Gathering of the Chosen (33 page)

Now Saia was making choking noises. They
were horrible in Carmaz's ears, making him feel as sickly as if he
had come down with a terrible disease.

Then, without warning, Saia dropped
Alira's Rulebook. The sudden sound of the Rulebook's impact on the
floor—a great, big loud
whomp
—surprised Carmaz. As a result,
he relaxed his grip on Saia's body only slightly.

But it was enough. In a second, Saia's
whole body slipped out of his arms and his friend vanished into the
shadows of the Void without another word.

“Saia!” Carmaz shouted. “No!”

Carmaz wanted to go into the Void after
Saia, but Tashir was still holding onto him and was now dragging
Carmaz away from the Void as fast as he could. “Don't be an idiot,
Carmaz. If you go in there after him, you'll die as well.”

Carmaz didn't pay any attention to
Tashir's words as he struggled to break free of Tashir's grip. All
he wanted to do was delve into the Void after Saia. He didn't know
how he'd save his friend or if it was even possible to do so.
Still, his every instinct told him to save his friend, regardless
of what harm might come to him as a result.

“Everyone!” Alira shouted behind Carmaz.
“We are teleporting now!”

The light barrier immediately fell, and as
soon as it did, Carmaz felt himself swept off his feet and into
another world of darkness quite different from the Void. He
couldn't breathe for a second. Then he felt solid ground under his
feet again and he was blinded by the outside light for a moment
before his eyes readjusted to the brightness.

All four of them were on the streets of
World's End now. Wherever Carmaz looked, he saw the other godlings,
as well as the Soldiers of the Gods, who had surrounded the
godlings as if to protect them from the Void. None of them seemed
hurt, but all of them seemed afraid or worried.

It took Carmaz a moment to realize that
they had teleported outside of the Stadium. It took him another
moment to realize that he was looking at the Stadium itself. Only
now, the Stadium was completely consumed in shadow. It looked like
a solid black pillar standing among the rest of the city, with
shadow tendrils extending out from its top toward the other
buildings like the tentacles of an octopus.

Though Carmaz noticed all of that, he
didn't really focus on anything, not even when the Soldiers of the
Gods ran over to them and began looking them over for wounds. A
couple of them even checked on Alira, but the Judge waved them off
irritably as she stood up to her full height. She squinted at the
shadow-covered Stadium, looking more like her old self even without
her glasses.

“Judge Alira!” one of the Soldiers said,
who Carmaz recognized as Captain Garvan. “We are so glad you are
safe. We thought—”

“Shut up,” Alira snapped at Garvan. “Tell
me, are all of the godlings safe?”

“Yes, ma'am,” said Garvan, nodding. “The
only ones that are unaccounted for are most of the Hollech Bracket
participants, such as Princess Raya.”

Raya must still be in there,
Carmaz
thought, looking at the Void again.
Or is dead, just like
Saia.

“That is not good,” said Alira, shaking
her head. “But what about Braim Kotogs?”

“We do not know where he is located at
this present time,” said Garvan. “We thought that he might be with
you.”

“He was kidnapped by the assassin that had
tried to kill Princess Raya yesterday,” said Alira. “That's all I
know about his disappearance.”

“Noted, Judge,” said Garvan. “Do you want
us to go and find him or—”

“No,” said Alira. She pointed at the Void.
“Go and find any gods you can and get them over here to help deal
with this. Tell your men to relocate the godlings. Get them as far
from this place as you can. Understood?”

“Perfectly, ma'am,” said Garvan, saluting
her. He nodded at Carmaz, Tashir, and Malya. “Does that include
these three?”

“It does,” said Alira. “We must not allow
the Void to kill these godlings. Otherwise, the Tournament itself
will be radically changed forever.”

“Understood,” said Garvan. He then
gestured at Carmaz, Tashir, and Malya. “You three, come with me. I
will take you away to a safer part of the city while Alira and the
gods deal with the Void.”

Tashir and Malya walked over to Garvan
without any fuss or complaint, but Carmaz did not move from where
he stood. He was too busy staring at the shadow-covered Stadium,
hoping to see Saia run out of the building's entrance alive and
well, for any sign that Saia was still living. He wasn't even sure
that he
could
move, at least until he realized that his feet
were already taking him over to Garvan without him even thinking
about it.

As Carmaz walked over to Garvan, he saw a
flash of light out of the corner of his eye and looked up. He saw
dozens of the gods flying around the Stadium, firing energy blasts
at the Void, but none of their attacks left much of a dent in the
Void. The attacks simply vanished into the Void's darkness, leaving
no sign at all that the Void had even been touched.

If even the
gods
can't beat this
thing, then how can we?
Carmaz thought, feeling his courage
drain away at the thought.
What does this mean for the rest of
us? And what about those who are still in the Stadium, the Hollech
Bracket challengers? What about Raya?

Carmaz looked at the others. Garvan was
now leading him, Tashir, and Malya back to the rest of the
godlings, who were being led away from the Stadium by Garvan's men.
He knew that he should just follow Garvan and get to safety. After
all, he had no real powers to speak of, which made him practically
useless against the Void. Besides, he had the strongest suspicion
that Raya was already dead or dying in the embrace of the Void. She
was just as powerless as he was, after all, and likely had even
less advanced warning of the Void's assault than they did. Going
back in there to rescue her would be suicide. At best, he would
only be able to recover her body so that her parents could give her
the burial that she deserved.

Even so, that didn't make Carmaz feel
comfortable at all. He kept thinking of Saia, how he had failed to
save his best friend in the whole world. The full emotional reality
had not yet hit him—that much he knew, as he was still thinking
rationally—but sooner or later it would, and by then he would
probably not be in any position to do anything except mourn the
loss of his friend.

And if it turns out that Raya is dead
as well …
Carmaz didn't finish the thought.

So, without telling anyone else what he
was about to do, Carmaz turned and ran back to the Stadium, back to
the Void. He heard Alira and the others yelling at him to get back,
but he didn't listen to them. He just ran and ran as fast as he
could, without a plan or even a thought as to how he might avoid
suffering the same fate that had befallen Saia. He would just have
to improvise.

As Carmaz approached the Void, a dozen or
so shadow tendrils emerged from the darkness and flew toward him.
This time, there was no dodging them. One of the tendrils slapped
him in the face. It felt like being slapped by the cold arm of a
corpse. The others, meanwhile, wrapped around his body and arms,
completely immobilizing him and making it impossible for him to
escape.

What foolishness,
said the Void,
though Carmaz thought he only heard its voice in his head.
You
escaped me, but now you return to me? Though I'm hardly
complaining. This just makes it all the easier to consume
you.

Then Carmaz felt the Void's slimy cold
tendrils squeezing around his body. The pressure was intense enough
to make him cry out in pain, but his cry was choked and barely
escaped his mouth, coming out more like a pathetic squeak than
anything else. Even so, he didn't give up. He fought against it as
best as he could, but no matter how hard he fought, the Void's grip
on his body only became tighter.

But then four swords came out of nowhere
and slashed the tendrils that had grabbed Carmaz. The tendrils
around his body immediately loosened and vanished, while the other
half returned to the Void itself without delay.

Carmaz—whose body was now almost
completely drained of his energy—fell to his hands and knees on the
cold stone street, gasping for air. He was still cold, but at least
now he was no longer suffocating.

He then looked up, wondering who had saved
him (and thinking that it might be one of the gods), when he saw
the four-armed assassin from yesterday standing above him. The
shadowy giant glared down at him from behind its mask, making
Carmaz wonder if he had managed to escape the muck of a swamp only
to jump straight into the fire.

But then Braim appeared at the assassin's
side, grabbed Carmaz by the collar of his shirt, and lifted him up
to his feet. Carmaz staggered, but managed to regain his footing
quickly. He then looked at Braim in surprise.

“Braim?” said Carmaz. “How did you get
here? And what are you doing with that assassin?”

“She's on our side right now,” said Braim,
gesturing at the assassin, who was still glaring at both of them.
“I'll explain later. Anyway, what's going on? I just got here.”

Carmaz pointed at the Stadium. “The Void
appeared and covered the Stadium in its shadow. Almost all of the
godlings got out alive, although most of the Hollech Bracket
participants are still in there and we aren't sure if they are dead
or not.”

“Does that include Raya?” said Braim,
glancing at the Void.

“Yes,” said Carmaz, nodding. “I was going
to go in and save her, but—”

“I got it,” said Braim. “But where did the
Void even come from? I thought the Powers had given it firm
boundaries to make sure it didn't enter.”

“I don't know,” said Carmaz. “It said
something about some natural laws breaking or something. I didn't
understand it.”

Braim, on the other hand, looked as though
he understood exactly what Carmaz was talking about. And based on
his expression, he looked rather guilty, even though, as far as
Carmaz knew, Braim had absolutely nothing to do with this situation
at all.

“All right,” said Braim. He jerked a thumb
in the direction of the Stadium. “I'll go in and rescue Raya and
anyone else I can find. You just go back with everyone else and get
the hell out of here.”

“Why?” said Carmaz. He shuddered due to
the cold still in his body. “You're mortal just like the rest of
us. The Void will consume you just like it did to Saia.”

“Saia?” said Braim in surprise. He looked
around. “You mean—”

“Yes,” Carmaz interrupted. “And I would
have suffered the same fate as him if you hadn't saved me. So—as
much as it pains me to admit this—I think we should leave this to
the gods.”

Braim glanced at the Void, but then shook
his head. “Nah. I'm partially responsible for this mess. I think I
have to fix it.”

“You?” said Carmaz. “But how?”

“Again, I'll fill you in another time,”
said Braim. “For now, I have to deal with the Void. I can help the
gods.”

Carmaz wasn't sure that he believed Braim,
yet the firmness in Braim's voice told him that this mage was not
to be argued with. And frankly, after almost getting killed by the
Void, Carmaz felt grateful that someone else was going to go in
there and save the day rather than himself.

So Carmaz placed one hand on Braim's
shoulder and said, “All right. But be careful. Even the gods cannot
harm it.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Braim. “But I'll be
fine.”

With one final nod, Carmaz turned and ran
back to join the others. Still, he looked over his shoulder one
last time to see Braim and the assassin disappear into the
Void.

And—perhaps for the first time in his
life—Carmaz prayed to the gods to keep Braim safe.

***

R
escuing Carmaz from the Void's
grasp had been Braim's idea the minute he and Ragao appeared in the
streets of World's End again. He had ordered her to do it and was
surprised when she actually listened and did it, which made him
wonder if Ragao was starting to see
him
as her master,
rather than Diog. Braim knew that half-gods weren't exactly the
most intelligent of creatures—he had known one, for a brief period
of time, back in North Academy that had been little more than an
overgrown and overly-violent child—but it had never occurred to him
that he might get a half-god servant of his own someday.

In any case, Braim was grateful that he
had Ragao by his side, because the Void was deep and dark and he
wasn't sure he could beat it on his own.

Then again, Braim wasn't sure how he was
supposed to beat it at all. The only reason he had told Carmaz to
let him handle this was because of the whole 'natural laws' thing
that Carmaz had mentioned the Void talking about. If Braim had to
hazard a guess, that meant that his resurrection had somehow
weakened Martir's boundaries, thus allowing the Void to enter and
wreak havoc on World's End. He didn't want that to be the case, but
it fit with what Diog had told him earlier about how his own
resurrection had somehow broken Martir's natural laws.

Braim believed that he might somehow be
able to drive the Void off with his resurrected body. He figured
that he would probably react differently to the Void than the
others. Indeed, he might even be immune to its dark effects or at
least better able to resist them, anyway.

So when Braim and Ragao stepped into the
Void, Braim didn't feel anything. It became dark, almost too dark
for him to see, which was why he summoned an orb of light in his
hand. Even then, the light orb barely showed anything, while Ragao
had averted her eyes, likely to avoid blinding or injuring
them.