Syphon: Guardians of the Fractured Realms (32 page)

To accentuate the point, Damien twisted the blade again before putting his foot on Samuel’s back and kicking, causing him to fly through the air and landing in a heap on the ground. Slowly forcing his way back to his feet, he faced the approaching archdemon.

“She didn’t tell you, did she?”

Damien paused, coming to a stop with a haughty sneer on his face.

“Tell me what exactly, hmmm?”

Samuel dropped his head forward. Sighing deeply, he raised his head back up.

“You know, it’s funny.”

Damien cocked his head to the side quizzically.

“Funny…? What’s funny?”

“The fact that you keep telling me that I don’t get it.”

“Huh?”

“It’s kinda ironic since it’s really you who doesn’t get it. God forgive me for this…”

As Damien started to swing Excalibur at him, Samuel slammed the pommels of his swords together.

§§§§§§§§§§§§

Blinding light flared out from the swords, slamming Damien back into the wall a third time and pinning him in place. Small chunks of granite fractured off and tumble into the air as the ball of light continued to expand. As the light intensified, the sound of trumpets ripped across the landscape.

“What are you doing?” Damien gasped as the light started to dim.

Samuel held both blades aloft, now joined at the pommel. As he held them overhead on his upraised palms, they started spinning rapidly. A small vortex formed and rapidly grew in size above the spinning blades. Abruptly, the handles pivoted and started spiraling around each other, twisting together into a single handle. As the process continued, the guards fused together into a large crossbeam ending in a trefoil pattern. Both blades launched out in chain form before coming back together, interlocking with each other, forming a massive blade. Finally, the transformation finished, leaving behind a seven foot long, crystalline purple blade. Purple energy rippled up and down the blade like flames.

Bringing the blade down in front of him in a guard position, he watched as fear slowly spread across the archdemon’s face.

“Look familiar?”

“How…?”

“Michel entrusted it to me after paradise was divided. Since he no longer had to defend it, he gave it to me for safekeeping. He figured I might need it for the next Armageddon.”

Samuel watched as Damien dropped to his knees.

“Have mercy. It wasn’t my idea, I swear…”

“That might be, but you went along with it anyway. So now you’ll have to pay the price.”

Screeching, Damien launched himself forward, swinging Excalibur toward Samuel’s neck. As the blade approached, Samuel casually reached up and caught the blade by pinching it. Then he swung the massive blade down. The blade hit Damien on the top of the head and traveled down before embedding itself in the ground. As the blade cut through him, a ghostly image of Damien soul was split as he was slain in the spirit. The threads of his soul drifted away as his remains dissolved into a bunch of insects that scurried away.

“May God show you the mercy I can’t afford.”

“Samuel…? Are you all right? Is that what I think it is?”

Samuel turned to watch Sybil and Blythe slowly approach, the purple light cast from his blade causing their skin to glow.

“Is it over?”

Samuel stepped forward to embrace Blythe.

“Unfortunately, no. The demonic bubble that he created with that ritual is still weakening the weave. If I don’t stop it soon, this world and Aerth will both be destroyed.”

Turning toward Sybil, he gently pushed Blythe toward her.

“Take care of her. If I fail, I want you to train her in my place. It’s been several generations since we’ve come across a wilder of her caliber. She’s too important to lose.”

Before either woman had a chance to respond, Samuel leapt up, Amitiel’s wings unfurling around him before propelling him skyward. As he strove higher, his vision shifted, allowing him to see into the spirit realm. Turning in a slow circle as he hovered, he noted the major ruptures located at the five warehouses around the city. He also noticed small rents starting to form in the weave as well. Taking the blade and holding it aloft, he spun it clockwise around his head, slowly gathering speed. As the wind rose, the sound of trumpets gradually got louder.

“Blessed be his name!”

As he uttered the words, the bladed flared out in five directions, the sound of unspooling chains echoing across the landscape as the rotating vortex of air above him drew in the demonic energy. With the sound of a huge gong, the five-fold blade slammed into the rifts in the warehouses, shattering the spiritual locks that the rituals had formed, holding the rifts open. With a loud, sub-sonic thump, the rifts closed, sucking energy back into them. Spooling back up to form a single blade again, Samuel swung the blade down in front of him, slicing a rift into the weave in front of him. Thrusting the blade through, the vortex of demonic energy was dragged into the rift, the sound of damned souls echoing out from the gash. As the remainder of demonic energy was finally shunted back into the demonic realms, he withdrew the sword, allowing the rupture to reseal. Looking around one last time, he noted all the little rents and folds left behind in the weave, like pulled threads. Separating the blades, he sheathed them back in their respective dragons.

>Well, that was fun.<

Samuel started to nod at Raguel before passing out.

Blythe watched as Samuel slowly started to plummet out of the sky. Without thinking, she took off at a sprint with Sybil slowly falling behind. As Samuel fell closer to the ground, she redoubled her efforts, running faster than she ever thought possible.

Please God, let me get there in time.

As she got closer, she felt a burst of energy. Instinctively running up the side of one of the centurions, she launched herself off it’s head, stretching her arms out as far as she could. Miraculously, she caught Samuel in her outstretched arms, the impact slowing his decent slightly. Pulling him in tight, they both dropped toward the ground. She felt a tickling sensation as Amitiel quickly slithered across her back before latching on and flaring her wings to try and arrest their fall, but they were too close to the ground and bounced heavily off the surface. Blythe felt the familiar sensation of having her bones break as they skidded to a stop. She tried to block out the pain as she gently stroked Samuel’s head, noting that he was still breathing softly.

She gradually realized the pain was lessening as she felt her body start to knit itself back together.

>What’s happening to me?<
>You’re a wilder. Your life is only going to get more interesting from here.<
She felt Samuel start to stir in her arms. Looking at his face, she watched as his eyes fluttered open.

“Nice catch. I owe you one,” he whispered.

“Well… I had to return the favor,” she said softly, “and I still owe you one.”

Smiling back at her, he reached up and gently pulled her toward him.

“No, I think we’re even.”

Smiling, Blythe leaned forward and kissed him.

§§§§§§§§§§§§

Samuel slowly walked toward the library, his arm around Blythe’s shoulders. Glancing around, he noticed the bodies of several syphons laying broken on the ground while others tried to help the ones who were still badly injured but alive. As he got closer, Sybil finally caught up to them. Giving him a strange look, she nodded at them.

“Are you both all right?”

“Well, we’re fine enough for now.”

“Was that really the archangel sword?”

Samuel scratched the back of his head before responding.

“Yeah, that was actually his sword. We kinda go way back.”

Sybil looked at him suspiciously.

“And you… Are you really who I think you are. There’s a picture in the archives that looks suspiciously like you.”

Samuel sighed. He’d hoped that info would never get out, but these were strange days indeed.

“Yeah, it’s me. I’m Adam.”

“So that would make Genevieve…”

“Yup… Eve.”

“How…?”

“It’s a long, long story. For now, let’s get this mess straightened up. The forgetfulness caused by that much aetheric energy spilling out will only go just so far.”

Sybil glanced around before nodding.

“Well, you’re the boss. At least it’s over with.”

Samuel shook his head slowly while looking at Sybil.

“I wish that were true, but this is just the beginning…”

§§§§§§§§§§§§

Hank watched as Samuel and his friend slowly started cleaning up the devastation caused by Damien. Unfocusing his eyes, he glanced toward the heavens, noting the various pulls and tears in the weave of the realms. Waving his hand, a steaming bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit appeared. Looking back at Samuel, he shook his head slowly as he turned around.

“That boy has a lot on his plate now. I just hope he’s up for the challenge… For the sake of all the realms.”

Taking a bite of the biscuit sandwich, he gave it an appreciative glance as he started walking away.

“I really need to rethink my edict about eating pork,” he said as he slowly started breaking up into sparkling motes, “bacon has got to be on my top ten list of best things I created, somewhere just behind light…”

Within seconds, all that remained was the slight scent of bacon.

“So what are you saying, exactly.”

Sybil glanced around the table before looking back at Samuel.

“What I’m saying is, Armageddon has started. It’s just not off to as fast of a start as prophesied.”

“And you know this how?”

“Unfortunately, this isn’t the first Armageddon I’ve had to stop. This time though, Genevieve planned this attack pretty well. By drawing the sword of Michael, I helped weakened the weave between realms. I’m suspecting that, if Damien had gotten inside, he would have gotten to the Arch of the Covenant.”

The Archivist gave him a confused look.

“Don’t you mean the Ark of the Covenant? And what do you mean if he got to it. Nobody knows where it’s at since the Levites hid it.”

“Nope, I meant Arch, but it’s mostly semantics. The Arch actually looks like the description of the Ark in the bible, but it’s actually a arch that opens a doorway to the Akashic records. If Damien had been able to reach that plane, he could have rewritten history in any way he chose.”

Sybil gestured toward him.

“That still doesn’t answer the question about why you think the Arch is here somewhere.”

“Well, that’s easy enough to answer. I buried it here before I had the library built.”

Samuel watched as everyone stared at him.

“Well, now that we know who you really are, I’ll step down so you can lead us.”

“Uh, no. As far as I’m concerned, you’re still the commander of this garrison. I gave up that role a long time ago and I really don’t want it back.”

Sybil shook her head.

“You’re the one who started our order. You need to lead us again in this time of tribulation.”

Samuel gave her a firm stare.

“No. End of story. You’ve done a good job up to this point and they trust you. Besides which, I’d rather not have everyone learn who I really am. I worked hard to bury that secret long ago. Plus, I’m going to be busy training Blythe for the foreseeable future along with trying to remember how to repair the weave since this isn’t the first time it’s happened. Hopefully the rest of my memories will return soon so I can remember how I fixed it the last two times.”

“Fine, but this particular discussion isn’t over. Now what about this other syphon you said you came across?”

“Yes, a professor by the name of Clarience Waide. We’ll need to bring him into the fold. I think him and the Archivist will get along great.”

“But what group is he from? And why is he teaching at a university?”

“That’s what makes him unique, actually. As far as I know, he’s the only person who’s ever been turned into a syphon by a peltae before.”

“What? How?”

“That’s what I hope to find out.”

§§§§§§§§§§§§

Cora watched as Samuel and Sybil walked toward them. Glancing down at Frank, she squeezed his hand before looking back up. Looking at Samuel, she noticed something different about him. As he got closer, she realized the way he carried himself was different. He stood taller, more sure of himself. As they stopped, Samuel gave them a warm smile.

“Detectives Blanchett and Giani, please allow me the opportunity to apologize for the run around I gave the two of you over the past few days. I’m sure by now you realize there was a good reason for it, but it’s still inexcusable. As for you,” he said, looking directly at Cora, “I’d especially like to apologize for the way I treated you on the rooftop of the college. You were only trying to do your job. Please accept this gift as a token of my apology.”

As he said it, he extended his hand out, gently grabbing her left hand before sliding something around her middle finger. Releasing her hand, he took a step back. Looking down, she saw that he had slipped a large, plain silver ring with a flat, round top on her finger. Looking at it more closely, she noticed it had a faint starburst pattern radiating from the center of the circle.

“Um… Thank you? You really didn’t need to—”

Samuel held up his hand with a smile.

“This is to help keep you safe until we can get you trained in the proper use of your own peltae and peleus. To use it, do this.”

She watched as he gestured to her arm before curling his arm like he was hiding behind a shield. As she started to mimic the movement, she looked at him funny.

“My own who and what?”

As her arm came into position, she heard something similar to a transformer arcing as a large, transparent glowing blue field surged out of the ring, forming into a shield approximately three feet across. Tapping on it with the finger on her other hand, she felt a slight electric tingling run down her hand.

“That’s an aegis shield. It can withstand most anything up to the force of a peleus. So as long as you can get it up, it’ll stop just about any physical force in this world. With a little practice, you should be able to get the hang of changing the size of it along with keeping it from opening on accident. Sybil can fill you in on the details.”