The Council looked at each other, and the Arch Wizards, seated in the Central Atrium, broke out in murmurs.
“I cannot promise you that it shall be outlawed,” answered the Merlin. “But I can promise you it shall be a subject we will consider with great seriousness.”
“Thank you.”
“Are there any final words you would like to speak?”
“Yes,” he began and remained quiet for a few seconds.
Everyone in the Cupula remained silent. It was a great insult to interrupt the final words of a dead man. All wizards sentenced to death are allowed to speak, even the most heinous of criminals, speaking the foulest words ever imaginable, are allowed an uninterrupted and free final speech before their departure.
Padrict was thinking well about how to speak.
“I fear I may have opened Pandora’s Box,” he finally began. “In seeing the future, I may have irreversibly changed the world — the universe — as we knew it. I do not know the extent of calamity that my spell has wrought. But I want to leave you all with a warning.
“I have had visions of the future; some clear and some vague. Ever since I completed the ritual, I have seen many things become reality. My most vivid one, my sentencing to death, has now become reality. I believe observing the future does not mean a glimpse of a possibility, but the act of collapsing the probabilities of multiple destinies, or worlds, into a single outcome. It is the act of glimpsing, that seals one’s fate.
“Anyone with the barest of knowledge in quantum mechanics should understand what I mean.
“I have sealed my fate when I completed the ritual, and I fear I could’ve done the same to every person I encountered on my way to this certain future. But my visions did not end only with the end of my life, I have seen the future of many people and the world as a whole. And in doing so, I must have changed the future of the world… or sealed it completely.
“I fear I have destroyed Free Will, entirely.”
The Cupula was silent. Either because we were all waiting for Padrict to finish or because we simply could not believe the reality that was presented to us. Maybe it was both. Whatever the reason, we were simply left speechless.
“I do not know the full consequences of my action. And if all I say is true, then death is a punishment that has fallen infinitely short of what I truly deserve. The real crime I committed is not the breaking of the Law, but the condemnation of all that live to certain fate.
“If anything were to happen to you, if an evil were to befall you or your loved ones, I will be entirely to blame.”
Another moment of silence.
“This is my warning. But, most of all, this is my plead for forgiveness.
“I am truly sorry. For what I have caused and that I will never be able to pay for what I have set upon you all. Please, forgive me.”
Padrict fell to his knees and clasped his hands, held out high. His face was hidden beneath his arms to hide his shame. He could not let himself see the people he had wronged in their eyes when he had asked to be forgiven for a pain that can never be mended.
Could we forgive Padrict? If he had truly doomed us to our fate, to all the bad things that will happen to us, was it possible to look past it and forgive his soul?
And even if we, in his presence, would, what of the rest of the world? How would that bring peace to him as he is set off to the ultimate, irreversible end? The End that only now had become rivaled by Fate in the same terms. Death was certain; now, Fate was certain too.
What would it mean for mortals when our greatest trump card against the preternatural was taken away from us? Would it change everything? Or would no one ever notice? Is our world going to be different? Or would it be exactly the same as it ever was, with only the Almighty, the omniscient, knowing the real truth of our world?
We believed Free Will to be real, as it was told to us by the spiritual world that surrounds us. But would we be able to distinguish the before and after? Or is the nature of Free Will to make us unable to distinguish between its possession and a lack thereof?
I do not believe we will be able to find this answer.
And Padrict will forever become the secret Patron of Fate.
While I mulled over the philosophical, the Arch Wizards all stood up to surround him in a circle. With their simple presence, the Arch Wizards had created and closed a circle of magic, sealing all spells from escaping and taking hold of the world from within it.
Even with a death wish, Padrict will not be able to do anything to anyone, no matter how strong.
This was his Execution. All that was left was to remove his soul from his body.
“I forgive you,” I said aloud, hoping my words would give him only a bit of comfort before his death.
“I forgive you, too,” doubled Misa.
Soon, Martin echoed the same response.
For what is worth, if Padrict had doomed us to our painful fate, he had also blessed us to our beautiful and most joyful fates too.
Shkadaur and Tedet did not say anything.
“And, so, I forgive you as well, child,” S.A.W. Ravan bid him farewell.
The Arch Wizards began by hummin, one after the other, clockwise, clasping their hands flat against each other, like a vice, resembling prayer. Once the last wizard prayed with a hum, the real spell began.
“Iudicavimus vitam,” they recited in unison. “Deus iudicabit mortem.”
We have judged life; God will judge death.
Padrict’s prostrating and pleading pose slowly slumped. His hands, still clasping each other, fell to the floor; his head, hit the floor in a thud.
It was instantaneous. One moment he was alive, the other he was dead. There has never been a more humane death. The spell that was developed over centuries culminated into what it is today. Wizards were not judges of how a man should die, only that they are deserving of death. Once a person dies, it is the jurisdiction of the Almighty to give appropriate judgment and retribution from that soul.
I was never a fan of deciding whether a man ought to die or not, but the Cabal was always as conceited and entitled to decide such a fate.
This was, sadly, the kind of world we lived in, and I hated to accept it, but there was simply nothing I could do to stop it. Or even an alternative to what we possessed.
“Bury this man in the White Catacombs,” ordered the Merlin.
Murmurs, rejoice, and outrage, all at the same it.
“He was a Wizard with great impact,” the Merlin shut all sound with his speech. “For better or for worse, he deserves this much courtesy.”