The Soul Forge (21 page)

So neither of them had any reason to hold back.

Fire flew like a volcano’s eruption, blasting back and forth in a mix of blue and purple, black and red.
Thomas put everything on the line, the full force of his soul on display. The Priest did the same, pouring every ounce of passion he had into his attacks. It soon devolved from a dance to a fistfight, with both of them simply launching wave after wave of fire at each other.

The end came with sudden swiftness.

They were both deadlocked, feet away from each other and pouring fire into each other’s hands. The spot where the flame met glowed a bright white, the heat so intense Thomas had to force himself not to look away.

It was over.

With the force of an explosion, the purity of Thomas’ soul overcame the evil of Ofan’s, and the summit erupted in flame. The dome contained the explosion, which only increased the damage done to both Thomas and the Priest. Impervious to the flame, Thomas fell to the ground from the soul crushing power of the Soulfire.

But he was still alive, still holding on
to the fragile piece of existence called life. The snow gently fell on his face, and Thomas saw that the same could not be said of the Dark Priest. He was still standing, but his eyes were blank and unknowing. He stood at the precipice of the mountain, standing out of inertia alone.

Thomas forced himself to his feet, his muscles aching so deeply he had to marvel at his own tenacity.

His hand stretched out and gently pushed the Dark Priest. The husk that used to be a body fell away from his touch, and was soon consumed by the darkness of the mountain.

Cheers lit up the mountain, though Thomas supremely doubted most of the people there really understood what had just happened.
It hardly mattered as he felt more hands lift him than he had ever felt before.

There was Master Kimpchik, and Ms. Anna was trying to help. Cynthia had his arm around her neck, and Zach had the other arm.
Morando had a hand on his chest, and even Chancellor Valerium was there with her hand on his cheek. It took Thomas a few seconds to realize they were both Healers, something he probably should have figured out ages ago. Gilkor came down, laughing and shouting happily at anyone who would listen. Miranda had her fingers interlocked with Zach’s, and Cynthia had a hand on Thomas’ chest.

But none of that even remotely mattered.

What made tears spring into Thomas’ eyes was when Ms. Anna kicked him in the shin, and Mrs. Lucinda lifted her baby girl into her arms and
smiled a smile so large it wiped away all of the pain in Thomas’ body.

He would have given his life just to see this.

They carried Thomas inside, where Gilkor rustled up ale and food. Others talked about beginning reconstruction and who would sit on the throne now. Chancellor Vontanado was found and arrested.

If Thomas had to hazard a guess, though he didn’t want to jinx it,
he would say they had gotten a happy ending.

The End