Forced Magic (30 page)

This last statement hit me hard. They were afraid of me.
They were afraid that I might join the shadow wizard in this crazy thing. Once
again, as in so many times in my life, I felt like an outsider. I sat down on
the ground. I just sat there, staring at the ground. Would I ever truly fit in
anywhere? Was I always going to be some sort of outsider? These people, who I
thought would stand with me, even loosely, were now afraid of me joining this
shadow maniac on his mad quest for power. All I wanted to do was to find
Michelle, my friend, and rescue her if I could. If I could only see that she was
ok, then I would let it all go. My plan was to just leave with Fetch. If I were
to survive this, I would just leave. I prepared myself for a confrontation with
them, to let them know that I would not accept this. Michelle was my family and
I was going to be the one to find her. Me and Fetch. But before I could say
anything, the shadow wizard's voice spoke.

“Well,” said the coyote, “Looks like everyone is showing
their support for you, Jack. I knew it was just a matter of time before their
true colors would shine through. I bet they want to take you to the council for
your own protection. The ancient Philosophers with backward thinking. They will
destroy you in the end, Jack. You know that.”

I didn’t respond to what he said. I had no way of honestly
saying that they wouldn’t destroy me. I was not supposed to be alive, according
to them. I was something different. Well, I had always felt different, so in a
strange way I found comfort in being that way.

“Is Michelle alive?” I asked.

“You will have to meet me to find out, Jack. You and Fetch.
Oh by the way Fetch, the dragons wanted me to kill you. They think you are a
freak and should be destroyed. Quite frankly they are surprised you are alive.
If you join me, I will protect you from them, and maybe we can find the cure to
your small, dwarf size. There is so much more to being a dragon, Fetch, things
that you will never discover in your present form.”

I looked over at Fetch. He was staring at the coyote with a
look of confusion on his face. I could tell that there was an inner struggle
going on inside of him. I didn’t blame him for wanting to be normal. He had
obviously given up a lot when he refused to take my essence. Finally he looked
up and growled. It was a defiant sounding 'no'.

“Very well, Fetch, but mark my words, in the end both you
and Jack will join me or you will die. This has gone on long enough, Jack, time
for my friend here to lead you to me. I will give you a few moments to say
good-bye."

The coyote closed its mouth and sat there, bobbing its head
up and down, showing its impatience in waiting for me and Fetch. I turned to
everyone who was standing there quietly.

“This is a mistake, Jack," said Smith, "You will
not survive this."

“You don’t know that for sure. If you did, I doubt that you
would all be so afraid of me."

The silence that followed let me know how they all felt. A
strange black door had appeared by the coyote. Before anyone could say another
word to try and stop me, I took off at a full run toward the door. Fetch was
right at my heels and I could hear the others calling out to me to stop. When
we got close to the door we sped up, and before I could stop myself, we jumped
through the dark door into a nightmare of a scene.

There was the shadow wizard at the top of a tall hill. All
around me were pine trees. It was cooler here than Pek’s yard and I figured
that we must be in the mountains somewhere, possibly Mount Lemon. In the dark I
could see many different shapes moving from tree to tree toward me and Fetch.
We stood there and I noticed that they wouldn’t come into the light. We walked toward
the shadow. As we got close to him, he waved a hand in the air and the trees
disappeared. What I saw moving around were Goblins. Hundreds possibly thousands
of them slowly corralled us toward a valley.

From behind him came a rumbling sound and slowly the head of
the dragon that was with him earlier appeared. Then, from all around the little
valley that we had been corralled into, we heard more rumbling. With a burst of
flame, dragons all along the valley were revealed. They formed an outer circle
in back of the goblins. We were trapped! I had a feeling we would not survive
this encounter. This was the twisted black army of the shadow wizard and it was
either join or die. A hot rush of wind caught me in the face. It was the breath
of the dragons that now surrounded me and Fetch.

The shadow wizard was now floating above the ground. His
arms spread out to his sides, ending in two fists of crackling power. His head
was tilted back. He was wearing a black robe that collected energy out of the
air. It would shimmer and hum at times, and would move as if it was a living
creature reaching out and grabbing at invisible threads of power. I recognized
the robe as the force that had tried to pull me into itself in my nightmare. I
understood that it hadn't been a dream, but a vision of how it was using the
dragons hatching as a way to gain power. The darkness that was the robe reached
out, whispering to me as it did in my dream, bragging about how it was done. It
would pull peoples' life force toward itself at the moment the eggs were
hatching. He used their pain and fear to feed that dark force, and then after
it was saturated in pain and fear, he would release it back for the dragon to
feed on, with the life force now surrounded by his spell.  Once consumed by the
dragons, he would have control of them from their first moment of life. They
were consuming a life force that had been dipped in pain and fear, but
something went wrong when Fetch hatched. As my life force was being pulled into
the blackness, Fetch refused to consume me. He chose to go against all of his
instincts and spare me. The shadow wizard was not prepared for this and had to
release my life force before it was surrounded by his spell. The protection
that all dragon eggs have, then surrounded my life force and became a part of
who I was. Fetch was a free dragon controlled by no one, and I was now
something different never seen before.  All this was whispered to me as the
shadow wizard floated down to where I was.  I looked at Fetch and could tell by
the way he was shaking his head that the voice whispered to him too.

The wizard stopped ten feet in front of us. He was laughing
quietly to himself. He spoke and when he did his voice was the same as the
darkness.

“You see, Jack, you are nothing but a spell gone wrong. You
and Fetch are mistakes. That is how everyone sees you. You are freaks to them
and you will never fit in. You belong here with me. I can help you. It was my
spell that created you. I can find a way to help you, Jack. You are becoming
something else. You're still changing.  I can cure you. I can give Fetch the
full life of a dragon."

Fetch and I looked at each other. There was a moment of
silence on the field, as if all the creatures there were holding their breath
waiting for our response. Either 'yes' or 'no' was expected. We either join or
fight. We laughed. We laughed long and loud. We laughed at the fact that this
wizard here expected us to believe he could change us? It was long and
hysterical laughter. It was like a private joke between me and Fetch. No one
had asked us if we wanted to change, if we wanted to be normal. Fetch had
really known nothing but who he was. It was like asking a fish who had always
been a fish if he would like to be a squirrel. Fetch didn’t care about the
other dragons accepting him. He was who he was, and that was fine with him. And
as for me? Yes, I had regrets, but at the heart of it I was a comic-reading,
fantasy-loving geek who had been given incredible powers. My body was now in
the best shape of my life. This was a geek's dream come true. I knew that I
couldn’t explain this to the wizard. He was born into this world of magic,
governed by rules of magic's nature. So what if this world saw me as a freak, I
didn’t really plan on being a part of it.

“No,” I finally said, “No, I will not join you. I can’t
speak for Fetch, he is free to make his own choices, but my answer is 'no'.”
There was a stirring on the hill as the dragons seemed to react to something I
just said.

“I don’t know why you continue to play this game, Jack.
Fetch is yours to command and I grow tired of this game."

A bolt of energy shot out of his hand knocking me backward.
Another one wrapped around Fetch, tying him to the ground. This was not the
same wizard I had fought earlier today. He had gained in power and it was
different from before.  But, even as I struggled against this new powerful
wizard, I realized something. He didn’t want the dragons to know that Fetch was
free. He didn’t want them to understand that I had no control over anything
that Fetch did. My statement had scared him and I think I knew why. His spell
must depend on the dragons thinking they had no choice. Fetch's very presence
proved that wrong. By my saying he had a choice, I was showing the dragons that
they had a choice too. His spell over the dragons might not be as powerful as
he played it up to be. This must be the key to so much of his magic. Trust, and
the belief that he was powerful, gave him more power. My being immune to so
many of his spells was causing him a lot of trouble.  A plan was forming in my
mind.

The spell that had knocked me down was keeping me there. I
could see Fetch struggling to get up from his own rope bond. Each rope of
energy was directed from each hand of the shadow and had a different color.
Mine was red and Fetch's was purple. Fetch was blasting his rope with fire over
and over again. I kept forcing the magic that was in me at my own rope. In a
wild second of inspiration I called out to Fetch.

“I need fire!" I yelled.

Fetch shot a flame the same color as my bonds. I caught it
in my hands and grabbed the ever tightening rope. As soon as I touched the
rope, it burst away from my body like a water balloon popping. I sent a wave of
forced magic toward Fetch's bonds and they shimmered and disappeared. We were
both on our feet now and ready to fight. The terrifying thing for me was the absolute
lack of knowledge as to how my magic even worked. I just seemed to force the
magic out of me and it gave me what I needed. It was almost as if it had a mind
of its own. When I used it, I could feel it building up inside of me and then I
would just push or force it out of my body. I knew if I got out of this fight
alive, I would have to learn some kind of control over this ability.

The shadow had been pushed back from mine and Fetch's
attempt to throw off his spell. I pushed another wave of magic at him as Fetch
shot a burst of fire in his direction, but we had hesitated too long and he
stopped our attack with a shrug. I saw a strong green shield form in front of
him as our combined attack ricocheted away from him. We stood facing each other
on the field. Finally I spoke.

"If we are going to do this, please stop hiding. Just
show us who you are."

In my heart I already knew who he was, I just didn’t want to
admit it, but all the signs pointed to one person. With a laugh and a wave of
his hands, the dark shadow shield melted away and we saw our attacker for the
first time. It was Johnathen. It had been him all along. There never was
another wizard attacking us or trying to kill us. It had always been Johnathen.

He threw a flashing ball of fire at me and Fetch, and we
barely jumped away in time. This was nothing like it was in the comics or
fantasy books I read and loved. The fight seemed slow and clumsy.  Johnathen
had a strange look on his face, and for a moment I saw how haggard he looked.
He had the appearance of a worn out drug addict, hyped up on meth. He was not
aware that whatever new magic he was working, was taking its toll on him
physically. When Fetch and I stood up, he was breathing hard. A strange smile
crossed his face and sweat poured off his body.

“It worked!” he screamed, ”I knew it would. I was right. Oh
Jack, you have no idea what I have done. The power I am beginning to possess. I
knew it was possible and I have Michelle to thank for this. Too bad she is dead
now."

A roar of absolute rage came from Fetch. At the
pronouncement that Michelle was dead, he snapped. I joined him in his roar, as
rage swelled up inside me. This was the answer I was looking for. This was what
I was afraid to ask this whole time. Michelle was gone, and it was Johnathen's
fault. I felt betrayed. In my life I had read many stories about people being
betrayed. I had people who had lied to me and tricked me in one way or another.
The closest way to describe it, is feeling every emotion you have ever felt for
someone, all at the same time. The like, dislike, love, hate, anger, happiness,
and sadness. Every single emotion you can have, balled up inside you at the
same time. That is the closest description to betrayal. That is what I felt
about Johnathen right now.

We ran at him, with both my forced magic and Fetch's fire
raging at full power. I couldn’t stop myself, I was in a towering rage and the
magic had taken me completely over. All I wanted was to destroy Johnathen, to
tear him apart and completely obliterate him. I was dimly aware of light and
the sound of explosions going on around me as I ran at him. Before I could get
to him, I felt the stinging spit of the goblins as they joined in the fight.
Strong hands reached for me and pulled me down. I could hear Fetch struggle and
I knew they had him too. Johnathen walked up to me, confident that my magic
could no longer hurt him. Blinded by rage and sorrow, I couldn’t focus enough
to get the goblins off me. I could feel their acid spit burning my skin down to
the bone. Johnathen walked up as the goblins beat me to my knees.

Tears were blurring my view of him as he walked up and
kicked me in the face. Pain exploded through my body as I felt my nose break
for a second time. I could feel the blood slowly running down my face. It
trickled into my mouth full of broken teeth and I began to choke. My vision
swam in and out as Johnathen kneeled to look me in the eye. He grabbed my face
with his hand and began squeezing it. I could feel the bones shift as
Johnathen's unnatural strength began to crush my face.

"You will die tonight, Jack. Before the sun comes up,
you will die. Yes, I killed Michelle. She turned her back on me, and, in the
end, was the victim of the very magic I would have shared with her. I had plans
for her that would have placed her in the history books when I took over. There
is a new world dawning, Jack. A world of peace and harmony. I will rule that
world and destroy all who stand in my way, Jack. Even though you are a mistake,
I would have gladly shared it with you. I considered you a friend. But now, you
must die as an example to any who try to stand in my way. How could you side
with the filthy fairies? They are what is wrong with everything in the magic
world. You turned your back on me the minute you stood with them. Now I have to
kill you.”

“As for Fetch, I will let the other dragons tear him apart.
It will be the last thing your broken body will witness.”

He reached his hand up and his voice amplified across the
valley.

"Destroy the dragon with a name!” he said.

All was quiet. The goblins had put their hands over my mouth
to keep me from yelling.  I was in too much pain. I was hurt and my forced
magic seemed to have left me. I was helpless. I couldn’t see or hear Fetch. I
wanted to tell him to get away. I couldn’t.

I could feel the bodies of the goblins holding me down begin
to shake. They were afraid of the dragons. The goblins that had Fetch pinned,
whined a little, not wanting to bring too much attention to themselves. The red
and gold dragon that was with Johnathen before, swooped down from its spot at
the top of the valley. It landed next to Johnathen and looked at him. Johnathen
pointed toward Fetch, and the goblins holding him, overcome with fear, ran
squealing into the darkness. Fetch didn’t move. He stayed there steadily
looking at the dragon. I wanted to shout at him to fly away, but I realized
that the dragon would just catch him in the air. Slowly the red dragon lowered
its head and met Fetch's level-eyed stare.

I could see a thin trail of smoke coming from Jonathan's
robes. It reached up to the head of the red dragon and circled it like a crown.

“Kill him!” said Johnathen in a commanding tone.

The dragon didn’t move.

“Kill him now!" he repeated, his voice showing a little
hesitation.

It was an emotionally draining experience to hear Johnathen
talk this way. He had fooled us all. How could he have hidden the monster he
was from Michelle for so long? The tears continued to fall from my eyes.

The red dragon lifted an enormous claw in the air. I
struggled against the goblins as I felt a new ball of magic form in my body.
The pain of their acid spit made it hard for me to concentrate. The hurt of
Johnathen's confusing betrayal kept me foggy and unfocused. So much didn’t make
sense.  So many questions formed in my head.

My forced magic continued to form in my body. It kept on
growing since it did not have any push from me to force it out. I thought I
would explode if I couldn’t force this magic out. I was in a panic. Frustration
and rage was all I could feel. This rage fed the magic growing inside me, but I
had no focus to release it.

The red dragon stood there with its paw in the air. It was
hesitating like it was not sure what to do. The inner struggle was apparent on
its face. Johnathen shot a ball of power at it and hit it on the side of its
face. The dragon roared, and, in its moment of pain, swung its paw to the side,
ripping at Johnathen's black smoke robe.

Johnathen screamed in pain and the smoke attaching itself to
the red dragon blew away. Its eyes glowed and rapidly changed colors. It had
broken Johnathen's hold, and before Johnathen could get it back, the dragon
blasted him with a cold green fire. Finally, the goblins nerve broke, and,
letting me go, they scattered in all directions, squealing and running into the
darkness of the night.

Johnathen had a strange wiggling field surrounding him,
protecting him from the dragons fire. The magic inside me continued to grow as
I tried to stand up. A burst of light hit my eyes as Fetch's healing flame
surrounded me. I started to recover from the damage that Johnathen and the
goblins had caused. Then Johnathen reached through the field of protection
surrounding him and grabbed me by the throat. He was strong and I could feel my
throat begin to close up,  when he let me go and screamed again. Another
dragon, this one purple and yellow, had slashed at his robes. The dragons were
freeing themselves from Johnathen's control. The field lashed out and something
in the pattern of it looked familiar. It whipped around like a living thing,
grabbing at the two dragons that continued to slash at the black robe. It began
to fall apart.

By this time, the magic in me had reached a point of having
to be released. With all the strength I could muster, and fetch's thoughts of
confidence in me pounding in my head, I pushed it out of me. It was a painful
experience. I could feel it tearing itself from my body. I fell back down to my
knees, still surrounded by Fetch's healing flame. Fetch had joined the other
dragons in their quest to tear apart the smoking robe. He was in the air,
fighting part of the strange field that was surrounding Johnathen. A red and
yellow part of the field had broken off and was squeezing Fetch around the
neck. I sent a pulse of magic toward him, sending the wraith like thing back to
the original field protecting Johnathen. He was trying to stop the dragons from
tearing his robe apart. My first pulse was still hanging in the air pushing
against the field. It buckled and then the pulse broke through the barrier. It
went through Johnathen, causing him to gasp in pain. He fell to his knees while
the two dragons continued to tear at his robes. I started to move toward
Johnathen when I was blindsided by a goblin. They were finding the courage to
return, and, once again, I found myself being pummeled by these hateful
creatures. This time I was ready for them. I let my sorrow and anger wash over
me as I tore into them. I could hear their squeals of pain and outrage as I
lashed out like a madman. I don’t know how many I hurt, or even if I killed any
of them.

There was so many of them. I was slowly being overwhelmed.
One had a club and hit my hip. I screamed in pain and crumpled to the ground.
They had found my weakest point and they were beginning to exploit it. It was
amazing at how many fists continued to hit me in the same spot on my hip. The
protective healing fire was the only thing that was keeping me from being
burned by their acid spit. I kept on fighting through, trying to make my way to
Johnathen, to help Fetch and the other dragons. I saw a dragon swoop toward me.
Its roar sent the goblins scrambling away. I was relieved at its presence,
thinking that this one would tilt the scales in mine and Fetch's favor. The
dragon swooped down, and, before I realized what it was doing, sent a burst of
fire right at me. It was bright orange in color and it weighed me down to the
ground. It burned away Fetch's flame and started to crush the life out of me.
Remembering how heavy the flame was when I caught it at Pek's trailer, I was
afraid I wasn’t going to make it this time. I could feel the weight of the fire
pressing down on me as the dragon moved closer. I couldn’t tell if it was doing
this of its own free will, or if it was being compelled by Johnathen, all I
knew was that I was not going to make it.

A blue light appeared above my head. It flew directly into
the eyes of the dragon. It roared in annoyance as the light buzzed around its
head. It swatted at the light like it was a fly. This made it stop the
continuous flow of fire in my direction. As soon as the flame stopped, I rolled
away and took a deep breath. I pounded the ground in frustration. I was way
over my head here. I didn't know what I was doing. Michelle was dead and now Fetch
and I were stuck in chaos. I didn’t see how we were going to get out of this.
The dragons seemed to be fighting each other and I had lost sight of Fetch.
This strange power that Johnathen had seemed to compensate for the power he was
losing from the dragons. It dawned on me that I had no idea where that blue
ball of light had originated. I heard a screech coming from a group of goblins
and saw the reason why.

It was Pete. Somehow he had found us and was joining the
fight. He was surrounded by goblins. He was swinging his sword around slashing
at them. There was a sick, green, wetness covering him and I realized it must
be goblin blood. This was a real battle. There were things dying. I saw a flash
of blue light out of the corner of my eye, and saw that Samantha was
distracting the dragons still fighting on Johnathen's side. Again I couldn’t
tell if these dragons were controlled or just chose to stay on Johnathen's
side.

Samantha looked at me from across the battlefield and
smiled. That was when the goblin attacked. He jumped out of the darkness,
grabbed her by the throat, and spit in her face. I yelled for Fetch as I ran
across the field, everything else forgotten for a moment. The only thought in
my head was her safety. I had lost Michelle. I was not about to lose another
friend.

Fetch appeared in the air to my right. He shot a stream of
flame at my hands. Catching it I continued to run shooting flame at anyone who
got in my way. My hip pounded with pain with every step I took. Goblins were
screaming in pain as the flame from my hands hit them. Fetch would pick them up
and fling them to the ground biting and slashing at them. I felt the splatter
of blood hit my face as I finally reached Samantha's side.

She was struggling to catch her breath. Her face was nothing
but a bubbling mass of raw and burning skin. You could already see a circle of
bone through her forehead and her hair was almost all melted away. Her eyes
were undamaged and she stared into the night gasping for air. There was fear
and confusion in those eyes.

Fetch knelt down and gently sent a blast of healing fire to
her face. Her breathing slowed and her eyes focused on me. I could hear Pete,
now at my side, slashing at any goblin that dared to get close. A hand touched
my shoulder and Smith whispered in my ear.

"It’s pretty bad, Jack. I don’t know if Fetch's flame
can cure her completely. We have to get out of here now."

“No,” I heard myself say, "I have to stop him. Get her
someplace safe.”

I stood up shaking in rage. It was all I had left. Johnathen
had taken everything away from me, and hurt and killed the people I cared
about. I was going to stop him. I had to stop him. I could feel the magic
building up inside of me. This time I was going to let it build up until it
would explode out of me. I didn’t care if I lived or died, I just wanted to
stop Johnathen. Fetch crouched, ready to run by my side, and let out a roar
that matched my rage. I began to run.

All the pain I felt was pushed aside. Goblins tried to grab
us spitting and snarling. I tossed them aside like they were nothing. The
dragons were now busy with their own battle above us. Only one was by
Johnathen's side. His robe was in tatters and he stood there waiting for me to
reach him. His shimmering patterned shield still surrounded him. I continued to
make my way over to him when Fetch was knocked back by a blast of black fire.