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Chapter 20: The Wizard

Jason was still furious at Antes for withholding the information from him for so long. He didn’t even know such a thing was possible. Every though seemed shared, every emotion apparent to the other and yet, Antes had known and apparently for quite some time as well that the one person that Jason cared about the most, Anthony, was possessed by the very demon that they were sworn to hunt down.

Never before had the human felt such a betrayal of trust. Through the months and months of being together, Jason had thought that he could believe anything that Antes had said, but now he wasn’t so sure. What other secrets did the angel have and was purposefully keeping from Jason? Antes swore that this was it, but Jason wasn’t so sure anymore.

Regardless of what their relationship at the moment was, Jason and Antes both agreed that it was vital to stop Malus and rescue Anthony. The only question was how because simply stabbing Malus a bunch of times was no longer an option with him inside of Anthony’s body. Antes had an idea.

Leaving Janice and Keith behind to help organize what would eventually be the Army of Heaven, which would March against Malus and his army at his fortress, Antes took Jason to Heaven.

Heaven wasn’t at all like what any of the books described it as. There was no cloud city or endless golden and marbles halls. Heaven was an entirely different realm, a new world that sort of existed next to the one they had just been on.

The world of the angels was a lot like Earth. There was dirt and grass and trees. Birds flew in the air and animals roamed the plains, but there was a sense of perfection, just an unshakable feeling as Antes flew them into one of the cities.

The architecture seemed very Greek and yet almost sort of a modern feel to it. It was a mix of metal and stone that made up the buildings.

“Just like on your world, we progress in terms of technology and ideas evolve. While we may not have a need of most things that humans do, our aesthetics constantly change with time,” Antes explained as they flew past a massive structure that went high up into the clouds above. It’s body was mainly steel, but the outside of it was flourished with marble statues of angels. Jason was in awe of it.

“Where are we going?” Jason asked as they kept soaring past more and more of the city, quickly leaving behind the skyscrapers.

“To see an old friend who may be able to help us rescue Anthony and defeat Malus,” Antes answered and left it at that.

Jason didn’t have to wait long after that. Near the edge of the city was a tower, not immense in size, but obviously very very old. The stone was covered in vines and the building itself had a sag to it that made it look decrepit and sad. There was a single entrance and a single window near the top.

“We about to find a princess at the top in need of rescuing?” Jason joked.

Antes didn’t reply, but instead stepped through the single door, turning sideways so his wings could fit through.

Perception was everything and Jason’s perception was warped as he stepped into the sad tower and was met with a vast library that went for hundreds of yards in every direction, even behind him. The entrance was simply a door in the middle of the room that seemingly went nowhere and yet, looking through it, Jason could see the grassy outside right there.

“Whoa,” Jason stammered and he could feel Ante’s lips curl into a sly smile.

“I hope he’s home,” Antes said and began to climb up the nearest set of stair that went up and up and up for seemingly forever, yet as they climbed the twirly stairs, they were suddenly a hundred stories up with the ground so far below. Jason could see everything including these weird walking brooms with arms that were tending the library. Odd.

After a few more not-so-nauseating turns around some bookshelves, they came up to a stone door with some sort of runes inscribed into it. Next to it was a small lever with a brass cap at the end. Antes pulled it.

The space was filled with the noise of massive nonexistent bells tolling. They rang for what seemed to be ages and then stopped just as abruptly as they had begun. Then the door slowly opened and the voice of an old man came through.

“I told you last time to not do that,” the voice said in an annoyed tone. “You knew that I was here the moment you stepped into the tower.” He then began to mumble to himself as Antes stepped in. “Blasted bell. If only I could find out where it is, I’d tear it out and cast it from this realm. Where could Loki have hid it? Curse that trickster if he were still alive.”

The room was a mess. Shelves covered every inch of the wall except for where there was a small window in the stone wall that let in a pleasant light. The shelves were filled with scrolls of burn out candles. The floor was no better and at the back of the room was a deck with an old man in grey robes, wearing a tall pointed hat, a wizard, no doubt.

The wizard was looking down at a large dusty book with cracked yellow pages covered in drawings of apparent nonsense. He looked up and squinted.

“Wait a minute,” he said slowly. “Do I know you because it seems you know me, otherwise the tunes would have taken care of all of it.” He pushed himself up and away from the table and stood up, letting the book fall to the floor. A moment later, one of the walking brooms, or rather it was a mop now that Jason could see it up close, came out of seemingly nowhere and picked up the book before seemingly vanishing behind one of the shelves despite there being no door or passageway there.

“You know me, just a change of scenery is all,” Antes replied.

A slight bit of recognition came to the wizard’s eyes. “You and your ways, Antes. I heard what happened. Reckless and. Ow you’ve ensnared a poor boy into your schemes as well.”

“No worse than you and Arthur,” Antes countered.

The wizard nodded and his eyes glossed with old memories. “You’re right there. Those were the days.” He returned to his desk and sat down and looked around and it took a moment for Jason to realize that he was looking for the book he had left on the ground. It was long gone.

“Blast it,” the wizard mumbled and the shrugged and looked back at Antes. “How can old Merlin help you?”

If Jason had control, he would have screeched like a school girl. Luckily it was all kept inside. This was the Merlin from all of those children tales. The Merlin that helped King Arthur. How much of the stories were true.

“Far more than you realize.” Merlin said and that gave Jason pause.

“How much can he do?” Jason asked Antes.

“Again, far more than you realize,” Merlin said and Jason could feel Antes nodding.

“In here,” Antes said and gestures around. “Everything goes by Merlin’s rules.”

“Except for that bell that Loki hid somewhere,” Merlin said. “Poor fool died before he could tell me where he hid it.”

“I don’t think he ever intended to tell you,” Antes said and then brought them back to why they had come in the first place. “Merlin, I... we need a soul stone.”

Merlin raised an eyebrow. “That’s a tall order for an aging wizard. Why do you need a soul stone?”

“To capture tear the soul of a demon out of a possessed body,” Antes replied. “This case is very important.”

Jason thought of Anthony and Merlin picked up on the thoughts.

He sighed and leaned over his desk a bit more. He looked older now than before. “Love is a true form of magic. It gets even the most stout and stubborn to change their ways at a moment’s notice. Love has built and ruined worlds. This is a very dangerous thing you’re trying to do.”

“It’s the best way to do it,” Antes said and then added, “without breaking my oath.”

Merlin gave Antes a long and hard look before he stood up once again and went over to one of his shelves. He grabbed scrolls, looked at them for a moment before discarding them off to the side and eventually held onto on. He unraveled it and nodded.

“When the time is right, you’ll have the stone, but not before and it’ll be too late after. Just make sure you are ready at that exact moment,” Merlin said and patted the scroll.

An hour later, Antes had brought Jason back to out of Heaven and was heading towards the area where all of the armies were mustering.

“How does this soul stone work?” Jason asked to help pass the time.

The ground flew under them at incredible speeds. Trees turned to fields, fields turned to marshes and marshes turned into mountains as they crossed incredible distances and incredible speeds

“It’s simple,” Antes explained. “The first to touch the soul stone becomes the wielder, the second to touch it has their soul forcible pulled into it.”

“Simple, yeah, but how is it dangerous?” Jason asked.

“Soul stones aren’t stable until their filled with a soul. Anything can cause them to go off, killing the wielder in the process and there’s no guarantee that it will be Malus’ soul that gets pulled into it.”

Jason shivered at the thought of pulling Anthony’s soul out of his own body.

Antes continued. “Chances are good it will be Malus’ soul that is pulled since the stone tends to pull the more corrupting soul kind of like how dirty water will be filtered out in charcoal, letting clean water through.”

“Ok,” Jason nodded internally. “Doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Then there’s the chance that Anthony won’t survive the ordeal,” Antes finally added. “Soul stealing, as it is called, is very taxing on the body and it can kill the body at times, but I’m confident that I’ll be able to prevent that.”

“So, what do we have to do?” Jason asked. “Get close with the stone and touch Malus with it without the stone exploding or something and making sure that it’s Malus’ souls and then making sure that Anthony’s body lives.”

“Pretty much?” Antes nodded. “The hard part is going to be getting to Malus. His army is massive and he’s locked himself away deep inside a new fortress that has managed to get itself named, The Pit. Luckily we have our own army as well.”

A few minutes later and that army came into view. Miles of colored tents were lined up in rows upon rows. Jason could see the armies of humans from Sacra to the left along with armies of various kingdoms as well to the right. There was an obvious gap between the tents of humans and anything not human. Despite being allies, the Sacrans were still wary of everyone else. Angels were here and there. It was an impressive sight.

Antes landed somewhere near what Jason thought was the middle since it was the area where the most luxurious tents were made.

Janice greeted them there and Anges relinquished control to Jason.

“I’ll be here, but I’ll be conversing with the other angels. There is a lot of planning yet to be done.” With that, the presence of Antes diminished slightly.

Janice gave Jason a tight hug. “Welcome back. It’s been so busy here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many hot studs in one place.”

Jason gave her a quizzical look and Janice laughed before pointing off to the side where there were a large number of horses in nothing but loose fitting pants who were sharpening swords and axes and other weapons.

“Oh,” Jason laughed as well.

“Lots of people have been showing up every day,” Janice said. “I hear that everything will be ready in less than a week.”

“That pretty impressive,” Jason said and the changed the subject. “Aren’t you supposed to be the new queen of Molamse or something?”

“Yeah right,” Janice said dismissively. “One of the angels is handling the rebuilding of Molamse. I wouldn’t be able to rule a backyard. My place is with you, with Kieth and eventually with Anthony once we save him and kick that demon’s ass.”

“Hell, yeah?” Jason said and then looked around. “Where is Kieth?”

“I guess he’s quite popular with the other magic users and got swept up to help them practice or something. He’ll be along shortly,” Janice explained and Jason nodded.

Kieth had been getting quite good at his flame magic. He seemed to get better everyday and Jason could see that it brought his friend a lot of pride.

“That’s good for him,” Jason said and was about to keep talking when a rat came up to Janice. Jason remembered him. Eeskit.

“Eeskit gives a thousand pardons,” he said and gave a quick bow to the two before continuing. “I have reports.”

“Go ahead Eeskit,” Janice said.

Eeskit grinned, showing his sharp, needle like teeth for a moment. “Tunnels are nearly all the way dug. Last few miles left to dirt until time to attack.” He jumped a little at the last word, his various trinkets that were strung to his leather jerkin jingled with the movement.

“Very good,” Janice said and scratched the rat behind the ear. Eeskit closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. “Be ready when the time comes.”

“Eeskit always ready,” he proudly proclaimed and then scampered off.

“I think he likes you?” Jason said, not sure how to feel about it.

“He does and he’s sweet,” she watched the tail vanish into the crowd.

“Ok,” Jason said and scratched behind his own ear. He wondered how it felt to have someone scratch or pet him affectionately. Dogs liked, no, loved that and he was a dog now, so, wouldn’t he? It made him miss Anthony even more.

“We’re going to attack the demons from both the front and from under,” Janice explained what her plan was. “A front attack would take to long alone, but attacking from under could help tip the balance of the battle in our favor. There will also be additional tunnels that will take us into the fortress as well. That’s where Malus will be.”

“Sounds like it could work,” Jason said.

“It better,” Janice replied. “From what I hear, if Malus gets what he wants, there won’t be a home to return to. He’ll destroy everything.”

Jason shuddered. “Well, we better not fail.”