Aeternitas by M Mixson (free ereaders txt) 📖

one.

He surged to his feet quickly and looked around to see if there was anybody that had seen his fall but the men were still arguing over…whatever they were arguing over.

His path took him around the large mountain and north, far north. He shivered through the first week he camped out in the wild. His bones and skin weren’t used to this cold but as the weeks he began to adjust.

His adjustment however wasn’t normal adjustment – what he thought he was adjusting to was just him getting frostbite and his toes and fingers going numb from the cold. He huddled against a large rock and prayed that he’d reach his destination sooner rather than later.

The next morning he found himself even colder and so he tried to move quickly to warm up his freezing body. He was getting close, he could feel it in his bones. And when he finally saw the city, the frozen city he found himself staring in awe. Utter awe. It was the most gorgeous city he had ever seen. Licking his lips he stepped forward towards the archway into the city.

He smiled and stepped through. As he stepped through the gate he found someone waiting for him.

“I was just a little bit quicker than you,” he said to Aimeer.

Aimeer cringed and backed into the wall. “I swear I only wanted to find it – I didn’t want to take anything from it!”

“Oh, I know that. I also know who you are. I saw you lurking when we were talking. I also knew that you would be able to find the city for me.”

Aimeer swallowed with fear. He moved forward and spoke again, “I just wanted to know the truth, if it really existed or not. I just needed to know the truth.”

“Now you know. How’d you know it was on land by the way?”

“Easy – the plate movements of the world. They shifted with magic. I knew the city had probably been raised from the water, I knew that there was a very small chance that it would be where it had originally sunk. Plus the cracking of the earth was due to magic being used once again. Here, in this city. Why do I know it was used here? Because it resonated through the earth and cracked it wide open. It cracked wide open opposite of where it was located because this is not the full Venicia. Venicia was split in two when it was beneath the ocean. All the earth rumblings destroyed it and caused it to split. Half, well, less than half is still underwater in the west. Just a residential district I’m assuming, but everything else? Right here in front of us. That is how I knew.”

“But how’d you guess north?”

“That’s the way the earth was shifting.”

The man’s mouth twisted downwards in anger. “You didn’t even use magic? How long has it been above the sea?”

“No magic. How would I know? I only knew where it would end up!”

Well, Jiliy smiled. “Then I suppose you’re no longer of any use to me now.”

“No…use?”

“None.” Jiliy’s eyes seemed to change color in the light. “You haven’t even asked me how I managed to get here so quickly. I’ll tell you though. Magic, dark magic, but magic nonetheless. It’s invigorating, almost like instantaneous movement, think of somewhere and you’ll be there. But not exactly. Ah, the feeling of power is one of the most wonderful things in the world.”

Aimeer and circled around so his back was now to the massive city. “But why kill me? I have no intention of telling anyone else where the city is. It’s not something that should be found. It’s far too dangerous for that!”

“Of course it is. It’s far too dangerous for you too. Back then skilled magic Users lived here. This city must be filled with magic and inventions and probably magic inventions too. That’s what makes this city so special I suppose. I want to rule this world and this city is about to help me do that.”

Aimeer saw Jiliy smile. “And so, your death is necessary. Who knows what you could do if you found those inventions. You’re one of the smartest inventors alive.” He paused. “On the other hand if these inventions don’t work I’d need somebody to get them working for me…but no. I need to kill you.”

Jiliy grinned as he waved his fingers and watched Aimeer sink to the ground clutching his chest. “Your death will come quick. Now, where to go next?”

“To the Afterlife is where you’ll be going when I get done with you,” Zese spoke from the city limits. “I know you can’t touch me over here with your magic. There’s a barrier up around the city and once I cross it you can use magic on me…but you leave and your magic gets less powerful again and since Eian is here you’ll probably lose again. So, I think this is a win-win situation for both of us. Perhaps the Princess can sink the city with you in it again. She does have the mind of a killer after all.”

Jiliy went pale as he saw the newly born source at Zese’s side. He realized he was in a lot more trouble than he thought he was.

Chapter 26: Venecia

Eian studied the man Jiliy from beyond the archway. They’d tangled briefly those few weeks ago but sudden fighting had broken out and it’d caused their fight to be interrupted. Jiliy had promised revenge on him. But now it looked like Jiliy was nervous. Before they’d left Ohiel had told them all he knew on the man. But it wasn’t much. Although they’d lived together for a while they had never become the best of friends. Eian paced in front of the gate as he thought. Before when they had fought Zese had been right, Eian had nearly beat him. But Eian had been out of commission for a while which is why it had taken them so long to arrive. Finally he made his decision and he walked through the gate before Zese could stop him. Jiliy grinned wickedly as he stared them down. “Perfect!” he chanted happily.

“You’ve decided to take up my challenge!”

“How could I ignore something as blatant as killing a man in front of us?” Eian responded coldly.

“Perfect, perfect!” Jiliy chanted again.

From his position beyond the gate Zese could see that the strange man Ohiel knew was a little unhinged, not in his right mind.

As he was about to call out he felt a hand on his shoulder and Ohiel shook his head.

“Don’t distract Eian. If you do it could be the end of him. Jiliy has become abnormally strong. When I lived on that island I saw some of the native’s powers. You do not want to mess with him if you don’t have to.”

“He looks strange, feature wise, more so than he did when we first met him.”

Ohiel nodded. “His hair was blond when I first met him.”

Zese’s eye’s popped wide and he stared in horror at Ohiel. “Are you serious?”

“The magic is so corrupting that it’s even changing his looks. Even if he wanted good magic he would never have gotten it. Magic is so corrupting when not used right and he never used it right. Perhaps it was a good thing that he ended up murdering all those natives on that island. That way they will never be able to pass on this dark magic to anyone else. But when you think about it you wonder who else got stranded there and got that power. Or maybe those people on the island were the people corrupted by that power. And then the reason magic here was abused could have been by those dark powers escaping the island and corrupting the magic here. Any of that is possible and we will never know the answer at this point.”

Their attention was caught as a building was destroyed by Jiliy who was chasing Eian across the tops of the buildings. “I feel like I should go help him,” Zese admitted.

“I know the feeling – but we can’t help him. He’s the only person strong enough to stand up to that man. Without him we would be unable to do anything.”

“I will pray for him then, and perhaps it will help.”

Ohiel smiled. “I will pray with you of course.”

The two men kneeled on the ground and watched the fight as it took place.

Eian had danced back from a blow that would have crushed him beneath the rather large bell tower and instead found himself with his back to a brick wall and unable to dodge the next attack. He grunted as the magical blow hit him and knocked him back by several hundred feet.

He staggered to his knees and gasped trying to regain his breath and think through his next move. He didn’t have much time however because Jiliy almost landed a blow atop his head. Luckily Eian blocked it with his arm and knocked him back before standing.

Carefully he leaned forward and traced a sigil in the dust and activated it with his hand as he tried to call on the magic from Venicia. Nothing happened.

Eian frowned and wiped out the sigil before redrawing the sigil all over again. And then he tried activating it. Nothing happened.

Jiliy cackled. “I guess you’re not really a magic User if you can’t even activate a simple sigil all on your own!”

Eian stood and he already knew what had happened and he waited for Jiliy to figure it out for himself.

Jiliy drew the sigil for death and tried to activate it. Eian raised his eyebrows as the man swore and banged his fists on the ground, cursing.

“So we can’t use death magic? I’ll just use destructive magic!” he hissed.

He drew another sigil in the sand and went to activate that as well. That one didn’t work either. Frantic he traced several other sigils into the sand and found that he couldn’t activate a single one of them. Horror had dawned in his eyes and he shrieked in anger.

“THE MAGIC DIED? IT DOESN’T EXIST ANYMORE??” Ohiel and Zese looked over to Eian standing confidently on the ground. Jiliy looked down at him. “We’ll continue this later!”

Chapter 27: For Revenge

Jiliy disappeared without a moment’s notice and the boys were left staring at the empty city. Eian rubbed his nose and looked back at the entryway.

“I have no doubt that he’ll be back looking for a way to get the magic