Fortunatus Light of Dark
by AJ Marks
Part 15 (Conclusion)
Ami looked around the town. It was small and no one was in the town anymore. The villagers had been evacuated before she arrived, probably due to the fact of Gregory’s invasion. She felt a bit awkward standing in the group without a speck of magical power, like the others in the group.
At least one had given her a dirty look because they had learned she was a Zero-Mage. She kept close to Tess, the one place she felt safe.
“Scouts say something is headed this way?” someone said, causing Tess to look over.
“Which is it, the enemy or the creature,” Tess replied.
Even as Ami looked back over for the reply another echo of explosions occurred. Ami looked around but saw nothing in the town blowing up or anything else. Instead off into the distance she spotted a column of smoke.
“The scouts think the enemy army and the creature are attacking each other,” the reply came back.
Ami thought about that for a second. If Gregory’s army was still out there then why would they not have a battle?
“Any useful information about it?” Tess asked.
The person talking merely shrugged his shoulders before another guy appeared rather suddenly.
“Empress, I have word from the battle,” he said. “The creature looks like, well a man.”
“A man?” Tess replied her tone curious.
Ami wondered what that meant. Was this creature a man, or a creature who looked like a man?
“Yes Empress, he can use all forms of magic, at it appears two at once, even combining them if he so desires,” the scout said. “I saw him attack a flame mage with ice while using a wind counter against an Earth mage.”
Ami had no idea what that meant but judging by Tess’ face, bad news.
“I also saw my partner lose all his magic. I barely escaped,” the scout said, Ami could hear the sorrow in the soldier’s voice.
“Then the legends are true,” Tess said. “Has anyone been able to attack it?”
“Two attacks were beaten off just before that, a combination of those same two mages, he deflected it with his armor effortlessly,” the man answered.
Ami had the feeling that this battle would not go well.
“Empress, he is headed here,” the man said.
“All right,” Tess said.
Ami watched as soldiers ran around, getting into defensive positions, even as she had no real spot to go. She watched and stayed close to Tess, hoping that she would be safe here. Everyone seemed to have a mission, but she would only get in the way of all the soldiers.
The ground shook slightly, making everyone pause, looking in the direction of rising smoke. Everyone figured something bad happened. She questioned her sanity at even standing here, in the middle of an upcoming battle. She decided she had to be crazy, it was the only explanation.
“Everyone, prepare yourselves, we launch a coordinated attack, that way we might be able to overwhelm him,” Tess said, pulling Ami aside. “You stay over here, and try to be careful.”
“You too,” Ami said, she wanted to say more, but they had no more time. Tess gave her a wink, then ran back out, still in view of Ami.
Flames shot forth, past Tess’ position, which Ami noticed, the Empress blocked easily. The Empress was a specialty fire mage, so flames would not bother her that much. She watched as both Tess and Becca counter-attacked, with a combination of fire and wind attack, making it look like a sideways fire tornado.
She never saw the result, but knew from their look it had failed. Tess now gripped a sword, bathed in flames, as Becca held what looked more like a staff, that blurred at the ends. She watched them both jump closing the distance, and finally saw the Enokrad, a tall male, with, she paused and looked again, what appeared to be whiskers on his face. He appeared human, but with cat-like features.
She watched as the Enokrad brandished two weapons, one of fire, the other of wind, and attacked right back. In seconds two soldiers were down, wounded, as Becca and Tess attacked. Ami thought the Enokrad noticed both of them almost right away, despite attacking from different directions. The swords he held changed, one became like ice, the other looked like dirt. Both Tess and Becca were pushed back easily.
Ami took a step forward, watching Tess wipe blood from her forehead, a cut above her eye. He had powered through her defenses almost too easily. Ami feared the worst as the Enokrad attacked again, this time taking on another two men, before turning on Tess and Becca once more. This time she watched as spears of ice shot towards Tess, catching her in the shoulder and leg, causing her to fall.
“Nooo!” Ami wailed, rushing out from her spot, though the chaos towards Tess. Other soldiers rushed forward as well, including Becca once more. Somehow Ami avoided all the attacks, how she did not know, but she had. Kneeling down at Tess’ side she checked, relief flowing through her as she realized Tess was alive, and struggling to get back up.
“I’m fine,” Tess said to her. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“This is fine?” Ami said, tears welling up in her eyes at the sight of a hurt Tess.
She shrieked as Tess grabbed her, rolling away from some attack that landed where they had been only a second before. Ami turned to see that the Enokrad headed back towards them.
“This battle isn’t over yet,” Tess stated, gripping her sword again. “Move away Ami.”
Ami moved away, allowing Tess room to move, but she would not hide again. The Enokrad blocked another magic attack, and thrust towards Tess, who was again overpowered. Ami watched in horror as it raised a sword above its head, the intent to kill Tess.
Ami’s body moved without her thinking about it, tackling it before it could strike. Tremendous pain course through her body, causing her to black out.
*****
Tess watched in horror as Ami did what no one else had not been able to do, hit the Enokrad. She had to throw up her arms at the blinding light, and heard the unmistakable cry of pain coming from Ami. She stood, boiling over with rage at the fact that this monster had hurt Ami.
The light disappeared, allowing Tess to see again. Ami lay a few feet away, but now closer to the middle of the town was a large, blue, cat-looking creature, hissing and swiping at everything around it. She quickly checked on Ami, as Becca was beside her.
“She’s alive,” Becca said.
“Get her out of here,” Tess said, gripping her sword again, the flames of rage pouring though it now, even her armor shimmered in flames. She watched Becca gently pick up Ami and sprint away.
The Enokrad still swung out at everyone around it, keeping them at bay, but had not used any magic since its transformation. Tess decided to not think, and attacked. It moved quickly, but Tess managed to get a cut on the creature.
It snarled, licking the wound before focusing on her. Tess attacked again, this time powering though getting a solid hit on the creature. Wounded it reared up, slashing out at Tess, who countered, and in a second, struck it in the head. It dropped to the ground, shrieking in agony.
Tess backed away, cautious for what might happen next. The creature appeared to cave in on itself, before suddenly blowing outwards in a massive wall of wind. Tess stuck her sword in the ground to prevent herself from being blown away.
The explosion ended, and Tess lifted her head. Nothing remained of the creature. Tess glanced around before Lisa walked up, holding her shoulder.
“Is it over?” she asked.
“I don’t know, have all scouts spread out and search, remember some of Gregory’s troops are still out here. Let’s wrap this up and head home,” Tess said, turning her attention back to Ami, wondering what happened.
*****
Ami seemed to be running though a fog, so thick she could not see anything around her.. After a few moments she finally blinked her eyes open, and frowned, waiting for the face to focus. It took a second until she recognized one of the twins’ face, and she realized it was Kari.
“You’re awake,” she cried happily, Ami feeling her envelop her in a hug. Her confusion deepened upon feeling another body on top of that one. A careful clearing of the throat, and the weight was off her. She could see both twins were standing by the bed, looking towards the doorway, slightly afraid.
Ami saw Tess standing there, looking at them. Her face unreadable, as she walked towards them.
“Well, you both know what I think of others touching my slaves, right?” Tess said, her voice low. Ami felt like speaking up, but could not find the words.
Ami looked up to see both twins standing frozen in fear. They had been caught breaking a rule concerning slaves, especially the Empress’ slave. The only one moving was Tess, who walked slowly towards the bed, which still had Ami confused. What had happened? She figured that could wait until the current situation had been settled. She opened her mouth, ready to defend Kari and Kira.
“So,” Tess stated, wrapping an arm around each twin before continuing. “It’s a good thing nothing was going on, just two concerned friends happy to see their friend awake.”
Ami blinked, unsure of what happened, before looking up into Tess’ eyes. Looking over at the twins, they were actually relieved.
“They haven’t left your side since we got back,” Tess said, releasing them. “And they’ve been keeping me up to date with you, allowing me to quickly take care of other business.”
“But you were here every break you could get,” one Kari said.
“And scolded us for not getting enough sleep,” Kira stated.
“Hey, no showing my nice side to a slave,” Tess said,
“They don’t have to, you’ve already showed it to me,” Ami said, finally able to speak up.
“I’ll have to think of a punishment for that comment. I have a reputation to protect you know,” Tess replied, then turned to the twins. “Get the healer, he can check her out now that she’s awake, and probably some food as well.”
Ami realized she was hungry as the twins left the room to carry out the order. She looked up reaching out to accept Tess’ hug. Somehow after everything, it felt like home.
“You gave us quite a fright, so don’t do it again,” Tess said. Ami looked into serious blue eyes, noticing a small, healing cut above her right eye. She reached up touching it before she even realized what she had done.
“Almost healed, how long was I out?” Ami asked, then looking down for any other signs of wounds Tess received during the battle.
“It was nothing life threatening,” Tess replied, almost casually. “I made sure to only get hit in none critical areas, like my head.”
Ami smiled despite herself. “I happen to like your face,” she said.
“Same to you little one.”
“I heard the rat finally woke up,” another voice said by the door. Ami turned to see Becca standing there, glaring at her, before smiling at her. “So, you’ll finally return back to normal?” Becca asked, pinning Tess with a stare.
Ami looked over to Tess wondering what Becca meant.
“Never! I have the right, as Empress, to change whenever I feel like it,” Tess finally said. Ami watched Becca start to say something when the healer walked into the room.
“I was told that our patient finally woke up,” the man said, looking at the Empress, then over at Ami. Tess moved away allowing him to approach the bed. He felt Ami’s forehead. “No fever, good, wasn’t expecting one but one can never be sure. Now, how do you feel?”
Ami took a second to consider the question. How did she feel? She moved around a bit, not feeling any pain, her head felt clear, and nothing else came ached. Aside from being hungry, she felt fine, and told the healer that.
“To be hungry is to be expected, after all, you’ve been out of it for two days now,” he told her.
Ami’s eyes went wide at that. She knew two days was a long time to be out. Kari and Kira returned with some food, which Ami recognized were her favorites. She sat up a bit as the healer finished up his examination.
“Well Empress, I pronounce your slave fit, keep an eye on her for the next couple of days, if anything unusual happens let me know right away,” he said, then walked out of the room.
The twins set the food down so she could eat.
“Tess, thought you’d like to know, Carrie is recovering just fine, giving the healers trouble, says she’s getting restless,” Becca said, to which Tess laughed.
“Tell her to rest up, things are calm for now,” Tess said.
“Um, what happened to the Enokrad?” Ami asked. She assumed by the fact they were calmly sitting around here it had either been defeated or put back to sleep. She wanted to know what happened.
“Ah, it’s dead, we think” Tess said, pausing slightly in obvious thought. “What is the last thing you remember?”
Ami took a second, chewing her food before replying. “Um, mad that it was about to kill you, so I charged it, tackled it I think,” Ami said, recalling that moment.
“It never saw you coming,” Tess said, making Ami frown at that. No one had been able to get close, yet she had? “You tackled it, then a blinding light came from both of you. When the light vanished you were out cold, and the Enokrad had transformed into a cat-like creature. It backed up, swinging at everyone who came near, but no longer attacked with magic. I was able to close in and delivered the killing blow, after which it seemed to first imploded, then explode, and then vanished.”
“So its gone?” Ami asked.
“I think so, but one can never be too sure,” Tess replied. “We never did find a body.”
Ami thought about that for a few seconds, continuing to eat. The only thing she remembered was pain at that moment. Pushing the thought aside she concentrated on her food. There would be time for reflections later on.
*****
Ami sat next to the Empress eating breakfast. She had been relaxing, and enjoying her time with the Tess, who had been gentle with her. Galic stayed around for a while, and currently chasing the girls of the palace. Carrie finally recovered, much to everyone relief. Becca, after the battles, was busy training new recruits for the army.
“Is there any news about the Zero-Mages?” Tess asked, looking over at Becca.
“The spies say those who survived, dispersed. One turned herself over to us, seems she never trusted Gregory. She’s settled down in town, wants to open a shelter for abused girls,” Becca said. Kelly came to Ami’s mind, the girl with spiky hair who seemed disinterested in going back.
“Interesting, are we keeping an eye on the others?” Tess asked.
“Those that we know of, and we captured a new one, still in his orange uniform, along with his note,” Becca said.
“Wish we could read them,” Tess stated, frustrated by that.
“Um, I could,” Ami said, speaking up. They all looked at her, surprised by her comment. “I did come from there, remember?”
“Guess we’ve forgotten that, we think of you as someone else,” Becca said. Ami realized the meaning behind that, considering neither Carrie, or Becca, had trusted her. They had called her a Zero-Mage, and thought she had to be part of that group.
“Then tell a guard to bring the note up, and we’ll have a look,” Tess said.
Ami ate some more of her breakfast, waiting as the guard returned with the official paper that all condemned prisoners were sent over with. She was handed the paper and quickly scanned through it to the verdict.
“Well?” Tess said.
“Have to find the charges, when it comes to legal matters they don’t know how to state anything simply,” Ami said, chuckling at her own joke. She looked up seeing no one else got it. Shrugging she continued till she found it. “Here is it, seems like he is a convicted serial killer.”
“Serial killer?” Becca asked.
“Um, he has killed more than one person, usually the same way,” Ami replied.
“Bring him forth,” Tess said, causing Ami to wonder what she had in mind.
She glanced around, seeing her drink was empty and needed some more. She really did not want to get up, and wished she had magic, she could move the pitcher over without moving. With a sigh she realized she would have to get up, when the pitcher floated down next to her, startling her. She glanced over at Tess.
“Did you do that, thank you,” Ami said, seeing a frown on Tess’ face.
“I didn’t do that,” Tess said. “Did you Becca?”
“Huh?” Becca said, obvious she had been elsewhere in thought. “Do what?”
“The pitcher?” Tess asked.
“What about it, someone summoned it, no big deal,” Becca said.
“Yeah, but I didn’t summon it, did either of you?” Tess asked, looking around the table. The twins both shook their heads no.
“Don’t look at me, I have no magic,” Ami said. “Its’ not like I can make my cup float or something.”
At that moment the door opened, and two guards led a person in an orange suit into the room. Ami glanced at the man, thinking that he looked familiar, but could not place where she had seen him.
“So, you’re a serial killer?” Tess said.
“No, not really, more like an illusionist,” the man said. “This was required, especially after what was done to you, Ami.”
“Now you’re not making any sense,” Tess stated, standing. Ami could see the defensive position the empress had taken. “Perhaps I should just take your life, we still have death for those who deserve it.”
“Ah, no, you misunderstand me,” the man said. “Perhaps I should introduce myself properly.”
He waved his hand, Becca stood as well, ready for battle. In a second the man’s orange outfit changed to a grey robe, as it hit Ami where she had seen him.
“You! You were that strange guy when everything went grey,” Ami said.
“Yes, my name is Percy, and I am a Psyok,” he said, shocking everyone there. “I am wrapping up loose ends.”
“What do mean, loose ends?” Tess asked.
“Simple, we knew that the beast, which you called the Enokrad, was close to being awakened, a creature which should have never been created. Its creators thought they were above such mistakes, to their ultimate demise. It fed on magic, could see magic, craved magic which is why you,” he looked at Ami, “could get close to it. It literally could not see you. We knew that weakness, and as a result we set you up, manipulated people to bring you here, the one we saw who could defeat the monster.”
Ami’s eyes widened at the admission. They had played with her life so easily?
“We needed someone who had a white soul,” Percy said continuing on. “Those are rare, and the subject of much debate, and many did not think you could do it.”
“Do what?” Tess said.
“Survive, especially considering her dimension had discovered a way to move from one dimension to another. That was the critical part, and we had to use the methods which they were already using, the gate. Sending criminals though is not an unusual idea,” Percy said. “But I have closed that. It was determined you were innocent, as a result no more prisoners will come through, I would be the last, in part due to the Ami Lewik Law.”
Ami’s mind went blank at that.
“Oh, one other thing happened, one that even we did not foresee,” Percy said, half turning to leave. “When you struck the monster, energy transferred, as a result, you gained the ability to use magic.”
With that statement, he finished turning and walked out disappearing in front of them.
“Um, that was interesting,” Becca finally said.
“Psyoks,” a voice said, they turned to see Gallic standing there. “Always mysterious, and it seems, meddlesome.”
They sat there absorbing what Percy said in silence, until Tess finally spoke up. “Then I guess, you summoned the pitcher.”
“Then she should be,” Kira said.
“Able to levitate her cup,” Kari finished.
“Try it,” Tess told her.
Ami looked at them all, then with a defeated sigh, looked back at the cup wished the cup to rise up. After a few seconds of nothing she put more effort into it. She almost gave up when the cup shot up to the ceiling and dropped back down in the middle of the table. Ami sat motionless at what happened.
“It appears you’ll need some training though,” Tess chuckled. “After all, I can’t have my little one unable to control her magic.”
They finished breakfast, and the twins went off preparing a bath for Ami, who watched Tess make preparations for her day. Ami looked out the window, realizing so much had changed in such a short time. Two long arms encircled her, hugging her.
“So, what is going on in that pretty head of yours?” Tess asked.
“Just how much my life has changed,” Ami replied.
“Well, I’m glad you’re in my life,” Tess said. “I mean good pleasure slaves don’t come out of nowhere.”
Ami felt Tess nuzzle her neck, making her legs weak.
“You make it sound like I obey your every command,” Ami replied.
“You do, and I wouldn’t want anyone else,” Tess said.
“What about when you tire of me?” Ami asked.
“Then I would have fallen out of love with you,” Tess said, causing Ami to stiffen. Did that mean?
“You mean, you love me?” Ami asked, her voice quiet.
“Yes,” Tess answered, her arms gently wrapped around Ami.
“Good, because I think I’m falling in love with you as well,” Ami replied.
“Think?” Tess said, Ami felt herself spun around so she could look up into the blue eyes. “I’ll have to work on that part.”
Ami succumbed to the pleasures of the kiss, and the wonders of tomorrow with Tess.
The End
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