Chapter Chapter Twenty-Two

There is a high pitched sound and a plop in the water. Mary and I open our eyes as the others gasps. Shining brightly in the water is the silver magic filled Wind Stone. Mary picks it up, “I feel Mako when I touch this. It’s definitely the right stone.”

We hear the mountain shaking and a demonic scream. “Sounds like Morticious realized it too.” I say as I fling myself out of the water. “You better prepare to start draining Gstalt. We also need to get those filled stones; and mine, the one that holds Gstalt’s dark magic. Remember what Lee said.” The girls follow me out of the water, and we quickly change.

“What do we do Callia?” Mary asks as we start running outside.

We are running past people in the hallway; they are pushing themselves against the walls to avoid us. “Think of Gstalt. Think of his magic. Come,” I yell at Garth as I snag his arm as we keep running. Arin and Alaric are dragged with us by the other girls.

I continue with my instructions, “You’ll know you’re doing it right since a chant will start in your head. Start saying the chant together in unison around these stones. His magic will pour in. Remember to break the stones as soon as Gstalt is drained. That is what Lee said.”

We step out at the edge of the mountain. Fire fields are everywhere, and so is smoke. The smoke is so thick it appears to be filling the approaching clouds with greying skies. Red sand is blowing in the bridge as thousands of people are swarming the battlefield below. I see a brimstone red in the fields of fiery red. Morticious.

I stop everyone really quick. “Hold it.” I close my eyes and picture the stones from the day I died. The words are guided out of my mouth, though I have no clue what I’m saying until they’re out of my mouth. “I call upon the stones from my past. I ask for them to be here with me. Magic of ancestries past bring me the stones I have once touched. The ones I filled a hundred years past. I, Callia the Lilac Warrior, call onto their aide. Bring the stones.” I open my eyes and see the filled Elemental Stones I have used in the past, and my stone. They’re hovering above me in a circle.

I look back at the boys. “Protect the girls and those stones. Do not let anyone, Spirit, dead or living, touch those things.” I look at my girls. They give me a hard smile. “Smash them when you’re done.” I wink and start running down the mountainside.

I jump over bodies when I reach the ground. I hear men shouting as I race through soldiers with swords and magic at the ready. “I got this!” I yell as I push past them.

Smoke is in the air, and I hear evil cackling through the field of fighting Gods, “None can beat Morticious!”

Morticious is right in front of me as the soldier that was before me falls. “Let me have a shot!” I yell as I quickly jump over the body of the soldier he just knocked down; and was about to finish the job. I land a punch to his face, knocking him off his feet. I look behind me at the soldiers, my hair starting to blow wildly from the approaching storm. “You might want to run.”

The soldiers nod and start yelling orders to retreat while Morticious gets to his face. He grins, “Lady Callia, nice to see you’re alive.”

I fold my arms, trying to close myself off. “I want to talk to you.” I’m also trying to give the soldiers time to get off the battlefield.

He cackles darkly as he wipes the dirt from his pants. “Talk? Why would Morticious talk to you?”

“Because Morticious did not kill Midra,” I say simply as I grab my hair to keep it from blowing in my face.

That makes him stop and look me over in wild disbelief, “What?”

“Hiram framed you.” I glance behind me as I hear a thunderous boom. Black magic is going off in waves, being hit by fields of green. There are my boys. I look back at Morticious and find his jaw has dropped. “I saw it in a vision. He was talking to Markus and other Elemental Spirits about how you were banished due to Hiram framing Midra’s murder on you. What I want to know is why did he do that.”

Morticious quickly composes himself. He folds his arms as his thick black hair flies wildly free. “Hiram wants to control The Magic. This would allow him, and the other Elemental Spirits, to essentially control all magic to the mortal world. I made it clear I was against it. I confided my dilemma with Midra; and told her I was going to inform The Magic of Hiram’s plans. Hiram killed Midra while I was on my way to make contact with The Magic. Right when I was entering their world Hiram and the others ordered my banishment. I still tried to tell The Magic of Hiram’s plan, but they refused to listen. They believed I was making it up to get my revenge on Hiram.”

Morticious straightens. “I will get my revenge on Hiram and the others. In order to do that I have to kill the Gods. It’s nothing personal Callia. Now either let me steal your magic or get out of my way. If you don’t, I will be forced to kill you. Since you’re no longer draining Gstalt enough to keep me from crossing, there is no other reason to harm you.”

I give a wide stance. “Morticious let me handle the Spirits. I’ll get you reinstated as a Spirit. It’s not your fault what happened to Midra. You shouldn’t have been banished.”

“No, I shouldn’t have.” Morticious yells as he fires a fireball attack at me.

I quickly duck and look at him. “I can help. You need to listen to me. You’re going into something you cannot come back from.”

“I hit that point a long time ago.” He fires another attack.

I smack it away, picturing a fly swatter. I fire a magic attack at him. As he dodges, I fire the second, knocking him to his feet. I quickly picture ropes tying him to the ground. “You don’t have to do this Morticious. I will speak to The Magic. I will clear your name for Midra’s murder.”

Morticious glares at me. “You don’t understand, do you? I loved her! She was everything to me and Hiram killed her. I will get my revenge on him and the others.” He shoots another attack at me. It lands at my stomach and sends me sailing far. I lose my concentration on Morticious, releasing him.

I look up in enough time to see a massive fireball heading towards me. I fire back with my own giant ball as I try to roll out of the way. Our magic meets, sending a massive explosion. I cover my head as dust swooshes past me. Once it’s clear I groan, I don’t think he’s going to stop. I get to my feet and fire another attack at Morticious since he’s still covering his face.

Morticious goes flying several yards as I pull the stone from my chest. “Morticious, call it quits or you’re going to make me do something I don’t want to do.” That’s a lie, considering he’s killed several mortals for his revenge plot. However, I’d prefer he speak to The Magic about Hiram’s plans.

Morticious gets to his feet. “Lady, I’m never going to stop. Hiram will die.” He fires another attack, this one with a massive size.

I dodge it and hold up my five-piece stone. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I say as he gapes at it. He fires quickly at me. My body moves without my permission. I stick a finger out and touch the magic. It starts turning it into a little ball. I touch it to my layered stone. It sinks to the center of the colored stone. It starts pulsing.

Morticious screams as he moves to attack me. I leap out of the way and scream as I slam the stone into Morticious’s chest. My mouth moves as I feel like I’m being pushed out of my body. “Magic be taken from Morticious Alavar First Lava Spirit. Betrayal and murder is his crime. The Magic takes his power to be given to another.” He screams as he launches another attack.

I picture a wave of water as I launch it at him. He goes sailing backwards. Brimstone fire shoots through my water, slamming into me. I grunt as I land onto the hard ground. I quickly roll to dodge another attack. Once I stand, I picture a mirror and deflect another attack right at him. Morticious magic connects to him. His eyes widen as the fire burns him. He falls to the ground as he grabs at the new hole in his chest.

I walk over to him as he falls to his side. Each layer of the stone is now filled with his magic. Soon he stops moving and turns grey. I pick up the stone, his body crumbling under my hand. It feels like ash. “Well that was anticlimactic,” I say as I turn around to start walking towards the mountain.

A blue flash fills the area before me, blinding me momentarily. When my vision clears a blue ball is flying towards me. I don’t have time to react as it goes through me. I look at the hole in the middle of my torso and watch it seal itself back up. You wouldn’t even be able to tell it happened, except for the lilac blood on my middle and the tear in my shirt. I look back up and see the hole sealing itself, just barely catching a glimpse of the Spirit World I saw in my vision. What the-

At this point I return the now filled stone to my heart and start running back, terrified of them having another go. What just happened? It was so random that it doesn’t make any sense to me. All I know right now is that I am alive. I didn’t get this chance to finish the fight with Gstalt a hundred years ago. I will now.

Once I reach the top of the mountain the girls are still holding hands and chanting, their Elemental Stones changing to Gstalt’s magic instead of their own. Alaric is fighting a green orb while Arin and Garth are taking on Gstalt. I shoot a lilac attack at Gstalt, picturing an arrow. It lodges in his kneecap, making him scream and fall.

Gstalt starts seizing as Garth and Arin help Alaric without missing a beat. A silver orb pops up behind Mary. I shoot at it out of reflex with another lilac arrow. I hear a yelp as it disappears. Sensing a weakness, I do the same to the green orb as I walk and step on Gstalt. When it disappears, the boys turn and look at me wide eyed. After that surprised look they quickly come and takeover handling Gstalt.

Gstalt’s magic is finally drained from him once they get him to his feet. I look at the girls and nod. They throw all of the filled elemental stones on the ground, and I do the same with my previously self-made one. It smashes as I picture a hammer breaking it. The magic lifts and shoots past us in a liquid blanket.

I turn my head and watch it shoot through a magical portal with any type of color you can think of. Alaric hisses as I flinch at the amount of magical energy we feel coming out of that portal.

Moria comes and stands next to me. “Why is there a gaping hole in your shirt?”

“A Water Spirit tried to kill me,” I sigh.

She stiffens. “Attempting to kill a mortal is an immediately banish able offence for Spirits.”

I nod. “He’s likely banished then. Or he’s not, considering my body immediately healed over.” I pull my shirt from my body. “This isn’t my magic Moria. This is my blood. I just fought against Moticious. My magic should be drained, or at least my energy. It is not.”

Moria falls silently before speaking. “I feel the same, except my magic is low. You always were stronger, so that might be why your magic isn’t feeling as drained. However, my body feels like it can keep going. Did you drain Morticious before killing him? That could explain the power level difference as well.”

I pull the layered stone from my chest and show her. “Yep.”

She gapes at it. “What are we going to do with that?”

“I think The Magic will answer that.” I sigh as I feel the stone going warm. A mini portal opens just below it and sucks it away. “What did they do to us Moria?”

The other girls come and stand next to me. “I have no idea.” Moria answers honestly. “From what I can tell, our physical energy is no longer a factor, but we’re still limited by our magical levels. Our blood has been changed into our magic.”

“It’s like we are magic.” Penny says as she looks at me. “We’re Liaison’s after all. If we’re to walk into the Spirit’s Realm, we cannot be limited by mortal bodies.”

“So we’re not mortal?” Mary asks.

“Looks like it.” Moria sighs. “Whatever The Magic has planned for us, it looks like they have a long game plan in mind.”

I would have responded but a hard gasping has us looking behind us. A dark orb is in front of Gstalt. A dark Spirit. I ready my arrow but the Spirit chuckles. “My dear girl, I’m not here to harm you. I am claiming this man’s life for treason committed to my kin. A new Dark Goddess has been chosen. He is to die.”

I wave him off. “A Spirit may not kill a mortal. You know the law.”

“I’m not killing him. I’m here to put him into purgatory personally. You know the rules Lady Callia. The powers are given once the old God of Darkness dies. Once the Goddess of Darkness has finished absorbing her powers, he’s going to die.”

“Such a shame,” I sigh sarcastically. “Wait, she? Who is she?”

“You once knew her as Eveleghia.” The Dark Spirit disappears as Gstalt gives one final gasp and slumps. The boys let him go and he falls to the ground.

I cock my head as I look at Mary. “Do we know an Eveleghia?”

Her eyes widen. “Eve!”

“Look!” Allie yells, pointing behind me. I look behind me and see thousands of soldiers fall to the ground. The soldiers of the dead are no longer bound by Gstalt’s magic. “It’s over!” She squeals.

“Not yet.” I sigh as I touch my bare middle. I have a feeling this is going to be a lot harder than taking care of Gstalt.