The Willbreaker (Book 1) (48 page)

              Brandon relaxed his mind, concentrating on the yellow hues of flesh. He molded the colors together; damaged skin and bone pulling life and energy from parts of him that were not destroyed or as damaged. The yellow seeped its life and energy into the red and deep maroon sections of his body, repairing and restructuring his bones, muscles, flesh, and veins. As one section started to repair, Brandon opened his mind, working on another section simultaneously and then another, and another. As his power formed and focused, he radiated healing waves, turning soft yellow sections of his body to green. The deep red and most damaged parts of his body turned light red and then pink, blue, yellow and then green. Brandon’s body pulsated with ever growing power, bringing motivation and clearness instantly back to him. With a deep breath, Brandon’s eyes opened. Placing his hands behind him, he stood and ran over to Jasmine.

              Jasmine formed a heap on the ground, her head laying flush with the road with her eyes open. A single tear ran down her frozen face. As Brandon approached, he bent over towards her. Her eye twitched and moved to look at him. Brandon could see that death would take her and he could judge the distress and torture she felt.

              “Hang tight, Jasmine, I’ve got you,” he said, looking right into her eyes. He placed both hands upon her body and then closed his eyes. Brandon pushed the power through his fingers, letting it cover Jasmine as it seeped into her body. As the power flowed, he opened his mind again, awakening the full power within him. Jasmine gasped loudly, taking in a deep breath as the pain washed away like sand in the ocean. Her eyes opened wide and the look on her face expressed joy and relief. She thrust upward and wrapped her arms around Brandon and cried.

              Forcibly, Brandon grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back as he locked his arms, looking Jasmine in the face.

              “Go to Edward. Find him, and stay with him and Blue. I have to follow Aurora.”

              Jasmine instantly interjected. “No way! You cannot fight her! Are you crazy?”

              The look in Brandon’s eyes conveyed his worry, but he had no other choice.

              “You can’t go in there! She will destroy you! You can’t fight that! There is a reason she is the most feared person on this planet! There isn’t anything she can’t do! All she has to do is think of your death, and it’s done! You are dead! We have tried and we have failed! We need to leave this place forever and never return! This is no longer our war! Brandon, come on, we both need to leave!”

              Brandon shook his head. “No. You know better. Reinhold cannot fight her. His armies cannot fight her. I am the only one. She is extremely powerful, but I am the only one who can withstand her attacks. I have to try. I was not ready for her attack. I wasn’t prepared. She shut me out of her mind before I could do anything about it, but I know better now. I know what I have to do.”

              “Brandon, no!”

              “Jasmine, I know you don’t understand, but you will just have to be angry with me. I am going in that tower and you need to tell Edward and Blue to head home. This is our last chance and I will not miss the opportunity to confront her. Go. Go find them and leave this place. I am wasting too much time already.”

              “Brandon!” she cried, wrapping her arms around him tightly as the tears poured from her. “I can’t…”

              “Yes, you can, and you must,” he said, holding her tight. “I love you guys, you guys are my family, and I have to do this if we are to ever stand a chance at a normal life. Please, don’t argue with me. I will be fine, I assure you.”

              She held him tight, weeping into his chest. After a moment, he pushed her back and stood up. “Jasmine, I promise, I’ll be alright. Go, please.”

              She looked up at him with tear filled eyes.

              “Please.”

              She stared at him and then nodded as she rose to her feet.

              “I’m going to get Edward and Blue and then we are coming back here. That will be my compromise.” She bore a look that told Brandon she would not budge from her decision.

              “Fine, give me one hour. If I don’t return in one hour, then you can come look for me. Deal?” Brandon extended his hand towards her.

              “Fine,” she said, as she once again wrapped her arms around him. He gave her a tight squeeze and then pushing her away, turned and ran towards the tower. Jasmine watched him disappear into the darkness of the doorway, then she ran off looking for Blue and Edward.

              Brandon peered around the entry way room of the tower, much more spacious than he imagined. Reflective white marble floors topped with a golden-stitched rug, opened into the expansive room. Two open doorways and the upward spiraling staircase spanned across the back wall. A dark-wood display case, topped with glass, sat along the back and above it, a finely detailed map of the world. Beautiful oil paintings depicting women in various states of life hung in precise fashion along the walls. Brandon leaned forward, trying to see up the stairway, but the next floor obscured his view. Quickly, he peered towards the other open doorways that led elsewhere.

              Brandon eased his mind and reached into the vast expanse of his power. He hoped he would be able to feel her life, perhaps to help locate her, but he could not. Holding his breath and turning his ear towards the room, he listened for her. The skittering of light footsteps echoed through the tower, but it seemed to come from everywhere. Brandon snapped to attention and readied the flow of his power.

              His attention moved towards the stairway.
She wouldn’t stay down here.
Brandon quickly moved to the stairs and peered upward, ready in case Aurora awaited him there. With a glance up the stairs and no visible danger, he continued upward.
Floor two.

              The stairway opened up into the second floor, also extravagantly decorated, and continued on upward. Brandon gripped both the Bauth’Dok blades tightly, gripping the handles tighter as he moved up the stairs to the third floor.

              With the passing of each floor, the rooms grew slightly smaller, but each room spared no expense on décor. Brandon passed floor after floor and after the first ten floors, he stopped counting. With each room, he would carefully enter and visually sweep the area. As the floors passed, he figured that Aurora awaited at the top.

              Brandon slowly walked up the last flight of stairs that opened up into the final room atop the tower, ending the continued flight of spiraling marble steps. Although smaller than the floor level, this room still spanned a hundred feet across. Brandon’s blades illuminated soft red against the white marble floor. Opposite of him sat an elegant throne, adorned with gold. Aurora sat lazily on top, one leg draped over the arm rest as she ran her pointer finger over her lips. A slight look of surprise crossed her brow before she consciously removed it, showing no emotion.

              “Well, how charming. You made it,” she said amusingly.

              Brandon kept his eyes locked upon her, moving very slowly, ensuring each foot planted solidly on the floor. He moved away from the stairs and then stopped.

              “This does not have to go on. Enough blood has been spilled. We can end this here and now,” Brandon said.

              Aurora giggled, her sly smile showing her teeth.

              “You think because you survived my little attack that this is just over? You mustn’t be very smart if you think you can end me. This war is over when Reinhold is destroyed and there is no one left to get in my way.”

              “Look, it doesn’t have end in death. There are other ways to reach compromise.”

              “Ha! There is no compromise, child. There is only winner and loser.”

              As she spoke, Brandon released his power, sending it forward. It encompassed everything like a fog. It soaked around the Empress. Brandon entered her mind once again and searched.

              “I have to give you credit,” she said, “it’s quite an impressive feat to be standing here after that little ‘fall’ you had. And to make it this far without being discovered; you must be something special.” Sarcasm filled her voice.

“But your travels have been in vain. You will not leave this tower today. Today, you will die. Today, you will discover the true fear of my power. I will send you on a one way trip to hell, ensuring you savor every ounce of pain, every pull of my will, and every stretch of my might. You have made the worst mistake of your life, child, and it will be one you will not have the opportunity to make again. Although your efforts were remarkable, they are of no importance, and no one will remember you.”

              Brandon floated around inside her mind, searching the infinite space of energy and cords, looking for the right one. Her mind buzzed with activity, flashing pulses of energy and information. A vast expanse of power, like another universe, dotted with nodes and organic knobs all connected together with strands of pulsing vitality. Her mind in particular, lit every corner of this place, bright and thriving blues, yellows, and whites, gleaming clarity and purity. One could easily get lost within the beauty of it.

              As he searched, Brandon came upon an organic strand of extraordinary width, feeding and throbbing from the large nodes that connected to it. It seemed as thick as a tree, where the others were no thicker than an arm, but Brandon knew it was not.

             
Her life strand. One pluck, one aggravated assault, and her survivability would spiral to an end, instantly. Here it is. I could finish this right now. No. There has to be another way.

              Brandon concentrated on her, not saying a word. He scoped and probed, continuing his search.

              “Speechless? Alright, I’m going to finish you, and this time, I won’t give you the chance to find me again.”

              “Wait,” Brandon said, “I have some information for you, something that might change the way you feel, about everything.”

              She laughed again, “Quit delaying the inevitable; I have a battle to win.”

              “I know what happened to you as a child. I know about Korgen Kitadal. I know what he did to you.”

              Aurora’s arrogant expression straightened out, all softness to her face hardened. She looked at him, growing evidently angrier. Her upper lip snarled as the fury of his words overtook her.

              “I know that he did horrible and unspeakable things to you,” Brandon added.

              “Shut up!”

              “I know about the rape and I know that it has affected you. It is okay.”

              “Stop! You are not allowed to talk about that!” Aurora stood up from her throne, hands wrenched in tight fists, and rage covering her face.

              “I understand. He was a monster, he deserved to die, but his actions don’t warrant your attack on all men.”

              “I said stop it!” she screamed. As her rage built, the tables and vases sitting along the edge of the wall shook violently. An oil painting, displaying a stylish and graceful boat on the ocean waves, shook free from the wall and broke its frame as it hit the ground.

              Brandon swept through the depths of her mind, unable to precisely locate the source of her power. Activity flared in explosive waves. Flashes of light and arcs of electric energy filled Brandon’s vision. 
It is so large. There is so much here. I must find it.

              Aurora stepped down from her throne and circled around Brandon. Brandon moved in conjunction with her, hands up in front of him, ready for her attack as he talked. He had her attention and it made it easier to access her mind.

              “It had to be horrible, but out of that tragic accident came something incredible. Out of that instance,” he paused momentarily as he decided to how to tell her, “You became a mother.”

              Aurora stopped walking around him, face still laced with anger, but Brandon felt her mind ignite once again with the statement. Slowly, she resumed her standoff. Brandon let his words sink in, even though Aurora said nothing.

              “Empress,” he said slowly, “I am your son. I was born of the tragic incident that scarred you for life, and I would like to resolve this conflict in a way that prevents any more death.”

              Aurora stopped again, hands still knotted into fists, a small wicked smile breaking her lips.

              “Ha! My son? You must be joking. The only thing that came from that man was death. Death follows in the footsteps of Korgen Kitadal.”

              She continued. “You know I was raped, how great. And from the most tragic event in my life, you claim that I bore a son.” She laughed. “How amazing. So regardless of the fact that you may or may not be telling the truth, I might now have a physical reminder of when that man held me down, ripped my clothes off, punched me in the face and chest as hard as he could to prevent my struggle, as he forcibly raped me. You are the prize of prizes. You are the trophy of an event that I had no control over, no matter how hard I tried. You represent the living crown of hopelessness. I don’t care if you are or aren’t my son, you have upset me and now it’s time to destroy you. I hope you found pleasure in digging up my past. It did you no good. I now have more reason than ever to end you.”