Chapter Chapter Seventeen

I wake up stiff and still tired. What has woken me is people yelling. I slowly stand up and see the room is flashing red. That isn’t good. The hallway is flashing red as well. It means there is a huge problem with a patient, or we’re under attack. I haven’t gained my full strength back, but I’ll be strong enough to help.

The door is already ajar since we’re in emergency status, made for easy evacuation. I see people running down the hall. My legs are trembling as I stumble down the hallway. I’m still soaked so I haven’t been asleep long. Everywhere I look I see red. I’m heading towards the voices that are yelling. I hear metal on metal and people screaming in agony.

I round the corner and see a brawl as the Water God’s are fighting invaders trying to fight their way in. How did they get through the portal doors? I hear people scream as a brimstone ball of fire breaks through the crowd. I quickly duck, avoiding the ball just in time. I look behind me and see the stone melting. That was close and that would explain it.

I use the water in the hallway and picture a mighty river as it slowly raises. “Morticious!” I yell as the water turns purple as I picture it washing them away to a frozen mountain side. Water shoots out behind me as I aim at who I want to be taken away, water weaving around the stunned Water God’s and directly hitting Gstalt’s men and Morticious. Lightning ripples through my magic as I picture a storm brewing inside of it, electrocuting and killing everything it touches below its power level. It’ll stun the Banishee at a minimum. I cannot put a lot of strength into my lightning spell since a good amount of my energy will be going to transport them.

People scream as the water pushes them out, surrounding all it comes in contact with. The second I feel the water hit Gstalt I release the transportation spell. The Water God’s close the gate and seal it with their magic as I drop to my knees, unable to keep my balance anymore.

“Callia!” I hear Allie yell as she races towards me.

I wave her off, “Treat the wounded. I’ll help when I can.” She nods and runs off to treat the wounded. I’m exhausted at this point. The walls have stopped flashing red and are now pulsing orange. Healers are racing behind me to treat those who are injured. There are several bodies on the floor, all ours since I washed the corpses, or injured, of Gstalt’s men out as well. We cannot have soldiers of the dead running around in here. They get to work on healing the injured while several others are wheeled out on watered gurneys to receive proper burial.

After a few minutes I try to stand. I lean against the wall, but I manage. I’m not sure how to walk though. Transferring Morticious took more energy than I had planned. I’m still not at my magical limit but I nearly am with my body.

“Come on,” Someone huffs as he puts his arm around my waist and moves to support most of my weight.

I look over and smile. “Alaric, you’re okay.”

He nods as he gets us moving. “Barely.”

“How?” I breathe, he’s moving me towards Allie. Probably to get looked at. I’m fine, just really worn out.

He chuckles. “Garth actually. You taught both of us, remember?” He sits me against the wall next to Allie as she’s taking a break. She begins checking me as he sits next to me. “He’s a hell of a guy with the right motivation.”

Allie nods. “If you’re talking about Garth, I second that.”

“Where is he anyway?” I ask as I look around. I don’t see him.

“Garth is resting. He’s not as strong as you, and he broke both of Gstalt’s disabling spells. That’s impressive within itself.”

“Both?” I ask as I raise my eyebrow at her.

She nods as she moves the hair from her face. “Garth broke the disabling spell Gstalt had on you by transferring it to Mary. After he broke the spell off Mary and Alaric, Marok and I got to work on clearing Alaric from Black Magic Poisoning. After we did that we went to go to the Elders to open the portal so we can try to find you. They refused to since it was unclear if you were alive or with Gstalt at that point.

“Garth became extremely upset and gave them a pretty impressive lecture about the sacrifices you’ve made for them; and the least they can do is send out a search party. Especially if it’s all volunteer. They said they wouldn’t risk the lives of their citizens on a maybe she got away scenario. That’s when Alaric had an idea.”

Alaric takes over at that point. “I asked Arin to see if he can find you with one of his tracking spells. Arin found you, but thought you were dead since the tracking ball used to find you kept reporting your eyes were closed. Arin looked through the ball to be sure. However, that is likely the second you opened your eyes, which confirmed you were alive, and the Elders granted us permission to open their gates or whatever.”

Allie nods. “Mary, Penny, and I distracted Gstalt and his men, with several other Water Gods. Garth used his magic to track and find you. Once you were located-great hiding place by the way-he brought you back here. Once you were in we closed the gates.

“However, about thirty minutes after we healed you that Banishee managed to break down the gates and bring all that Hell you walked in on. You weren’t kidding or delirious. That is a Banishee for sure, and he’s the strongest I’ve heard about.”

I nod. “Same here. I haven’t heard of one this strong. It must be because he’s a Lava God Spirit.”

“What is his name? Maybe Marok can find information on him.” Allie suggested. “If he is a Banishee, we should have records.”

“But aren’t the Lava Gods the only ones with access to those records?” I ask as I hear people being wheeled away.

Her answer is cut off by a sudden shout, “Callia!” The voice echoes down the hall, making all three of us sit up.

Alaric rest against the wall. “It’s just Garth.” I roll my eyes and touch the water, allowing it to glow lilac so he can find us.

Allie frowns at me. “You shouldn’t do that. You’ve barely have enough strength to stay awake.”

Alaric cocks his head. “I can feel her power when I touch her, she’s still nowhere near depleted enough to exhaust her magic.”

I laugh while Allie shakes her head. “How much do you know about magic?” Allie asks as Garth rounds the corner. Relief washes over him as he takes me in. I stop the spell, allowing the water to return to a clear turquoise blue.

Alaric’s neck goes a little red. “Enough. I do have it don’t I?”

I shake my head. “That doesn’t mean you’ve been taught the right laws.” Garth sits across from me as I keep talking. “Your body contains two energy sources. Your magical energy and physical energy. When you use your magic, your physical energy is also drained. Even to change a color of a stone uses your physical energy as well as your magical energy.”

“I know that!” He snaps.

I ignore it, but Allie jumps in. “Then you know using an extraordinary amount of magic is the equivalent of running for three hours without stopping.” The look he gives her makes it cleared she floored him with that fact. “You can only use your magic if you have physical energy as well. If you deplete your magical energy before your physical energy nothing happens. However, if you use up the entire energy well your body has, the consequences can be dire, including death.”

I nod. “Exactly. So even though my magical level is well beyond its limits, my body is not, however. I’ve used so much magic in these last few days, including transporting myself, Garth, and Arin here. My body has not had much time to recover so it’s reaching exhaustion.”

“I’d say you already reached it.” Allie nudges me slightly as I smile.

“Then how come that Banishee keeps coming? It doesn’t look tired at all.” Alaric asks as Garth cocks his head.

“That’s a little different. A Banishee is a banished Spirit,” I begin. Garth sits up straighter, seeming to gain interest. “Meaning he’s not in a typical, physical mortal body. This is the body he was given when he was summoned into the mortal world, meaning it is magically created. His body uses physical energy at half of the rate we do. What I just did to him to get him out of here, would be half the energy spent that I used.”

“Great. So he’s basically invincible. I mean he’s as strong as you.” Alaric slumps on the wall in defeat.

I shake my head. “I’m magically stronger. It rivals my level, but he’s barely even half. His body will outlast mine however, which is where the problem lies.”

“What about Gstalt?” Garth jumps in, looking as if he’s calculating something. “I felt him while I was out there. His magic strength isn’t as high as a God, so why can’t Allie or Mary, or any of them beat him?”

A small smile forms as I try not to laugh. “Because his magic is dark magic. Since the color of his magic is black it’s a little different than even mine. His magic can absorb all magic and draw strength from that power it just absorbed. Meaning that his strength can actually grow from the magic he absorbs, essentially leaving his power limitless. Especially since he can take energy from life around him. Since life is everywhere, he’s almost invincible.”

“Are you kidding me?” Garth and Alaric demand. “So we’re still screwed?”

I shake my head. “A hundred years ago Gstalt had much power as I had. Now look at him.”

The boys suck in their breath as Allie shudders. “Horrible times. Callia was the only one that even figured out how to defeat him. It cost her, her life.”

I shake my head back and forth as I think about it. “Not necessarily. The plan is what cost that price, and only because someone ran away.” I sigh. I’d punch Mako if I could. “There are now more options to defeat Gstalt, but his magic has to be removed if we’re to stop a repeat of this in the future.”

“How do we do that?” Garth asks.

I wave him off. “I’m working on that, and I’ll handle it when the time comes.” Allie gives me a pained look, leaving the boys confused. I move on before any of them can comment. “However, this just got leagues more complicated with that infuriating Banishee involved.”

“How did he get involved? You said he was summoned here.” Alaric leans in as Arin, Penny, and Mary join us.

I nod. “He was. It takes about a century and a half to summon them.” I smack my forehead as realization hits. “That explains how Gstalt’s power grew so fast.”

“And why he revived you,” Allie gasps.

I explain before they can ask. “This is my best guess on how the Banishee got involved. It’s a long explanation so bear with me. When Gstalt was a boy, he was incredibly powerful. So powerful that he was supposed to be taught his magic by the Gods, like I was. However, all the Spirits rejected any form of teachings to him. They gave numerous reasons on why they rejected him, but none of them consistent. Mary and I still both tried to befriend him since he was the sweetest kid we had ever met. However, since we were forbidden to teach him any part of our lessons he wanted little to do with us. What he only seemed to want to do with us was fight, using magic.

“Mary and I began growing up and Gstalt moved on. He’d occasionally pop up to challenge me as I traveled from one God City to another, learning their magic since I wasn’t limited to one source. I thought it was his way to keep in touch with someone he perceived as a rival. I was wrong. He wanted to beat me. To destroy me. I didn’t figure that out until much later.”

I know what part is coming next. I grab Penny’s hand and give it a quick warning squeeze. “About fifty years before the battle that ended my life, I was traveling with Penny. We were on our way to see our friend in the Lava God City.” Penny flinches as she remembers this story. “We were still very young, and still learning. Gstalt appeared in our camp early one morning. It was hot so we were taking our time on leaving; or else we would have been on the road. I was off bathing in a nearby stream, Penny was making breakfast and practicing magic.

“While Penny was distracted making breakfast Gstalt ambushed and attacked her. I was just coming back from taking a bath in the stream when I heard Penny’s scream. I raced towards the camp to find Gstalt with a knife to Penny’s throat, blood on the blade and her throat.”

I squeeze Penny’s hand as she touches a faint scar on her throat. “’What are you doing?’ I yelled at him as I shoved him off of her. I took the towel from my hair and wrapped it around her throat to stop her from bleeding.

“He started laughing, almost like a senile old man, while I healed Penny. “Getting my revenge.” Gstalt attacked me just then with a power I had never felt before. I was used to his magic being red, but I had never seen him with black magic before. I had never even seen black magic before, except for in books. I was stunned, unable to breathe or to focus as I just laid there, feeling the strength of his power. It was almost as if overnight he had matched my power level. I didn’t think it possible.

“He came over and tried to slit my throat as I laid there paralyzed as fear and despair raked over me. As soon as I felt the blade against my throat instinct kicked in and I used my magic to send him sailing through the air, to get him far away from me. I wasn’t expecting my energy to leave me like that. It had more than doubled what I usually use. I grabbed Penny and we both took off running.

“Gstalt kept coming back after that. Every time I left a city he was there. He went on a rampage, killing God’s whenever he crossed them. His power would seem to grow as he sucked the life out of his victims. It was years later when we learned that it was temporary. The only one he couldn’t beat was me and it drove him mad. I mostly survived by running at first. Then I figured out how to beat his magic, which is why he hates me now.”

“What has this got to do with that Banishee?” Alaric demands.

“I’m getting to that.” I sigh. “I’m giving you a back story here first. Anyway, Gstalt had to have been so angry and enraged that he managed to attract a God of Darkness to him. What attracts a God of Darkness to you is negative emotions and power. It’ll bring its victim to the realm it resides in, and usually sucks the victims magic and emotions out of their body before killing the victim.

“Somehow, instead of being killed by the God of Darkness, Gstalt must have managed to get the God to give up his magic to him. It seems highly improbable since the God would have to go against every, and I mean every, dark Spirit to give his powers up to Gstalt.”

“A God can do that?” Arin asks. “Give up their power I mean.”

I nod. “A God of Darkness can since there can only be one. Usually the Spirits will choose who is to take their place once the God is ready to pass. That’s normally okay since it’s forbidden to go against the Spirits, especially the dark ones. The magic is so dangerous that the God of Darkness lives away from this realm. To prevent this kind of thing from happening.

“Now, normally, a mere Demigod cannot handle magic given from a God. It’s too powerful for their body to adapt to. There are circumstances where that isn’t the case. Someone like me and Gstalt for example. He would have had the strength to maintain a God of Darkness power level. However, Gstalt wouldn’t have had the strength to maintain my power level, unless he had the help of a Banishee.” I say this last part as more pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

Mary gasps. “You’re right. It makes sense now.”

“What does?” Arin demands, looking annoyed.

I sigh, feeling a bit more relaxed as that annoying question finally fell into place for me. “Normally, Gstalt wouldn’t have been able to live with that much dark magic inside of him. A mortal body cannot adapt to that much of a power change. Now, if Gstalt had help from the other side, by let’s say, a banished spirit it would be possible. The Banishee could filter the magic through itself then through Gstalt, so his body doesn’t succumb to the darkness and die.”

“How does this explain the Banishee?” Alaric demands.

“Boys,” The girls sigh as I roll my eyes.

“They really did cut off schooling you guys,” I say as I sit up. “A Banishee lives in a sub realm. Away from the Spirits, but away from us as well. They can cross between realms, but not mortal or spiritual. As I stated, a God of Darkness doesn’t live in our realm so a Banishee can cross into their realm.

“As I previously stated Gstalt was so angry and enraged that the God of Darkness brought Gstalt to his realm. One where a Banishee might visit. If Morticious stumbled upon Gstalt while in that realm that explains how they met, and how Gstalt survived the God of Darkness. Also, if Gstalt made a deal with that Banishee to use his power, it explains how he had my power level before.”

Mary nods. “And why they were so desperate to revive you.”

I smile. “Well that explains that. I wasn’t only draining Gstalt, I was also draining the Banishee.”

“No wonder it killed you.” Allie laughs then stops as soon as a thought hits her. She shoots me another pained look.

“How did the Banishee get here?” Garth demands.

“You really got to go to school.” Mary sighs.

I interrupt before he can shout anything back at her. “A Banishee is brought to this world with magical sacrifice and much more. Mary told me that Gstalt has been taking all magical folk that are strong and taking them. What he’s doing is taking the strongest of the strong and taking them to that other realm, allowing the Banishee to drain them of their physical and magical energy. They need enough saved up to allow the Banishee to cross between the realms like a Spirit or a God of Darkness. They also need enough blood from every Elemental God race. Also, the life of someone who Gstalt has shared magic with. Arwen.”

“Also, one really big key.” Allie breathes.

I nod as I bow my head. I glance at Garth as I say this. “The death of a rival, and their first born.”

Garth looks confused. “But you don’t have any…” he trails off once he understands. Pain erupts on his face. “My father and grandfather?”

I nod as I breathe my next word, “Yes.”

It falls silent just then, giving him time to process this. “Is there more you have to do?”

I nod, “Yes, but it’s different each time around.”

“Each time?” Alaric asks. “When did this last happen?”

“About five thousand years ago.” Mary answers. “And it was a Wind God that kicked it’s butt.”

“More like lasted a minute longer.” Penny laughs.

“How did he beat it?” Garth demands.

“It’s different each time Garth.” Allie breathes. “It depends on the strength and circumstances. This one is particularly strong because it’s a Lava Spirit. Also, because Gstalt is with it. It’s going to be hard to separate them.”

“I agree.” I say as I slouch against the wall. “Since Gstalt appears to be relying on the Banishee’s magic, he won’t go far.”

“I noticed Gstalt’s strength was significantly lower than the last time we met.” Mary hints.

I blush as I nod. “Oh I know. Hopefully, he’ll be manageable now.”

“He better be,” Mary huffs. “That Banishee came out of nowhere. One second we’re only fighting Gstalt and then the next he was there. It was right when we were close to here as well.”

Allie and I glance at each other as the thought hit us. Once I stopped draining Gstalt, the Banishee had enough power to pass through to our realm. Well that’s not good.

The walls shakes just then, making us all look up. “We need to leave.” I breathe out. “We cannot stay here, or they’ll keep attacking the city.”

“How do we get out of here then?” Mary hisses.

“Running I guess.” Allie looks as the walls change to black. “The Elders have put the city on lock down. No one, short of Spirit, can get in or out.”

“Looks like we’ll have to talk to them. We still need to get to the Lava God City.” I try to stand but am still very shaky.

Penny stands and grins. “Hold it, before you go you might want this.” She hands me a clear green stone, the Earth Elemental Stone.

I raise my eyebrow. “How did you get this?”

She stands up broadly. “I’m the strongest Earth God in this land. I am Penny, hear me roar.” She makes a show of roaring while I laugh. She kisses my cheek and walks away with Mary in tow.