Spellheart 9: Chapter 53 (Patreon)

I sensed an odd wave of protective anger surge over me as the final Satyr Demigod tried to pounce on my doppelganger’s prone and helpless form. I should have guessed I wasn’t the target of that last attack. It was a soul attack. And while my soul was mostly whole and fairly strong, my doppelganger had been formed from just a tiny missing fragment of mine. No wonder his soul couldn’t stand up to whatever that pulse had been.

“Get off of him!” I growled, scooping Spell Eater back up as I ran.

He turned to me, bruised, bloody, and glaring. I probably wasn’t in better shape, but I had a trick up my sleeves.

I ran toward the Satyr, and he braced for my charge. At the last moment before I made contact, I opened up my Pocket World passage. At the beginning of the fight, it probably wouldn’t have worked when we’d both been at the top of our game.

But bruised and exhausted as we were, he didn’t notice me turning the firm ground beneath him to slick mud. He was knocked backward into the waiting portal when I collided with him. His eyes went wide as his zeal fled from him, and he didn’t even have time to scream before I buried Spell Eater in his chest.

I could have taken him as a prisoner like I had the other Satyr Demigod. That might have even been the smart move if I was still negotiating. But my anger over the destruction of my beautiful city was still burning hot. And seeing how much my last treaty had accomplished with the Satyr King, I wasn't in a mood to bargain.

There would be no further negotiations with the Satyr King. He’d shown his true colors. The next time we met, he’d know the piles of his dead comrades were his own fault.

I stood, closing the Pocket World passage and stepping back onto the battlefield. I glanced at my doppelganger lying prone on the ground. He couldn’t move, but he didn’t seem completely dead yet.

“Can you pull yourself together?” I asked.

He turned his head ever so slightly, looking past me toward Castle Mac. I heard only the faintest whisper from his mouth.

“Go.”

I nodded. “Don’t die on me. We still have some things to talk about. But I’ll help the others first.”

I rushed off toward Castle Mac. My matriarchs had dealt with all the remaining elven warriors. All that was left was the last Cult of the Unblinking Eye member.

He still hadn’t completely healed from my kick to the face, though he'd clearly used a pill or a potion to help the process along. It gave him an odd, open-jawed look of shock when he looked at me. Or maybe that was just his surprise when he realized I’d won against the Satyrs.

I sensed him cut his losses and decided to run. No wonder I’d pegged him as the smart one. But I wasn’t about to let him escape and bring a full accounting of our capabilities back to the Cult of the Unblinking Eye.

No, the time of mercy had passed. I’d learned that much from my evil twin. So I cocked back my arm and hefted Spell Eater. He tried the same illusion trick that had fooled my evil twin. But I’d already seen it once, so I ignored the fake illusion and aimed straight for the real thing.

Thwap!

My spear passed straight through his chest and pinned him to the ground. He struggled on its shaft, but I arrived a moment later and separated his head from his body with a sideswipe of my hand. It was over.

I turned as Tivana landed close behind me. “How many did we lose?” I asked.

“Many fighters from the Hearthwood and, unfortunately, a few matriarchs. Assyrus and Eltiana both went down, but we recovered their wisps soon enough that they should make a full recovery in a couple of hours. They'll lose some recent cultivation gains but nothing major. The Medical Bay is going to be crowded for the next few hours. Thankfully, Melise is healthy enough to help heal with her time reversal. If only we had the honored Fateweaver Sam here as well.”

“That does bear investigating. Sam and Dean should have gotten my message long ago. That they’re not here makes me suspect something is wrong. Have someone take a teleport to the capital and investigate.”

“I'll go myself.” Tivana nodded and prepared to take flight.

“And I’ll go with you!” Comela suggested, landing beside the two of us.

“You had a rough fight. I still haven’t gotten over the fact that I nearly watched you die.” I jabbed a finger at my daughter, trying my best to keep a lid on my anger.

“People die in war, father. Besides, I know you have a half dozen ways to resurrect the dead when you want to.” Comela smiled, though beneath the smile, I could see she was as shaken as I was.

That actually relieved me. If she’d been unphased by her near-death, she would have been grounded for a year. The fact that she was taking it seriously was a good thing.

I wrapped my arms around her. “I’m just glad you’re alright. Argona and Segolas as well. Don’t get into any fights in the capital. You’ve fought enough battles for one day.”

“Yes, father.” Comela returned my embrace.

***

After seeing my family and the safety of the Hearthwood, I returned to my doppelganger. He still lay where he’d fallen, so I dragged him beneath the shade of one of the Hearthwood’s few remaining trees. I sat him upright so the two of us could speak man to man.

He seemed to have a little more life in him than before, but he looked far worse. Whatever ability had attacked his soul had left it ragged and torn, barely clinging to his physical vessel. He said as much a moment later.

“Controlling... body... like a Sword Storm Blade. It’s like it’s not mine anymore. Just a puppet.” He struggled to get his words out, and they no longer held as much life as they had before.

I grimaced. “Is it fixable?”

“No.”

I ran my hand through my hair. “Well, shit. I was really hoping to have a friendly Demigod who cared about the Hearthwood as much as I did.”

“This place... was beautiful.”

I nodded. “And it will be beautiful again.”

“I am... sad I won’t see it.”

I sighed. “Me too.”

A moment of silence passed between us.

“Thank you for coming. Comela seems certain that I could have revived her if she and the others died, but I’m not so certain. Sam still isn’t here, after all. And he’d be my best hope for something like that.”

“This was... planned. They must have used a distraction,” my doppelganger replied.

My eyes roamed my broken city. Fires raged across the piles of empty debris. The ruins were so extensive that most of the city would have to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. Anyone who arrived at the Hearthwood today would think it had been destroyed a hundred years ago and left to crumble for decades instead of mere hours. The incredibly virulent plant life of the Hearthwood was creeping in from all directions. The blood and vitality of so many fallen human Demigods would nurture the forest to an incredible degree for thousands of years to come.

“You’re right,” I agreed. “You were right before, too. I just couldn’t see it.”

“But you see it now?”

I turned to meet his gaze. His skeletal metallic face was no longer fierce and terrifying. It was desperate and pleading. “I do.”

“What will you do?”

And so I told him my plan. The same plan I’d devised in those first moments when they crushed the Hearthwood to rubble. The same plan I’d envisioned when I’d shed my first and final tear for the World of Woods and Wilds.

A vicious grin split my evil twin’s face as I explained it to him, and he let out a harsh, strangled laugh.

“I do not know if this will be the end of me... but I want to be there to see that.” He reached out a hand, and I took it in my own.

“And to see the Hearthwood rebuilt. Don’t forget about that.” I leaned in as he pulled me closer. “When everything’s back in place, it will be twice the city it was before! And all this Planetary Defense Array stuff and the end of the Seventh Golden Age will be behind us. We’ll have decades of peace to enjoy the fruits of our labor.”

“I... can hardly wait...”

His voice trailed off, and his body went limp. Deep within him, I sensed the tiny scrap of soul that had been illuminated by the white light of the Satyr’s soul attack. Before, it had been barely clinging to its adamantium vessel, but now it had come loose entirely.

My doppelganger’s cold metallic hand lost all strength and struck the soil beneath our feet. The little fragment of soul that was his very life essence came loose and drifted slowly toward me.

It floated in the air a moment before striking my skin. Then it sank beneath my flesh and vanished from view.

I climbed to my feet and stood over him. “We were more alike than I realized.”

A pleasant feeling washed through me then, and if I could still see my own soul, I suspected I’d find the frayed and broken bit I’d seen before had suddenly healed. It felt good, like recovering from a chronic cold I’d had for so long I’d forgotten it was there.

The whole world seemed brighter, and my own voice in my head was more energetic. Truthfully, I didn’t think I’d ever felt quite this much like myself. After all, my evil twin had grown as a person over the last year just as much as I had. There was more of me now than there had ever been before.

Tracing through my memories, I found I could replay our last conversation from both perspectives. His memories were my memories now, for we were, as always, two parts of a greater whole.

“A shame. I had really hoped to gain his abilities. Heavens know I’ve been struggling with the Demigod breakthrough long enough...” I let out a long sigh. “Perhaps--“

A moment later, I was struck by another wave of memories, this time the fight with the Satyrs. This was far more intense than a simple conversation, and it blocked out my vision as I saw things from another perspective. Time rewound further to the earlier parts of the battle.

Anyone else would have been caught in the currents of their own mind and taken for a ride. They probably would have collapsed where they stood and fallen into a coma. But I had practiced enough mind cultivation that I had better control over myself. I returned my attention to the surface to figure out what was happening.

That was when I felt the power I’d been looking for. It burned as it filled my body. There was Earth cultivation aplenty there. Body Cultivation, too. My evil twin had been a twofold Demigod, making him more fearsome than most. That power was my power now.

It was like trying to ride an unfamiliar beast. Worse, this beast was confused and angry. I didn’t have the experience to handle this, but those memories were there, waiting to be viewed.

I stumbled through a Pocket World Passage, stepping over the dead Satyr Demigod on the ground in the hallway as I made my way to the Cultivation Chamber. I jumped through the hatch and landed in the chamber itself before promptly falling on my face.

“Mac. Tell the others I’m busy with a breakthrough!” those were the last words I got out, and I didn’t stay conscious long enough to hear his response. The currents of memories rushing through my own mind were calling to me. With one last breath, I let them take me away.