Chapter Thirty-Six — Retribution
With the strange hot and cold energy filling his body, Drew focused his attention outward. The world was moving in slow motion around him, everything crystal clear and within his realm of focus. The flickering shadows of the frostfire storm drew his gaze, their orange and red light reflecting a thousand times off the various chunks of ice. The lightning arcing around within the storm illuminated the elements of destruction before returning them to the ominous darkness.
The timer in his head that told him how long the storm had been raging slowly counted to thirty. When it finished, the world went quiet, the violent fury disappearing in an instant. Immediately fireballs erupted from Drew’s hand, hitting clumps of trolls that had gathered on the far side of the storm while waiting for it to dissipate. The bolts thinned their numbers a little, but there were still dozens of trolls for him to kill.
A grim smile appeared on his face as acid arrows shot from his hand to strike four more trolls. It was only at this point that Drew heard JP’s pistols firing. Turning towards JP, he watched as the muzzle flash appeared, and lasting for longer than it should have, disappeared. It felt like he was stuck in bullet time in real life.
With a shrug, he turned back to the trolls that were advancing on his position. Waiting for them to cover the gap between his long-range spells and his short-range spells, he studied the way they leaped at him, watching their leg muscles bunch and then explode down. He counted the distance between them, a lightning bolt striking the first to leave the ground. The next four sailed through the air and he could see their faces begin to bare their teeth in an unwholesome approximation of a smile.
He felt no fear, even as they crossed the ten-meter distance to him. He waited until all four of them were within a cone and watched as their expressions froze on their faces. His cone of frost impacted them, reversing the course of their flight. Their bodies cracked from the impact. Drew had ceased to pay attention to them as soon as the cone was cast, looking for another target. Another solo troll making his way from the far eastern side jumped towards Drew. He could smell the ozone in the air as his lightning bolt caught it, arresting its momentum.
Losing himself in the fight, Drew threw out lightning bolts, cones, fireballs, and acid arrows until they all merged together, becoming a single dance of destruction. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could hear a voice screaming at him; was that Daryl again? He ignored it. It was unimportant to the judgment he was passing on the trolls. They had seen fit to attack his people, to kill them and enslave them; and now he was exacting the cost of those actions upon them.
Death was their just dessert, ashes their reward. The trolls continued to press in on him, not realizing that their time of judgment was at hand. The world continued to crawl around him, giving him plenty of time to respond to any incoming threats. When he had judged over fifty trolls, he realized that there weren’t any left and he advanced out of the protective bunker he was in. He could see them in the distance making a retreat, causing his anger to flare again. They were too far for lightning bolt and his other short-range spells. He began casting storms at them while fireballs and acid arrows took the smaller clumps of targets.
When the last troll he could see died in an explosion of frost and fire, he looked around. The earth had been devastated. His spells had set one tree to smoldering and had knocked another completely over. Still seething craters marked where fireballs had torn up the ground around the trolls. Everywhere he looked were the green-skinned bodies of his slain enemies.
The energy that had filled him, the anger and hate and need for judgment slowly trickled away. It was then that he could feel the weakness coming over him, the weakness of channeling so much mana through his body in such a short frame. He cast rejuvenation on himself but could sense that it wasn’t going to be enough to keep him conscious. He knelt between two craters. The sounds that he had been ignoring since the blood rage had taken him suddenly became clear.
There were voices, shouts from behind him. He turned slightly to look at their source. Katie, Sarah, JP, and Robbi, as well as about half the noncombatants had followed him out of the safety of the shelter they’d created. The rage still wouldn’t let him make out what they were saying, but the concerned and scared looks on their faces told him that they were worried about him, and maybe afraid of him. He smiled and waved before the rage left him completely and he collapsed on the ground.
“Sir, I was only able to get a partial lock on him. I’m not sure if he can even hear us. The distance is too far.”
“How did this happen, Themis? You know what I gave him. There is no way he should have been able to activate it this soon.” Themis and Ares? What were they doing here? Where was here to begin with? His eyes were closed, there was darkness all around him, and he felt cold, in a comforting way.
“He is an exceptional talent, which is why you gave it to him. I have no idea how he activated it unattuned, but it is clear he did.” A pause, “I think he is mostly here.”
“Drew, if you can hear me, don’t give in to the rage again. It will destroy you if you use it before you can control it. Every time you use it before that, you risk it taking over for good and losing your humanity.” Ares stopped again and Drew heard something like fear in his voice, which seemed strange coming from the other red mage.
“I am going to make my way to the closest system to Earth that we can. Sol doesn’t have enough mana to support the fleet yet, but we will try to protect you. You just painted a huge target on the planet. Grow fast, but don’t give in again.” Another pause, “Is he still here?”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“My brothers and sisters will come; the conclave can’t keep this quiet anymore. Trust in the lore you know. Your people remember their nature. You’ve done something none of us ever have, and they will want you.”
“Let him go; he needs to rest.”
“Of course, Admiral.” The silence prolonged, and then finally Themis’ voice came one last time. “Hades, Loki, Pan, Lilith, Athena, Set, and Isis. Don’t trust them, Drew.”
The darkness returned, no longer the comforting cold, but rather a growing heat. He slowly became aware that he was not alone in the darkness and that there was something there beside him. It didn’t breathe, but he could sense its presence by the power that radiated off it. Pure and unadulterated energy that filled him with the same emotions he’d felt during the rage.
“What are you?” Drew asked.
“Retribution,” the being answered. Its voice was harsh and cold.
“Are you the xatherite?”
“No, I am a part of you that the xatherite unlocked.”
“Why? To what end?” Drew asked, but the voice didn’t answer. They sat in silence, Drew too stubborn to talk again in the face of a blunt refusal to answer his question.
“I should not be.”
“What?”
“I should not be, not yet. You have called me forth, but I should not be. You should not have called me.”
What did that mean? He was a part of him but should not be. Why had Ares and Themis been so concerned that he had used the xatherite before it was awakened? He used plenty of xatherite that weren’t awakened yet. Was it because this one was a divine xatherite, rather than a magic one?