Origin (Land of the Elementals Book 3), page 42
“There’s something happening in one of the adjoining rooms! I can see some sort of light! I’m pretty sure that’s our way back!”
Arbor felt a huge sense of relief then, knowing that Karria had done it. He staggered to his feet but didn’t decrease the heavy flowing of his magic throughout his body. He needed every ounce of strength and speed he could muster, especially if he were going to open his side of the portal quickly enough to make it back.
“Go!” Arbor shouted. “Lead the way!”
Kya nodded, spinning in place to run through the opening when something flashed in the corner of his periphery. Arbor whirled, swinging his glaive and releasing a scything arc of crackling power. Rainbow-colored light exploded into existence as his and Nilegard’s attacks met once more. They twisted, warped, and ripped at the very fabric of reality, which felt very wrong to Arbor.
“Thought you could get away from me that easily, mortal?” Nilegard roared, striding forward.
His body was fully intact once again, and the Demon looked angrier than a hornet who’d just been swatted. Blue light was leaking off his azure-colored skin, lashing out at his surroundings, much in the same way as Arbor’s Origin. However, there was a stark difference between their powers.
While Arbor’s was wild, untamed, and completely uncontrolled, Nilegard’s was under control. The lances of blue tore glowing furrows in the ground, melting the metal as though it were made of soft butter. His magic crackled about him in a nimbus, and to Arbor’s Mage Sight, he seemed to glow with the brilliance of a star. His power – like Shelderoth had said – was on a scale that he simply couldn’t comprehend, and at that moment, Arbor truly knew that this was a fight he could not win.
“Arbor…” Kya began, but Arbor waved his hand behind him.
“Get the Elementals!” he yelled. “I can’t hold him and open a portal!”
He didn’t have the luxury of turning to check if she’d listened, as the Demon continued to advance, taking a wide path around the whirling clash of pure chaos where their attacks had met. Nilegard flapped his powerful wings then, flying forward with astonishing speed and throwing a punch designed to blow a hole straight through his chest.
His Perception Field, fluctuating wildly from a single foot to over fifty, told him where the blow was going to land, and Arbor dodged ahead of time, thrusting forward with his glaive at a weak point in the Demon’s physical makeup. His head was throbbing, and everything was starting to blur together. His Origin magic was running wild, completely out of control, and Arbor honestly had no idea how he’d be able to rein himself in enough to try and open a portal from his side.
Due to his distraction in trying to stay focused, Arbor’s attack landed off his mark, thrusting into the Demon’s left shoulder instead of where a heart might be, and while his Origin magic rippled out of him, blowing the shoulder to pieces, while simultaneously ripping at the very essence of Nilegard’s makeup, it wasn’t nearly the devastating blow it would have been.
Nilegard twisted, even as Arbor tried to recover, and his tail blurred out. Arbor tried to dodge, but he was simply too slow. There was an immensely strong impact, and Arbor felt several of his bones break even through the breastplate, as he was now the one to be sent flying. Origin magic flared around him, pulsing up to a full ten yards from his body and ripping the walls and ceiling apart before he slammed into them.
As a result, he flew nearly twice the distance he would have otherwise, smashing into the far wall in the next room over. The metal buckled as he hit, but seeing as Arbor didn’t really have much air in his lungs to lose, the impact wasn’t nearly as devastating.
He landed back on the ground, trying to hide his discomfort as Nilegard came flying in after him. His shoulder had almost completely filled back in, and Arbor was starting to feel the price of continuously using magic at this level. While his Origin magic was wildly tearing at his surroundings, his Perception magic was still under careful control. His strength, speed, and reflexes had all been pushed to the very limits of what he could handle, and even that didn’t seem to be enough to so much as phase the Demon.
Blowing out a long breath, Arbor pulled his glaive back, doing his best to ignore his grinding ribs, and tried to concentrate some of the fluctuating Origin magic into his weapon as he’d once been able to. If he could do that, then he could skewer the Demon at a distance, inject more focused power into an attack, and hopefully buy himself some time to go open his side of the portal. He had no idea how long it would stay open on Karria’s side, so he had to act fast.
Of course, the attack failed miserably, costing him precious seconds as he fought his rebellious power and tried to force it into submission. Nilegard used this time to cross the room, summon another blue-edged weapon, and take a swing at him. Arbor dodged back, abandoning the attack, and blew the wall behind him to dust. The explosion of particles took him completely off-guard, causing him to inhale a lungful and choke on it.
A powerful blow slammed into the center of his chest, denting the Mythicallium breastplate and sending him flying. This time, Arbor’s body didn’t make such a clean trip. He hit the ground after just a couple of seconds, his body slamming over and over into the cold metal and collecting over a dozen new cuts and bruises before hitting a massive, glowing crystal.
Arbor screamed as agony wracked his body, the feeling of lightning coursing through him from the crystal almost causing him to blackout. The white diamondlike structure was covered in dozens of cracks and fractures from the force of his impact and was now unleashing whatever power it had stored up within. Seeing as there was no other conduit, Arbor was the lucky one in getting to serve as a conductor.
He wrenched one arm free and saw the smoke coming off his bracers and wafting up from his back. Nilegard came flapping through the hole, which, oddly enough, looked much cleaner than all the others, his face set in a triumphant snarl. Arbor pulled his other arm free, using every ounce of his Perception magic and willpower to keep his muscles from locking up. He could feel the damage building as he continuously pushed himself further than his body could handle.
“This is the end, human! I’m sure the Demon Lord can extract the Origin from your corpse!”
His wings spread and he flew forward, the tip of his glowing polearm aimed directly at Arbor’s heart. He knew he wouldn’t be able to move in time, as his back was stuck deep into the crystal, and the pain wracking his body from both his magic and the crystal in question were making it difficult for him to even think, let alone move. Arbor did the only thing he could think of and countered.
The glaive flashed up, Arbor funneling whatever magic he could manage into the blade. The angle was all wrong, and with only the power of his arms behind it, even with his enhanced strength, it was laughably weak compared to the Demon’s. Yet, as Nilegard swung for his head, sure he could overpower Arbor’s weak defense, something which should have been impossible happened.
Nilegard screamed as Arbor’s glaive, which was inches away from intercepting his blade, pierced directly into his forehead, right between his eyes. Arbor twisted the blade, crying out as Nilegard’s own attack, carried forward by momentum, slammed into his upper left arm, tearing through the Mythicallium bracers and biting all the way down to the bone.
The Demon’s head was blown to pieces as Abor’s arm began to spray blood. Hot pain flashed through him as the blade was pulled free, causing the bleeding to increase, but even as the Demon’s body fell to the ground, he could see that he wasn’t dead. The lines were tracing new paths, though slower than usual, and were reforming the Demon’s destroyed head.
Arbor flared his Perception magic, ripping the muscles in his legs and finally pulled himself free of the crystal. He staggered forward, releasing his hold on the magic and half-turning, half-falling as he tried to orient himself toward the direction from which Kya had come. He had no idea how much time had passed since she’d warned him of the portal needing to be opened, but he knew that if he was ever going to get a chance, now was the time.
He staggered forward, feeling the burning in his legs as he made for the hole in the wall. However, as he reached the opening, over a dozen Elementals, led by Shelderoth, came flapping into the room.
“Wow! You look like crap!” Shelderoth exclaimed, eyeing Arbor up and down.
“Where’s the portal?” he asked, not having the strength to banter back.
“Six rooms over, and two across,” Shelderoth said. “I’ll take you there. The rest of you, keep attacking that bastard and make sure his head doesn’t reform!”
The other Elementals saluted, then, with what Arbor could have sworn were looks of pure glee, began savagely attacking the downed body of the Demon.
“Come on,” Shelderoth said. “I don’t think we have much time left.”
Arbor nodded, staggering after the Elemental and fighting to stay conscious. His Origin magic was still fluctuating, but far weaker than before. Perhaps it, like his body, was at the end of what it could handle. Still, the out of control magic had not only failed to help him, but had likely been more of a detriment in this fight altogether.
The wild explosions and tearing of walls and floors had served no purpose other than to tire him out faster, and he was suffering dearly as a result. His head was spinning and throbbing, and he felt like total crap. All he wanted to do was collapse and sleep for a month. He knew, though, that he couldn’t afford to stop, not now. Not when he was so close to getting back home to his sister.
A low groan escaped his lips as the Origin magic flashed again, overlaying his vision with sparkling lights, ones that popped and shimmered as he walked through them. While he’d been fighting, all of the constant changing of imagery had been at the very back of his mind, and though it was still quite taxing, Arbor had had bigger fish to fry. Now, when all he could do was walk – kind of – he had nothing to concentrate on, other than the pain.
“We’re almost there,” Shelderoth said, looking to him worriedly. “How are you holding up?”
“Managing,” Arbor said through clenched teeth.
The blood coming from his left arm, the one nearly cut off by Nilegard, had mostly stopped thanks to his Perception magic. However, the burning pain had not abated in the slightest. Even now, he could feel his magic trying to stitch the horrible wound back together, but Arbor honestly wasn’t sure if it could. This one was bad, worse than almost any other he’d been dealt over the past year.
This was no broken bone or damaged organ, but a limb that had been cut by the blade of a Demon. Even now, he could feel something trying to worm its way deeper, spreading up from the wound and infecting the rest of his body. His magic was fighting it off for now, but he knew that it wouldn’t be able to forever.
“There it is!” Shelderoth said, snapping Arbor from his morose thoughts.
Arbor, who’d been walking with his head down, slowly raised his chin and took a good look around. The room they were in looked much like all the others. It had the same steel walls, floors, and ceiling, as well as a large crystalline construct. The only difference between this room and the others was the small pinprick of white standing right above the centermost point of the crystal.
Elementals were flooding into the room as he staggered in, and Arbor saw Kya looking to him worriedly. She probably knew, better than anyone, how much pain he was really in. And, in this case, it was far worse than his appearance might suggest.
“Is that it?” Arbor asked, pointing the tip of his glaive at the pinprick.
In his Mage Sight, the small white spot was fluctuating as his eyes rapidly switched between the different ‘modes’ his magic seemed to have. There were lines that seemed to travel inward, a large spot of whirling rainbow-colored light, spots of color being sucked in, and so on. But he honestly had no idea what it meant, and was in too much pain to try and figure it out.
“Far as I can tell,” Shelderoth replied.
Arbor gave him a single nod, then reached for his Perception magic once again. The pain redoubled as he called upon his power, steam immediately pouring off his skin as his body tried to vent the tremendous heat his body was producing. He dashed forward, coiling his straining muscles and leaping into the air.
He soared perhaps a couple of feet off the ground – a similar jump which just a few minutes ago could have been done from an utter standstill, showing just how much he’d been weakened from this fight – and, not really knowing what else to do, slammed the bladed end of his glaive, directly into the hole in space.
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Arbor’s body immediately locked up as the blade slid home, vanishing into thin air. Magic was forcibly torn from his already wrecked body, causing him to blackout momentarily. Then, the Origin reacted, pulsing out of his body and along his glaive, following an actual path for the first time since Silver had screwed him up, and flowing into the hole in space.
Cracks began to spread from the point of impact, rippling outward as magic continuously poured from him. He could feel his heart beginning to lighten, knowing that he would finally be going home. He’d be able to relax, rest, and finally, see his only remaining family member once again. The cracks widened, spreading faster and faster as the Origin continued to supply the needed magic. As with all things that could go wrong, something inevitably did, and at the worst possible moment.
Just as Arbor was sure the portal was about to open, he felt something inside go awry. There was a wild fluctuation, and suddenly, the draw on his magic increased tenfold. The pain was so horrific that it made his tethering of the Elementals feel like child’s play in comparison. His muscles began to shred themselves, his bones began to fracture and crack, and his organs started to swell, threatening to burst.
Never before had Arbor been so certain that he was about to die. As he felt his body about to give out, to burst like a waterskin put under too much pressure, he felt a hand on his calf, the only part of his body that could be reached with the awkward angle at which he was frozen.
“What the hell is going on?!” Arbor heard Kya scream as she tried to do something to keep him from exploding.
“The portal seems to have collapsed on the other side!” Shelderoth replied. “Since he was supplying the power while it happed, the portal is trying to use him to stabilize itself. It’s sucking all the needed power directly from him!”
“Can we stop it?” Kya yelled back.
Arbor could barely concentrate on anything but the pain, but he could feel warmth trying to creep its way into his ragged and utterly destroyed body, likely Kya’s attempt at keeping him together. There was only so much she could do, though, as her power affected his chemical balance, not his actual physical form.
“Not unless the portal is fully opened!” Shelderoth replied. “But I have an idea!”
The small Elemental flew up before him, Shelderoth’s body swimming in and out of focus as he yelled.
“Arbor! The bonds! You need to reach for the tethers! You can’t open the portal on your own, but we might be able to help you do it!”
Arbor’s mind, desperate for any chance at survival, immediately latched onto that and reached to the pulsing sphere of black and white, rapidly pumping magic out to try and open a portal that was no longer supported by someone on the other side. He had no trouble finding the tethers, the hundreds of tiny colorful strands standing out in contrast to the black and white of the Origin.
Arbor truthfully had no idea what he was doing but reached for the strands and simply yanked on them, trying to draw power from the Elementals to fuel the portal, which was about to kill him, and likely everyone else in here as a result of its failure to open. Shelderoth immediately dropped to the ground, writhing around in agony, as did every other Elemental in the room. However, it seemed to be worth it, as the literal ocean of power that flooded into Arbor’s body was more than enough to keep him from exploding.
The portal, which had been fluctuating and horribly unstable, began to settle as more and more of the Elementals’ power poured into it, and, ever so slowly, the cracks began to spread once again. Arbor, finally able to think clearly for the first time since this had started due to the fact that the Origin had calmed considerably, took a good look around the room.
The Elementals were all down, writhing on the ground as their power flooded through him. He realized, in that moment, just how much control he had over these creatures, and it horrified him. He’d been trying to free them from their bondage, and had, instead, tethered their very souls to his source of power. He could feel it, even now — the complete ability to drain them dry. Suck every last drop of magic from them, and take it all for himself.
It wouldn’t be a temporary boost either, but a permanent one. One that would not only boost his own strength tremendously, but that of his magic, and his magic’s potential as well. He’d have all the power needed to take down Nilegard, and, if he could bind more Elementals, perhaps even all of the Lower Realms! It horrified Arbor once again that such a thought would even cross his mind, but, at that moment, he felt something click and the air before him shattered into a million tiny fragments of light.
Arbor collapsed to the ground, half-landing on Kya as he did. His control over the Elementals wavered, and his body, now free of the pulling force of the portal, stabilized.
“You did it!” Kya exclaimed, sounding half-winded. “Arbor, you opened the portal!”
Arbor’s eyes cracked open as he heard the elf and felt the vibration of her words through his head. His own head throbbing in pain, Arbor allowed his eyes to focus, and saw only a mound of rising fabric, completely obscuring his view. His mind, still recovering from the shock of what had just happened, tried to parcel out what he was seeing.
He could feel that his head wasn’t lying on the ground, that much was obvious. But what in the world was he looking at? Arbor’s good arm scrabbled around for a moment before he managed to place his palm flat on the ground and painfully pushed himself up several inches. It was only once he met Kya’s eyes, staring at him from over the mysterious mound of colorful cloth, that he finally realized what he’d been looking at.
