Chapter 30
I sat with my wife, and finished eating the chicken that I had stashed away in one of the cupboards in the pocket universe. We were still talking over what happened to her, after she had arrived at the Ancients.
"So, later, two Ancients came by and saw me. They heard what I had to say, then nodded and left; but not before one of them cast that spell on me!" she exclaimed indignantly.
I patted her hand. "I was glad to come and rescue you, my love," I said smiling.
Her expression softened and for a short while, all thought of food and battles were driven from my mind. Afterwards, we lay together on a soft bed that one of us had materialized, reflecting.
"This war can go on, forever. I have never felt so helpless before, Paul," my wife said suddenly.
"I know. Since it involves demons, I really wouldn't care. But they are trying to drag our world into it, too," I said heavily.
We fell silent, and each thought what this could mean. There had to be a way to avoid all this. I felt a whispering in my head. I frowned and concentrated on it. CHAOS! As soon as I found what was whispering to me, it manifested itself strongly.
It didn't talk to me in a way you and I would have a conversation. It simply conveyed... POWER! It was a solution, and I had a grasp on it. I was one of very few beings to be able to wield the power of Chaos. It seemed to say 'USE ME.'
I got out of bed and started dressing. Mariel moaned in disappointment. I grinned at her.
"We can't all laze around in bed. There are things to do, wrongs to right, and wars to win. Mariel, I want you to consider waiting here for me, will you?" I asked her.
She nodded, her eyes wide.
"What are you going to do Paul?" she asked me, as I settled my cloak over my shoulders and grabbed my staff.
"I am going to see if I can't shut down the gate between the demons, and the Ancients. That is the main bone of contention, and what threatens to bring our world into this war. Without that gate, everything should settle back to normal," I said, just a little hopefully.
"I'm coming with you. You'll need me," Mariel said confidently.
"NO! Didn't you just agree to stay? Didn't I just have to rescue you from the Ancients? And now you want to put yourself into a position that might have me deciding if you live or die, by my behavior?" I shouted.
Mariel cringed back from me, and I went to her and held her. I definitely did not mean to hurt her feelings.
"Mariel, I can't do this if I know you're exposed to danger. If you were captured again, what would I have to do to buy your safety? Would I have to leave, and wait for days? Months? Years?
"Did you want our child to be born while you're in custody of the Ancients? Would they leave the child with you, or would they then have something to hold over your head? See where I am going with this?" I asked her much more gently.
She nodded her head, her eyes filled with tears.
"Just wait here for me. I'll be back," I told her.
I concentrated for a moment, and saw the opening to where I wanted to go. I went through it, and was in the demon palace. I really loved my pocket universe. I opened the door to what had been my room, and walked out into the hallway.
I wanted to know what had happened since I left and rescued my wife. It didn't take me long to find a servant to take me to Shaitan. I walked along, and I swear I started to... well, hum with power. I had unconsciously grabbed at my Chaos line, and started pulling power off it.
"Paul! Welcome back! What happened? You just sort of disappeared on us!" Shaitan asked me as soon as he saw me.
"Well, I was able to rescue my wife. She is safe, right now," I told him.
"Well, we still have that Ancient you saw. We are gathering our forces and marching them to the gate. We might actually win through to the other side of it, this time," Shaitan said in a musing tone.
I nodded to him but was thinking, 'not if I can help it.' I stayed a while longer, then begged off saying I wanted to get ready to sleep for a bit. He nodded and summoned a servant to escort me back to my room.
After the servant left me in my room, I concentrated, and was at the gate. I had a Chaos shield around me, and I needed it! As soon as I materialized, I was getting attacked! I ignored them, and made my way to the gate.
I was finally reduced to blasting my way through groups of attacking... well, whatever they were. Very bestial in looks, were the troops of the Ancients. I finally got to the gate, and entered it.
I was surprised that I was not followed. On the other hand, there was an army camp before me. So maybe it wasn't that surprising after all. I sank into my newfound power, and drew on it heavily.
I was ALIVE! I laughed. Bolts of power and spells crashed into my shield and fell away. I sent out a spell that cut a swath through the enemy before me. I turned a bit to my left, and cast the spell at them that I had used before. Thousands of little balls of energy flew towards them and sank into their bodies. They exploded nicely.
Turning to my right, I cast again. The result was, thousands of more bodies blew up. For some reason, no one approached me, which was fine with me. I turned my back on them and concentrated on this side of the gate.
They had done a good job of anchoring it, considering this was a previously sealed universe. I sent shafts of Chaos into the gate, and got ready to pull it down. Before I did that, I would have to go through it, back to the other side. Just destroying this side, would not destroy the other side.
"Wait!" I heard behind me.
I turned, and faced several Ancients. They held their hands up and away from their bodies.
"I have nothing to say to you bastards. You kidnapped my wife, and were holding her against her will," I replied angrily.
"You have to understand our point of view. This is our chance, was our chance, to return to the multiverse. You have already introduced death to us. We have never known death before. Several of our people who were severely wounded during battle have... died," he said with a shudder.
"Well, that's life for you. You're born, you live, you die. Nothing is sure in life, except death and taxes," I told him.
He appeared confused for a moment, but then nodded.
"Please. Don't do this. I... We... can see the power your wielding. If you continue, you will destroy the only chance we have had in thousands of years to be free," he said pleadingly.
I shook my head. I turned away from them, and walked back through the gate, collapsing it behind me. Their end of the gate was terminated, permanently. That left this side. The attack was renewed as I had stepped through.
I wielded my Chaos line like a giant sword, and scythed through the enemy like a hot knife through butter. I frowned. There had to be a better way. Of course! I could have slapped myself for being stupid.
I put up a shield around myself and the gateway. Having done that, I killed everything in within the shield. After that, it was only a moment's thought to sink Chaos tendrils into the gate. Just as I was about to destroy it, there was a god-awful noise that scared the shit out of me!
I turned and saw that most of the enemy was dead or fleeing, and Morning Star was striding towards my shield. He came to a stop, reached out with his right hand, and my shield collapsed! Now how had he done that?
"Paul. I assume you are about to destroy the gate?" Morning Star asked me.
I nodded. I was about to turn back when he did something, and I was on my back.
"I am afraid I can't let you do that. I have reached an accommodation with the Ancients, and destroying this gate is not part of the deal," Morning Star said.
I drew more power from my Chaos line, and I rose to my feet. I erected a shield at the same time. Morning Star smiled at me, and gestured. Even though I was shielded, I was moved bodily back until I slammed into a boulder.
My shield had absorbed most of the impact. I was unhurt, but I was very pissed. I cast my own spell at Morning Star and he shuddered, but that was all. I frowned. He should have burst into flame!
Shaitan was not standing still either. He was coming at me, his eyes glowing strangely. I knew these two were powerful, but shit! I was now being hit constantly, and could barely remain on my feet.
Still, my Chaos shield withstood the spells, and I slowly drew even more power into myself! I felt like I was going to burst with power, yet I drew more! I held out my right hand and sent a dark beam of energy at Shaitan.
He shrieked in pain, and fell. Good. One down, and one to go. I turned to Morning Star, only to receive some sort of spell that crashed and crackled on my shield. It didn't stop, but kept eating away, and draining the power out of my shield!
I quickly made another shield and placed it around him. That seemed to startle him. I turned back to the gate, and raised my left hand, spreading my fingers. Chaos flew from them, onto and into the gate.
Morning Star had managed to destroy the shield I had thrown up around him, and was striding towards me. I really regretted being on opposing sides, but I was not going to let him join with the Ancients!
I drew even more power and was slammed by a spell from Morning Star. It would have killed me, if I hadn't been super charged with Chaos. My power absorbed it, turned it into even more power! I laughed with joy at this feeling and the battle!
Morning Star paused and looked at me. Shaitan was slowly getting to his feet. I used this opportunity to send POWER into the gate. It exploded with a most satisfactory noise. With that done, I could now turn my whole attention back to my new nemesis.
"The gate is gone. There is no longer a reason to fight. Truce?" I asked, still buzzing with power.
"You have gone too far," Shaitan hissed at me.
"You guys changed the rules at the last minute. I just danced to my own tune," I replied feeling elated and drunk with my power.
Morning Star started to grow. I looked as he grew and grew. When he was done, he was a magnificent 12 feet in height. His attraction factor had grown with his height. I gritted my teeth and resisted the need to throw myself at his feet.
"Foolish mortal. You have angered me, and thwarted my plans! You will pay for this with your soul," Morning Star intoned in a deadly voice.
He reached out, but I was not going to stay in one spot and be a target. I cast a spell of invisibility one me, but that didn't seem to work with him. While he lost sight of me, he still turned in my direction as I moved.
Also, more and more demons were showing up. I tried to teleport myself away, but I seemed to be locked in to this area. Not good. I threw caution to the wind, and fully opened myself to Chaos.
I swelled with power. I thought about it, and I started to grow, too. I soon matched Morning Star in height. During my growth, I had become visible again. We eyed each other. I felt spells bounce off my skin. That surprised me.
Apparently, with so much power flowing through and into me, my very skin was super charged! It resisted or threw off spells cast at me. I laughed at the next few attempts on me.
I still could not hurt Morning Star, so I started in on his demons. They were much easier to destroy. What startled me most was a physical attack by Shaitan. He too had grown, but I had not witnessed it. He threw himself at me, and we struggled.
Damn, but he was STRONG! But then, so was I! We wrestled back and forth, but neither one of us was gaining an edge. I started glowing. This glow seemed to hurt Shaitan, so I held on, and glowed even more brightly!
Shaitan screamed, and threw himself as far from me as possible. Morning Star cast a beam of dark magic at me, that seemed to make me burn in agony! Nothing I did seemed able to stop it.
Something nudged my memory, and I drew my sword. I put it between me and the beam. The relief was instantaneous! My sword was shielding me from whatever that power was! I started forward, determined to kill Morning Star, and have my sword take his soul. That was how mad I had gotten, by then.
While I held the sword between his spell and me, I gathered and cast a spell of my own. It was actually successful to some extent! Morning Star staggered back, and the beam he had been casting at me was gone.
I lunged at him, and my sword bit into his flesh. The results were astonishing! I felt as if I had touched a live wire! My arm tingled with shock, and went numb. I dropped my sword. Morning Star looked with astonishment at his wound. I don't think anyone had ever hurt him, before.
I laughed at him. I laughed with the joy of battle, and with the power coursing through me. The demons had quit trying to attack me. They all looked shocked, as well. I guess it was upsetting to see the center of your universe, the untouchable; not only touched, but hurt! And by a mere mortal, at that!
Edited By TeNderLoin