Dragon Magic: Book 3: Prophecy of the Dragons (7 page)

Three bolts of energy spun around the room, zipping in and out of their tight spirals every few laps. Andi stood next to Ben, trying to keep an eye on all three. Nervous energy seeped from her, and Ben guessed his calm kept it from escalating. He didn't bother tracking the streaks around the room as he and Felix had already locked eyes, daring the other to make the first move.

This wasn't the first time Felix had run this trial. It was a test of his mind's nimble control over magic. At some point in the next few moments – though Felix had waited ten minutes once – all three bolts of dark energy would dive inwards and try to race past Ben's defenses. Ben had passed this test once, but that time Felix had thrown a single bolt. All the other times, Ben had either been singed or had eradicated the bolts before they started their attack. According to Felix, that premature strike could often be as bad or worse as defending too late.

Without any sort of hint, the bolts shot in. Before they'd moved even six-inches, Ben eradicated them, also without moving a muscle. All three bolts dissipated into nothing.

"What happened?" Andi asked.

"It seems I didn't stand a chance," Felix said.

Ben shrugged and leaned over to kiss Andi's forehead. "You've supercharged me, babe. Especially since we've been training together. I feel unstoppable."

"Made you humble, too," Felix said. Andi laughed at that, and Ben felt his face heat up.

"I didn't mean anything by it," he mumbled, which got Andi to laugh even harder and Felix to chuckle.

"I know," Felix said. "You're only speaking the truth. And here's another truth: I believe you're ready to face the resurrection trial."

Ben raised his eyebrows, and confusion flashed off Andi. They hadn't discussed that yet, but she'd be up to speed soon enough. "So? What do we do?"

"That's up to you," Felix said. "Let your powers reach out and find how to get there. If you can't figure it out, you're not ready."

"Figure it out, huh?" He closed his eyes and pushed his powers into the multiverse. Felix said something, but he didn't pay it any mind. At this point it was probably something snarky anyway. The line to the proper dimension opened, and Ben didn't say anything. He grabbed both their hands, and they were there.

"Welcome," a raspy voice, one that sounded like it got little use, said. Ben looked around and found they were in a space about the size of Cassie's training room, with the same amount of nothing in it. The walls here were rocky instead of padded, though. An old man stood in front of them wearing a shimmering black robe. He looked human.

Ben opened his mouth to ask if this guy was the resurrection master, to introduce him and Andi, or something along those lines, but what came out instead was, "This is your entire realm?"

Andi gasped and nudged him, while both Felix and the resurrection master laughed.

"No, young one, this is simply the one access point you can sense. I assure you I don't live in such a hovel." The resurrection master's face then turned serious as he looked over Ben and Andi. "So, a Dragon Guard, and, by extension, his dragon, wish to learn the secrets of resurrection." Andi bristled a bit at being called his dragon, but he was often referred to as her Dragon Guard, so turn around was fair play, right?

"Is it possible for a Dragon Guard to learn the power?" Felix asked.

"Excellent question," the resurrection master said. "We'll find out together, won't we?"

Andi found her voice. "Okay, what's going on, and who are you? For that matter, where are we, and what's all this about resurrection and trials?"

"You've not told your dragon about this?" the resurrection master asked.

"Felix sort of sprung this on us. Andi and I have been separated for months, so it never came up when she got back." He paused and threw Andi a wink. "And you might want to quit calling her 'my dragon' or she's apt to lose it."

"My apologies, Alexandria." The resurrection master gave her a slight bow. "But if I were addressing you and talking about Benjamin, I'd call him your Dragon Guard.

"That's his title anyway," she muttered. He, Felix, and the resurrection master laughed, while Andi rolled her eyes.

"As for your question, you two are here to learn the power of resurrection. Or, rather, Benjamin is. By being spiritually linked with him, he'll take care of it all. You help by being with him. Your essence, your power, like it does with the rest of his magic, will amplify the resurrection, allowing it to raise both of you, good as new."

"Assuming, of course, he can resurrect her at all," Felix said.

"I jested earlier," the resurrection master said. "It will be no problem. In fact, there's no real need for the trial. That raw power they both hold will be enough to raise them." He turned to Ben. "But if you know how, it takes the guesswork out. Eases the mind a bit, doesn't it?"

That made sense. "Yes, sir." So the pirate captain had been right. He would have come back. But what about the other thing? "If Andi is killed first, will that make the resurrection null and void?"

The resurrection master gave him a funny look. "No, not at all. You'll both end up in the same place." He paused, mulling something over. "It does, however, bring up an interesting point if you're in different realms, as you've been for the past while. I assume your bond would reestablish and you'd find yourselves together in the grand afterlife waiting room, but I can't say for sure." He tapped his fingers on his chin, his eyes glazed over in thought.

"The mysteries of the unknown, thanks to no other dragon-wizard pair in history being able to resurrect," Felix said.

"Yes," the resurrection master said. "There have not been many duos, but those that have existed in the past did not have the power. Though they're stronger together than apart, never has a dragon contained the amplification power Alexandria possesses. Even if a magic-using Dragon Guard were strong enough to gain the power, his dragon wouldn't be able to come back, meaning the wizard would die again as soon as he resurrected. It's a very limiting cycle, I assure you."

"Sounds like it," Ben said. "But Andi's strength means we can come back?"

"You can. And speaking of the trial, are you ready?"

Ben took a deep breath. "Any hints?"

"None except do your best."

With that, the resurrection master snapped his fingers, and Ben felt himself blink out of existence for a split-second. He feared at first that he'd again be separated from Andi's emotions, but he felt her as strong as ever. In fact, she still stood right next to him, but he couldn't see her.

Couldn't see anything, really. He stood in a pitch-black room, or whatever this was. The air felt the same as in the resurrection master's chamber. He guessed his spirit, his mind, had been sent somewhere for the trial. Right inside himself, if he was reading everything correctly. So what was the trial, and how was he supposed to complete it if he couldn't see anything?

"Duh, that's easy enough to solve," he muttered. A quick spell brought light to the room. He found he stood in a small place that looked exactly like Cassie's training room. He held his sword and shield in his hands, but no clue as what to do next fluttered into his mind. Was figuring it out the trial itself? What did that have to do with resurrection?

Before he could puzzle anything out, a presence appeared behind him. He spun and found himself face to face with…himself? They stared at each other for a second, and then he said, "Are you a figment of my imagination?"

"Funny," the other Ben said. "I was going to ask you the same thing."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, three huge spells exploded out of the other him. It was a destructive weave of dark energy that Ben barely got a mystical shield up in time to block. Wow, could he figure out how to shoot three spells at once, especially such strong ones? He taught himself how to weave mystical powers together, but that's not what his mirror image had done.

He shook his head to focus. He could experiment later, but if this him could, he should be able to, too, right? He started to admonish himself again to keep his head in the game when the other self shot out a dark energy beam. This time he deflected it with the shield on his arm. He gave it a quick once-over and saw there wasn't even a slight scorch mark on it despite such a powerful bolt. How many times had he wished he'd asked Cassie what it was made of? It wasn't standard steel, but that didn't mean he knew what it was.

He shook his head again to clear it and whispered, "What's wrong with me?"

"You're making it easy for me," the other said, a smirk on his face.

Maybe not easy, but he wasn't being a difficult opponent, either. Ben built up a baseball-sized sphere of energy in the palm of his hand and hurled it at his other self. Instead of following up with a physical strike as he should have, he watched the dark energy bomb explode around the other him's mystical shield. He hung back and wondered how Andi had spent her days while stuck in the Stronghold. She said she'd gone flying, read at the library, and watched the TV system, which sounded like the best mix of cable, pay-per-view, and Netflix Instant ever. How had he not found it when he was there? Other than that, she hadn't felt like talking about it yet. Which he fully understood. If she ever did, he'd be there for her.

As he pondered this, his other self lunged at him, sword-first, and only his quick reaction brought his own blade up in time to parry it away. They sparred for a frantic few seconds, both intent on ending this as soon as possible, but they proved as evenly matched as could be. Which made a lot of sense, but that knowledge didn't make this any easier. They backed off, sized each other up. Or, at least, the other Ben was sizing him up. He was lost, wondering if it had been the resurrection master or the Dragon Council who decided Felix shouldn't be allowed to have both a dragon lifespan and the power to raise himself from the dead.

"You can't win," his other self said. "Not that you should want to. I'll take us to the greatest height of the multiverse so much quicker, so much more efficiently. I don't even have to kill you since we're much stronger together. I will need to lock you away, of course."

"Where's your Andi?" Wait, of all the things he could reply with, that's what he chose? Where was his mind in here? He shouldn't even be listening to whatever this other self was.

"My Andi is your Andi. And vice-versa. In fact, you've felt it. She's closer to me now than you."

What? No, that couldn't be true. She was his, and he was hers. As strong as ever. Right?

A glint in the eye of his other self could show that he knew what Ben was thinking. His other self's muscles twitched to attack again, but before he launched himself, Ben reached out for Andi, and her pure energy fed into him. Okay, so maybe that tiny bit of taint was mixed in there, but since he couldn't tell for sure, he had to admit that he might be putting the doubt unnecessarily into his own mind. Either way, he could still draw upon her spiritual essence, that part of her that made him so much stronger, and use it. Whatever had been clouding his mind, whether it was the trial itself or his other (his evil?) self, dissipated, and he sent out a net of magic, both necromantic and the Healing Arts, that engulfed the other Ben. The training room inside his mind blinked away, and he stood back with Felix and the resurrection master. And his beautiful Alexandria.

Confusion poured out of her, while Felix wore a look of surprise. The resurrection master, however, gave him a simple smile.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You tell us," Andi said. "Your mind went blank a second ago, and now you're back."

"It's over already?"

"It is," the resurrection master said. "You proved not only strong enough to handle the power of resurrection, which I already knew, but also how nimble your mind is, even in a crisis." He looked Ben square in the eyes. "I think, young man, you've proved your strength of character might be your strongest attribute."

Ben blushed, and in order to get the resurrection master off it, he said, "How long was I out?"

"I told you," Andi said. "Like a second."

"Wait, that whole thing only took a second? What happened?"

Exasperation exploded off Andi. "You tell me!"

"To us, it happened in the blink of an eye," the resurrection master said, a slim smile of amusement on his lips. "To you, it took however long it took."

"Were you watching?" Ben asked.

"No. At least not in the way you understand. But I do know everything that went on. It proved…interesting, to say the least. In fact, I've never seen anything like it, and yet you passed the trial more convincingly than I've ever seen. As I said, resurrection without a spell would have been possible for you, but now when I give you the spell proper to learn, you'll master it with no problem."

"What do you mean?" Felix asked. "He didn't face the normal trials?"

"No. The trials are set up as a puzzle to test how nimble and strong a wizard's mind is. It's never a life or death struggle like Benjamin faced."

"Life or death?" Andi practically screamed. "If it's life or death, I need to be there."

"You were," Ben said, and kissed her cheek. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have made it." He turned to the resurrection master. "He was my evil side, right? That's what I took from it. Did I kill him?"