This is what he was supposed to be.

Stilas flicked the tooth out and shot a blast of magic at Kark. He was beginning to feel the effects of using too much magic, but he didn’t care. He had one focus, one goal. To drain Kark. There was nothing left for him to do. Killing was what he was good at. Death followed him like a shadow. It was time he embraced it.

Kark blocked the blast with a wave of his staff, sending it into the ground. The Elder began to close the gap between them.

“You don’t have to do this.” Kark said, “You don’t have to help them.”

Stilas motioned at the sky. Cruisers were beginning to break through the atmosphere. In a few minutes, thousands of Dark Legion troops would pour out of those ships and swarm across the planet. He shook his head. Events had been set into motion. He could run, he could wait it out, but nothing could stand against the tide that had been started.

“You see those ships?” Stilas pointed at the sky, “Those are my ships. They are here because of me.” He smirked at the red-haired Elder, “So I really do have to do this.”

“I tried,” Kark muttered as he broke into a dead run.

Stilas began rapidly firing magic blasts out of the tooth. One of the twenty shots was certain to hit the young Mage. If Kark hadn’t been so fast.

Kark twisted back around, ducking under the barrage. Allowing him to set his feet free of oncoming magic.

Stilas turned to his right. By the time he locked on to Kark, offensive spells were the last thing on his mind. The arctic air flowing out of Kark’s staff was. He didn’t have time to move. The blast was too big, it was moving too fast.

Stilas made sure the tooth was pointing at the arctic gale, “CONTEGO EX VULNERO!”

The icy air hit the shield and curled around it. Ice began to form around the shield, encasing him in a tomb of ice. The colder it got, the more the shield shrank.

Stilas’ ears popped as the air pressure increased. His lips were already blue and his teeth were chattering involuntarily. The temperature was too cold inside his shield. He would freeze to death if this kept up for much longer.

Stilas rubbed the frost off of his shield with the back of his sleeve. Kark had stopped his arctic attack and was looking at him.

“You don’t have to fight!” Kark’s voice was muffled through all of the ice.

Stilas gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to be saved. Least of all by someone who had so much power so young. Kark didn’t understand what it had been like for him. The Elder didn’t understand that fighting was all he had left.

Stilas searched his stolen memories and found the spell he wanted. Using portal to move from place to place was something that young mages were required to do because they didn’t have the magic reserves or focus that was required to cast the projection spell. Thanks to Demetrius, Stilas now had the spell and the reserves. He had always had the will, but he had never had the power to back up his desire. Now was a good time to push the limits.

Stilas picked the spot right behind Kark. The Elder wouldn’t be able to defend against a surprise close range attack. He clenched the tooth tightly in his hand. It would make the perfect weapon.

Stilas closed his eyes and activated the spell. He didn’t have to speak. Demetrius had moved past that level of magic. Spells were just willpower. Not fancy motions and words. The words didn’t have to be said out loud. The motions and the words were just like the tooth that he held in his hand. Tools to help the Mage focus on the spell. None of that was needed. Only the will to focus.

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Stilas felt his essence rush forward. His elation was short lived. He bounced off of the ice and fell on his rear. There was barely enough room for him to sit down now. The ice had almost completely encroached on him.

Stilas pounded on the barrier. Touching the ice instantly numbed his hand but he didn’t care. His spell should’ve worked! He should’ve been absorbing Kark’s magic right now!

“Projection won’t work.” Kark placed the tip of his staff on the ice barrier.

“I’m going to kill you!” Stilas banged on the barrier, “Let me out of here!”

Kark’s hand began glowing white. The light flowed into the staff, changing its glow to a soft blue as it did. When it reached the ice it began running all over the tomb. Cracking it as if went.

Stilas hand to keep both of his elbows at his side as he palmed the shield. He could feel the magic behind the spell, but he had no idea what was about to happen. He reached for his dark magic and turned the shield black. He didn’t want to find out.

The ice shattered into millions of tiny shards. Stilas shield shattered with it. Every one of those ice shards fell inward, slicing Stilas with little cuts all over. He covered his eyes with both of his hands as the ice shards left thousands of paper cuts all over his body. His jeans and shirt were peppered with holes. Blood began oozing out of the tiny cuts, mixing with the melting ice.

Stilas peeled his hands away from his eyes and was promptly struck across the face by Kark’s staff.

“I offered to help you.” Kark stood over Stilas, “You’re still going to help me.”

Stilas spit out the blood that was filling his mouth, “I won’t tell you anything!”

Stilas swung the tooth over. Kark was close enough. He could stab him, then he could drain the Elder. If he could absorb Kark’s magic, then he could heal all of the burning cuts that he had.

Kark caught his arm and spun the tooth around, lodging it in Stilas’ gut. Stilas screamed in pain as Kark push him over.

“You know about these ships?” Kark tapped Stilas on the shoulder, “Which Dark Master commands them?”

Stilas bit his lip. He was bleeding out. There wasn’t much he could do about a wound like that. If he had time, then he could heal it with magic, but he didn’t think Kark would oblige him.

Kark grabbed Stilas’ hair, “Talk!”

Kark shoved Stilas into the ground. The Dark Mage spit dirt out of his mouth. His stomach was burning now. Every time he moved the tooth was working its way deeper into his body. He wanted to pull it out, but he would pass out, then Kark would kill him.

Kark lifted his staff.

“It was Demetrius!” Stilas wheezed.

Kark slowly lowered his staff, “Do the Dark Master’s know where Atlantis is?”

Stilas shook his head. The motion made him sick, but he kept himself from vomiting. “No, He was keeping that for himself. So he could take credit for conquering it.”

Kark nodded, “Who do they answer to now?”

Stilas grinned, “Me.”

“Ha!” Kark scoffed, “You aren’t a Dark Master.” He leaned in close, “Who do they answer to?”

“If a Dark Master Falls, all of their possessions revert to the Dark Lord,” Stilas said

“Who is the Dark Lord?” Kark demanded, “Give me a name!”

Stilas turned his head away.

Kark smacked Stilas in the stomach. The pain drew a scream out of him.

“Tell me his name!”

“I don’t know!” Stilas wailed. He couldn’t keep the tears back anymore. It hurt too badly. He had failed. This was the end for him.

“You don’t know or you don’t want to tell me?” Kark lifted his staff again, “Who is it!?”

“We don’t know his name!” Stilas glared up at Kark. He wanted to kill the Elf so badly, he could taste it. “All we know is he is a WereCheetah!”

Kark took a step back. Across the lawn there was a WereCheetah holding Alex by the throat. Andrew was staring them down. Fear rolled off of the young Mage as he realized Demetrius hadn’t been the only Dark Mage that was an Elder.

Stilas turned around to look at Feletis. He smiled. “You’ve lost.” Stilas threw his head back and began laughing. With Feletis at their helm, the Dark Legion was going to crush the human resistance. With all of the humans added to the Dark Legion ranks, they would conquer the Universe in less than a year.

“We’ve beat you. We’ve finally beat you!”

Kark twirled his staff above his head. As he did it transformed into a silver blade. The blade caught fire as the Elder brought it down and rammed it through Stilas’ heart.

Stilas choked as the fire began to spread over his clothes. Even though he was on fire, he was getting cold. He had killed thousands, but he had never thought about what it would feel like to actually die himself. The last thought that ran through his mind was that he wasn’t going to see Bethany on the other side. He was going somewhere else.