Ascension (37 page)

“You've indeed fought valiantly, and for that, I thank you,” the wraith responded, easily extinguishing the flames and calming the winds. “Never before has a mere mortal wounded me in such a way. You've both inspired me to seek for a way to reach beyond my current limitations. I have decided, I shall begin my search with you.”

The wraith hurtled toward the pair with his skeletal fingers outstretched, and if not for the lightning fast reflexes of Kusarikku, he would have had her.

“You've tried my patience for long enough, earthen guardian,” the wraith scowled, before he thrust upward with his scythe and tore the guardian in two.

“Stop this, I don't want to see anymore,” Katherine pleaded, praying Justin and Alu would bring these visions to an end.

Distraught and feeling sick at the sight of so much blood, Katherine scrambled toward them. It had become all too unbearable. But Justin would have none of it, and salivated at the prospect of further carnage, and the history on display did not disappoint him. Next, the wraith disposed of both Margaret and Kishar, sending them flying in a cloud of dust and snow. Then there was Robert. In a blind rage, the Indigo had unleashed a volley of thunderbolts and plasma grenades upon the wraith. But he too soon met his end. Namtar had darted at Robert and plunged his cold skeletal fingers through the Indigo's chest.

“Lance…, my son,” she heard Robert splutter, the blood staining his lips as he lay there dying in the snow.

Katherine shrieked, bustling over to the wounded illusions of Monica and Zu. “No more! Please…, I've seen enough. I already know how this all ends. I thought you were going only to show me what happened to my mother…”

“I have seen this many times myself since probing Monica Hawthorne's memories: they are the memories of a woman to whom it seems you've become quite attached. It has been through bearing witness to my lord's great power that I've derived the most from this ordeal,” the masked Corrupted said, pausing of the ‘
Project's'
history and bringing the illusions to a standstill. “The only purpose of all this is my lord's young Indigo's belief that you'll join our cause…, once you've seen what fate befell your mother. But I also wanted to show you what you will be up against, if you were to choose poorly.”

Katherine whimpered. “Why on earth would I want to join you? Your master is no more than a monster.”

“For fear that you will suffer the same fate as those he's destroyed,” Alu coldly replied. “My young Indigo here also believes that if you were to witness this organisation as they truly are, you'd be less inclined to think of them as the ones who are just and true.”

“You may find it hard to believe, but I have only your best interests at heart,” Justin asserted, motioning for Alu to continue. “Together, we shall build a new and greater future.”

The illusions showed Monica and Zu as they recommenced their efforts to subdue the wraith. They were spurred by the loss of their Indigo and guardian comrades, and Monica and Zu fought him with all that remained of their very beings. Helpless and with her pleas ignored, Katherine looked on as turrets of fire like a series of lava plumes burst upward from the icy floor; Monica moved to shape this surging heat into a wide reaching wall of flame and ash.

With relative ease, Namtar had appeared to dice through the wall of fire with his scythe and descend. But Monica had other plans, and reformed the wall, seeking to entrap the wraith in a dome-shaped prison of writhing flames. So meticulously crafted was Monica's energy, the half globe kept its shape and intensity as the heat melted away and overpowered all the conflicting elements.

“Zu, it's now or never,” she heard Monica cry, as the young Indigo mounted her guardian and rushed toward the scorching prison of her own creation. “Together, this is where we shall end it all.”

Katherine gasped in dismay as the figures of both Monica and Zu became enveloped in an immense ball of fire. The pair plunged forward into the dome shaped prison with such ferocity that the ground trembled and the night sky was illuminated in a nova of light. Even within the realm of illusion, the energy of this assault was so blinding that Katherine had to shield her eyes to watch. Once the flames that lingered had petered out and she'd regained her sight, she spotted the lifeless body of Monica's guardian lifeless on the cold earth. Once again, and as in her dream, she saw the cloaked Monica crouching down at her guardian's side, stroking the gryphon's dishevelled and charred feathers.

“Oh Zu…,” Monica mumbled, her breathing laboured. “Wait for me my friend. I will be with you again soon enough.”

“As the victor, I shall now claim my rightful prize,” whispered the wraith, raising Monica up by the scruff of her collar. “Your celestial spirit young Indigo, now belongs to me.”

Although Katherine had seen this before, it wasn't any easier to see it a second time. The foul stench of burnt flesh and bloodied corpses was thick, but it was seeing the young Anzu flutter to his mother's side that made her heart ache. She could feel what he could feel. His sorrow was her sorrow. With the wraith's cold and coarse fingers wrapped about Monica's neck, the organisation's hopes seemed to have been extinguished. Had it not been for the timely emergence of a new hero, Monica would have died then and there. Suddenly Katherine heard the booming blast of a plasma grenade, and she saw a puff of smoke rise up from the back of the wraith's cloak.

“Let my sister go!” cried another young woman from out the organisation's ranks, her eyes ablaze with fire. “Take me instead.”

Chapter 29

As Anzu bounded deeper within the depths of this Corrupted's creation, the air had become so humid and stifling. No sooner had he believed he'd adapted to these conditions, then the temperature would suddenly fluctuate and he'd find himself nearly frozen half to death.

Katherine, where are you?
He asked, seeking to defy this realm and communicate with his young Indigo.
I must hurry before it's too late.

“And where do you think you're going? Can you not see that you're trapped within my realm?” Alu whispered, sneaking up behind him. “There is no escape; you only waste your precious energy.”

If what the masked Corrupted had said was true, Anzu realised the only way he might escape would be to defeat him. He swiftly turned to face the Corrupted with his talons raised, pressing forward and slashing through his cloak.

The Corrupted sighed as Anzu's attacks harmlessly passed through his shadowed body. “You can't kill me when I'm in my own realm. If you will not accept my proposal; then I shall lay claim to your essence forthright.”

And if I cannot kill him here, then I have no choice but to keep running,
Anzu decided, promptly spinning round and dashing along a narrow corridor.

But as soon as he set off gliding with haste, he could sense the masked Corrupted drawing closer in pursuit. At each pass thereafter, Alu would materialize in thin air and blocking his path. If that weren't enough, he also had to avoid the spectral horde that lingered and tried to ensnare him as he weaved his way forward.

Anzu, where have you gone? I need you,
he heard Katherine call, her voice growing stronger the further he headed northward along a dimly lit corridor.

“I will not allow you to progress any further,” Alu cried out, thrashing through the darkness with a spectral sword of smouldering blue flames.

“Just try and stop me,” he replied, evading the Corrupted at every twist and turn.

“You cannot reach her, I won't allow it. I can sense you've been trying to contact each other.”

The masked corrupted lunged with his sword, the blade whistling past the guardian's ear. With no way to retaliate, Anzu kept darting forward in swift spurts. He had resolved to evade all of Alu's efforts. But he soon arrived at what seemed a dead end. He crashed directly into the crystallized surface of a transparent wall. Disoriented, and with a nasty gash across his forehead, he paused to regain control.

“You won't escape me,” the masked Corrupted bellowed, closing in on him and flailing his sword.

“Now you say there is a means of escape…,” Anzu responded, dodging the masked Corrupted's blows.

As the masked Corrupted floundered, Anzu noticed his grip was slipping from the hilt of his blade with each swing. He was wearing down faster than he himself. He then noticed that new cracks had formed on Alu's porcelain mask. He figured Alu was exerting an enormous amount of energy to maintain of this world, and the countless illusions he'd showcased. This had begun to take such a toll that it had caused the spirit's strength to wane.

“It must take such a lot of energy to sustain of these illusions. How long do you believe you can keep this up?” Anzu asked. He was thinking back to eleven Delphi Crescent, and the things he'd seen in Katherine's dreams.

The masked Corrupted huffed. He was clearly straining now to lift his blade. “I could keep this up all day…”

“As could I, but I don't intend to if I can help it…,” said Anzu, focusing on the Corrupted's porcelain mask.

For upon moving to strike at this mask with his talons, he was quick to recognize the Corrupted had flinched in response, and hence revealed of his one true weakness.

“It is time to end this,” Anzu declared, ducking beneath a loose swipe of Alu's sword. Lurching forward, he then head-butted the Corrupted.

But Alu was still agile enough to identify what the guardian had intended, and dived out of the way before Anzu could connect. Then, having scrambled back to his feet, Alu charged, missing the winged guardian and passing directly through what had seemed to be a dead end.

As Anzu came to a halt before this transparent wall, struggling to comprehend how the Corrupted had pressed through it, and of what would lie before him on the other side, he sought to concentrate and visualize the wall within his mind's eye. Before long, he could see the bluish glow of Alu's energy.

He peered through the crystallized wall as if it was a glass window. “What sort of magic is this?”

While gazing through it, he found himself looking down upon a rocky precipice, and quickly realised that this was the setting where the organisation had first fought Namtar. Then his eyes came to rest upon someone he believed resembled Katherine. But she was enveloped in flames, and her eyes flared with a fiery fury to match.

Officer Munroe…? But why am I seeing this?
He wondered. But soon he saw that the young Indigo was Katherine's mother.
What's going on? Am I seeing what my Indigo is seeing?

“Truly remarkable…, to think I'd encounter two of my former lord's heirs upon the same day,” Anzu heard Namtar say from the other side. He saw the bluish glow of his lidless eyes quivering in the darkness of night. “I'm spoiled for choice, but this is the one I want.”

“You can't have her,” Elizabeth snapped, channelling her celestial energy. “I won't let you take her from me.”

The wraith grunted, releasing a defeated Monica from his grasp. “Child of Ra, you've drawn my attention. But you best not disappoint me.”

Anzu could sense the energy swell and intensify deep within his Indigo's mother. It wasn't difficult to see why the wraith had taken an interest in her, as the energy she generated was of a significantly high quality. There was an amount of energy that went beyond the scope of human capabilities, and Elizabeth had created it without the need to form a celestial bond.

As the gryphon gazed downward, reliving these most historic and horrific past events, he grew convinced that never before had he seen a fire burn so brightly. For back then he'd believed Elizabeth to be the last hope the organisation had to defeat this Corrupted. While he'd looked down upon his mother's shattered body, lying there motionless at the wraith's feet, he'd been convinced that Elizabeth would be the one with whom he'd form his bond. But no matter how much he wanted this, he realised when he looked upon his feeble younger self, flailing wildly at the Corrupted without any real sense of direction, that this would never have been possible.

As he relived this poignant time, a time that had haunted him for seventeen years, he watched how he fared in his confrontation with this wraith. Namtar, turn after turn, was swatting at the young gryphon as if he were a fly; time again the young Anzu would join the others face first against a turf of soot and snow.

Elizabeth was the only one left to challenge the wraith. She charged toward him within a searing ball of fire, fighting this ancient Corrupted tooth and nail, as if the fate of the earth hanged in the balance.

If this was the scope of her mother's power, then Katherine too might one day be capable of similar feats
, Anzu had hoped.

Reflecting back, he'd been awestruck by what he had seen next. Once again Elizabeth shaped a massive orb of fire within her open palm, and launched it upon the Corrupted. If not for him knowing the history, and how it would all end, he might have thought it possible that Elizabeth could win. But then, the wraith had reached out and had torn away any dream of victory.

“Even though it is impressive for a human to possess such power without a celestial bond, this one is far too weak for me to take seriously,” Anzu had heard the wraith proclaim, his cold skeletal fingers wrapped about Elizabeth's neck. “But she will suffice for my intended purpose; if that too is your desire. So young Indigo what will it be?”

Monica mumbled to herself, reaching for a plasma grenade, and pitched it toward his feet. “If only there was another way.”

The plasma grenade exploded, with enough force to cause the plateau to become engulfed in a sea of fire and brimstone. Then Anzu heard his own Indigo Katherine let out a shrill cry from below. When the smoke had cleared, leaving Monica with nothing left, he watched as both Monica and Katherine seemed to collapse in unison and lament this defeat. The wraith, merely stumbled forward clutching at his burnt cloak.