Chapter 16

Michael looked completely unsurprised to see Megan standing there. He stepped free of the pile of books with ease and straightened his robes. He walked with his usual confident grace, one hand held on the scabbard of his sword. It would have been a very threatening image if Megan wasn’t totally confident that he wouldn’t dare attack her.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, still too flustered to truly comprehend what was going on. “I thought you’d be outside the city with everyone else, or maybe-”

She swallowed nervously as she dropped the thought where it lay. That fear had no place in the moment, especially since it clearly wasn’t true. Michael hadn’t fallen in the attack after all. Maybe he’d been turned? She could feel her heart miss a few beats as the thought occurred to her, and she was tempted to take a step back. She didn’t, because she knew it would make no difference.

“I’m working to undermine the Infernals,” he said. He said it as plainly as was possible as if he was stating his intentions for dinner. “Damien wants to stop them as well, so we teamed up.”

I find that hard to believe. The thought had come from Alice, and Megan repeated it aloud without quite meaning to. Then, as if to cover the awkward silence, she added, “Of Damien, I mean. Alice says he’s Verran’s right-hand man.”

Michael nodded, making no attempt to disagree or deny it. “He was indeed. But that’s the keyword. He’s switched sides.”

Alice’s doubt was all too obvious. Megan, in an attempt to try and catch up, assumed a doubtful expression herself. “I’m not convinced. Tell him to find another ally, and let’s get out of Milagre. This isn’t our fight.”

“It might not be your fight,” Michael shot back, a slightly icy tone to his words. He gave her a meaningful look. “But this is my home, and I’m going to fight for it.”

Megan could understand what he was getting at right away, and it made her angry. He was implying that because she wasn’t born in this world, she didn’t really care about it. Perhaps he thought she only remained in Ahya because it was more interesting than Earth. While that last bit was perfectly true, she still felt insulted. Did he really think so little about her? In her anger, she took several steps forward until they were nearly face to face and jabbed him in the chest with one finger.

“Don’t you dare try and tell me I don’t care,” she growled. His eyes widened slightly, and now he was the one who looked as though he wanted to back away. Not that he could, being right against the edge of the pile of books. “I care just as much as you, and I’m not going to let those bastards get away with this!”

His entire body relaxed slightly, and a smirk formed on his face. But it wasn’t his usual cocky, superior expression. This was one she hardly ever saw, and it meant that he was extremely pleased about something. It was that smile that had originally attracted her. It never failed to send a shiver down her spine and warm her heart. Confusion replaced her anger, and she took a step back, perplexed.

“You knew that I already wanted to undo this, didn’t you?”

He let out a derisive snort of laughter. “As if you could possibly think of allying with someone who attacks Milagre.”

She half turned away, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. All the while, she was checking their surroundings to make absolutely sure they were alone. “You never know; I could be planning to go back to Earth.”

He shook his head slowly, that attractive smirk still in place. “You’re not a coward, Megan. I knew that you’d still be in the city and that you’d still want to save Milagre. I just had to wait until I saw either you or Alice.”

“So you waited in the library,” Megan said, putting her hands on her hips. “Because I’m such a nerd that, of course, I’d come here.”

He blinked in confusion, and she realized that she’d sounded like an outsider again. The word ‘nerd’ didn’t exist in Ahya. “Actually, no. Damien wanted to catch up on what’s happened in the material plane since he last lived here. As you can imagine, news hardly ever reaches the Infernal Plane.”

“His first action when crossing the boundary was to read?” That question came from Alice, and Megan spoke it for her.

Michael let out another snort of laughter. “Damien says that shouldn’t come as a surprise to Alice.”

In the back of her mind, Alice was shocked and perhaps a bit speechless. Now that was a rare occurrence, Megan thought. Very few things rendered the Infernal girl speechless. It also hinted at a shared history between the two of them, a history that, so far, she’d not bothered to share with her human companion. Strangely, it was this small bit of interplay that convinced her, above all else, that Michael was telling the truth. Furthermore, it seemed that his and Damien’s bond was legitimate.

“Michael,” she said, her voice quiet. Now that she was sure there was no threat of danger, she finally allowed herself to relax. “I was so worried about you.”

Michael, too softened at her words and offered her a shy sort of grin. “Thanks, but you know I can take care of myself.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

They embraced then, relishing in the company of the other. Megan pushed away Alice’s disgust and complaints about the touchy-feely moment and simply breathed Michael in. Only when Michael loosened his grip did she allow him to pull away, hastily wiping away the tears that had formed in her eyes. Clearing her throat awkwardly, she glanced back at the door to the library, grateful that she’d thought to close it behind her. “So. What’s the plan, then?”

Michael had an answer for her right away. “We need to master Infernal magicks.”

Now it was her turn to laugh. “That’ll take years. We simply don’t have enough time.”

“We will if we go to the Infernal Plane,” he countered. Then, at her look of blank shock, he grinned again. “What, you didn’t think of that? Surely Alice would have told you by now that time works differently there.”

Megan nodded. “I knew that, I just didn’t know that we could go there. Isn’t there a seal that stops people from crossing into it?”

“Ancient magic might be powerful,” Michael reasoned, “But even Grimr couldn’t seal both sides of the Infernal Isles. It’s much easier to get in than it is to get out.”

“Okay, but do you even know how to jump between planes?” Megan asked, glancing for the door again. “I mean, I know how to get into the Ethereal Plane, but I was never taught how to go anywhere else.”

He looked slightly puzzled, and she rolled her eyes. Of course, he didn’t know. It was not a good time for his impulsiveness to rear its head again, she thought. But then he surprised her again with his reply. “You know that the Infernal Isles aren’t part of another plane, right? It’s part of Ahya.”

“What do you mean? It’s called the Infernal Plane, Michael. Of course, it’s another plane and not part of Ahya itself.”

He reached into the pouch at his belt and pulled out a furled roll of parchment. He unfurled it to reveal a map of Ahya, but not the map she was used to. There were three other major land groups shown there. There was Ahya as she knew it, the Infernal Isles, the Divine Isles, and another unlabeled continent. She could tell that, if it were all put on a globe, Tyrman would be roughly the size of Europe in the real world, and the continents known to the public would only account for about a third of the total landmass of the world.

“Wow,” she said softly. “It really is just there. Just super far to the east.”

“Or the west,” he offered. “Whichever way you want, really. That’s the trick they never tell you about teleportation. You have to know where you’re going. If you don’t know that the Infernal Isles existed, you can’t go there with teleportation. And storms exist on the very edges of the known world that stop ships from getting out.”

She scoffed at the idea that the Ancients had chosen to keep this a secret from the rest of the world. But, she reasoned, they must have had a good reason to do it. Nothing they did was inherently good or evil. She’d learned that the hard way. They did whatever was necessary to stay true to their purpose, nothing more and nothing less. But the secret was out now, and she knew it. If there really was a way to travel to the Infernal Isles, that meant that she wouldn’t really be breaking any rules in doing so.

“Alright,” she said decisively. “Let’s go there, and practice.”

-

Far to the east, four figures stood at the top of the tallest peak in the Estavor Mountain Range, staring down at the plains and the forest below them. It was an important place for three of them, as it was where Samuel had gone to meet Arcana for the first time. Shigeru and Grimr remembered the spot as well, as they’d helped him complete that part of his life’s journey. It was a place of little significance, however, for the tall man with the tattered robes and scythe. The God of Dragons had his own reasons for watching these mountains, but not this particular peak.

“So,” Grimr said, breaking the silence for the first time in many hours. “Will you tell them that you’re still alive?”

Samuel took a few minutes to consider the question, as well as his reaction to it. “Well, in reality, I’m not alive. My body was destroyed.”

“But you have three others to use when you need them.”

The mage nodded his acceptance of that point. Once again, he thanked his moment of foresight some two hundred years back to copy himself via magic, creating three clones that wandered the world in his place, gathering information and checking on the things that needed to be checked on. “Very true. But I don’t think I want them knowing that I have that option, or else they’d target them first.”

He’d come to think of the simulacrums as their own beings rather than extensions of himself and so valued their lives. Except, of course, when he needed to take over one of them immediately. It was a handy tactic, seeing as how his original form had been made of nothing but Arcana’s mana. Since that was his own mana now, it was easy as breathing to assume control over anything else created with that same energy.

“That is a wise choice,” Shigeru commented, shifting his sitting position to peer closer at something below them. A large file of armed figures was marching from the border of the forest. “It seems they are attempting to take the city again.”

“Though they have no hope,” Grimr said sourly. “With centuries of no Infernals, the mortals have forgotten what their magic is and therefore cannot counter it.”

“Still,” Shigeru said, sounding doubtful. “It is important for them to fight. If they stop fighting, it is the same as surrendering.”

“I suppose there’s a lesson in that for me to learn,” Grimr scoffed. “Luckily for me, there is one person that’s stepped a bit too far over the line, allowing me to act.”

“Ah, yes,” Bora Bora said snidely, his lip curling in distaste. “That poor Archmage. He has no idea what’s coming to him.”

“I can’t believe he’d use chaos in such a way,” Samuel said, affecting a shudder. “I understand stopping a potential enemy from learning your plans, but to afflict that on someone’s mind, trapping them in a nightmare of their own making?”

“It’s a good thing Haere found him,” Shigeru said. “Now he can begin the long road to recovery.”

They all stood now, sensing that the meeting, brief as the conversation had been, was at an end. The God of War let out a long sigh. “I will wait patiently. If need be, I can send in my Champion. Else, my hands are tied.”

“As are mine,” Grimr agreed. “Except for Averin, that is.”

“I’ll fetch the weapon I need to re-capture Menikos,” Samuel said. “I can achieve that while remaining hidden.”

Bora Bora was paying them only the slightest attention, too busy focusing on something deep within the mountain. It was Shigeru who spoke the thought they all shared, the trouble they all felt. “This will be a hard month. We must do what we can to save Ahya from the chaos that is coming.”