As the Darklings try to kill me, Marley, Judy and Nivlac, we fly up into the air, and I start barking out orders.
“We’re gonna lure them after us! The rest of you, stay here and attack anything that crawls out of that portal! Try to drive them out from under the clouds, but don’t let them get too close to any settlements! I want you nephilim to surround the perimeter with holy fire, light those sons of bitches up! Eddy, you follow us!”
Edward nods, getting on his Star Chariot.
“Nadia, grab Aurie and your dad, you’re coming with us!”
Nadia gets on behind Edward, Lorik handing Aurelia over so Edward can put her in the bag with Erdrick.
“But what about Dehak?”
I look up, seeing him watch us from his Sky Skull with a smile.
“He’ll come after us the moment we move. But I’ve got an idea. We just need a distraction.”
“I’ll do it–”
“No, we need you to come with us.”
Jack flies over, wearing his flight pack.
“I think I might be able to distract him, Cal.”
“Wut du Jack haf in mine?”
“I don’t think I’ve got time to explain, ironically enough.”
And I completely agree.
“Do whatever you’re planning the moment we move, Jack. Which is in three… two… one… NOW!!!”
As Calvin, Nivlac, Marley and Judy fly off, Edward driving after them, Jack fiddles with his COMP.
Dehak predictably follows Calvin, his Darklings joining the chase.
“GET BACK HERE–”
KPANG
And then the Wings of Time appears in a prismatic flash, sending the Sky Skull spiralling away.
“WHAT?!?”
Dehak rights his flying machine, seeing Jack fly to the Wings of Time, the dome flipping open, Jack landing in the pilot’s seat as the dome flips back down, a cocky smile on his face as he takes the wheel.
“Who is that?!? And what is that?!?”
We fly towards Dragonheart, to the newly restored castle, landing on a large balcony, just outside the throne room, overlooking the gardens.
Yes, those were restored too.
I turn to Edward.
“Eddy, you’re gonna need to take the happy couple out of your bag.”
After getting off his heavenly motorbike, helping the others off, and dismissing it, Edward reaches into his bag, pulling Erdrick out, placing him on the floor, and doing the same with Aurelia.
“Why? What are we gonna do?”
As I reach into my bag, I turn to Nivlac.
“Get in here, ya big palooka.”
“Ah, I think I know where this is going.”
So we reintegrate ourselves.
Home sweet home.
Welcome back.
Look, I KNOW what Cal’s about to do, and YOU know what happens to me and Memories while he’s doing it. So don’t cut that big “WELCOME BACK NIVLAC” cake yet, Fi.
Let’s just get this over with.
I pull a certain case out of my bag, opening it to reveal a certain pair of bracelets that, like François’ robe, appear to be made of gold, but aren’t.
“Eddy, you know what these are?”
Edward nods.
“Bands of Merging, right? I’ve never used them, but I know you’ve used them a lot. With a lot of people.”
Merger slut!
Nivlac Aekrok! What did I say about calling me that?
Sorry, Cal. Please don’t revoke my saying “sussy baka sense” privileges.
Then don’t call me a merger slut again!
“Right. You ready to do this?”
“I’ve been looking forward to it, I’ve always wondered what it’s like first-hand.”
I hand the one with the ruby to him.
“Well, you’re about to find out. You’re a lefty, right?”
He puts it on his left wrist.
“Not a lotta lefties in the ChaotiX. Val had to redesign my COMP so I could wear it on my right arm. Erdrick, take Aurie and go wait with Nadia and Lorik, okay?”
“Otay, daddeh.”
The couple of two worlds nods, waddling away.
I look down at Marley as I put the one with the sapphire on my right wrist.
“You go wait with Jude, okay? Pic and Snowball are still in her bag, so keep an eye on her.”
“Yus, daddeh.”
I remove the X-Shield, placing it in my bag.
“Oh, and Jude? Take our bags for a moment. You know what to do, right?”
Edward and I remove our bags of holding, handing them to Judy, who doesn’t put them in her bag of holding, because bad things happen when you do that.
“I don’t know the specifics, hun.”
“Well, Mar does. Just listen to him, Jude, because everything’s riding on this working perfectly.”
With the others out of the way, I stand side by side with Edward, looking towards the battle in the distance, the hordes of Darklings making their way towards us.
“You ready, Eddy?”
“I’m ready, Cal. We’re doing this for Earth and Magicca.”
“The two of us are holding the key. So, let me quickly explain how these things work…”
The Wings of Time chases the Sky Skull through the air, Jack trying to keep Dehak away from Dragonheart.
Every time Dehak thinks he’s given Jack the slip and tries to pursue his real target…
KPANG
The Wings of Time appears in his path, driving him back.
“HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?!? HOW DO YOU KEEP POPPING IN AND OUT OF REALITY?!?”
“Maybe if I told you what this baby is called, you’d figure it out!”
Jack laughs as he chases Dehak over Hank, who has grown to giant size and is stomping on Darklings like a bitch mare stomping her foals.
“It’s called the Wings of Time! I personally had a hand in designing it, and nobody knows Lady Time like I do!”
Dehak spots a flash of red and blue light at Dragonheart Palace, turning purple.
“What is that? What is the boy doing–”
WHAM
Dehak is suddenly punched in the face, so hard he’s sent flying backwards out of his Sky Skull.
BONK
And bounces off the Wings of Time’s dome.
As he flies back up, he sees the new challenger.
Dark brown hair in a fauxhawk and ponytail, a streak of red in it.
Unusual eyes, a blend of blue and brown.
His face is a mix of Calvin and Edward’s features. The former’s nose and ears, the latter’s kingly bone structure and stubble.
He wears a black and gold battle suit, and both Bands of Merging.
And he has the Sword of Kings and Dragonbane strapped to his back, and the Star Bell hanging on his hip.
Dehak’s jaw drops.
“What is this? This is clearly magic, but… oh, I understand. This is like Shaun’s Black Band! But those bands… is that gold? No, wait, that’s benevolium! How did you find any?!?”
The gestalt entity smirks, speaking in Calvin and Edward’s voices.
“You’re right, Dehak. These Bands of Merging were created by Mervin Geralds, Shaun’s ex-master. However, the difference is… that this is a perfected merger. And we call it chivalrium on Earth, by the way. Didn’t know it’s known here, gonna have to look into that. But I’m getting off topic. Please, allow me to introduce myself. I’m the combination of Calvin and Edward! And that makes me…”
He clenches his fists.
SHWEEEEEEEEEEE
And his body is wreathed in an aura of golden dragon fire and white light.
The dark brown of his hair turns white, as does the black of his battle suit.
His eyes turn glowing blue and reptilian.
The sleeves of his battle suit recede, as white scales grow on his arms, his hands turning into claws.
And a majestic pair of white dragon wings grows on his back.
“Calward. But you, Dehak…”
He raises an arm, tracing a circle over his head with a claw.
A glowing white and gold ball appears above his head, forming itself into a crown made of hard light.
Calward draws his swords, Dragonbane in his left hand, the Sword of Kings in his right hand.
“You can call me King Calward. And you know what they say…”
SLASH
SLASH
He effortlessly cuts the Sky Skull into quarters.
“Hail to the King, baby.”
And then Calward charges.
Meanwhile, inside the purple bubble Deston summoned, Slayer keeps having his way with Umbra, ignoring the battle raging outside the bubble.
“ENF! ENF! ENF!”
“YOU’VE ALREADY FINISHED TWICE!!! PLEASE, PULL OUT!!!”
“ENF! ENF! ENF! NU! ENF! ENF! ENF! SWAYEW HAF BIN DUIN NU ENF JUS FOW DIS! ENF! ENF! ENF!”
“WEISSMAN!!! ORDER YOUR SHITRAT TO STOP!!!”
Dave, back in human form, shakes his head, still recording on his phone.
“No can do, dude. Slayer’s been looking forward to this since the World Revolution.”
“THE WHAT?!?”
“ENF! ENF! ENF!”
“You know, the whole thing with Fate. Don’t you remember Slayer hitting on you at the start? Oh wait, that was the other you, right? The one who stole his Cal’s body? Didn’t you eat his soul? Is he still in there?”
Slayer stops enfing for a minute.
“Wait, if da udda Umbwa am in dewe, du dat make dis a fwee-sum?”
“I guess? So is the other Umbra in there?”
“YOU THINK I’LL TELL YOU WITH YOUR SHITRAT’S PHALLUS LODGED IN MY ANAL CAVITY?!?”
Slayer slaps Umbra’s flank with a marshmallow hoof as he starts up again.
“ENF! ENF! ENF! SWAYEW CAWW IT DA TWOUW-SUW TAI-TUN! ENF! ENF! ENF!”
“THE TROUSER TITAN?!? BUT YOU DON’T EVEN WEAR TROUSERS!!!”
“ENF! ENF! ENF! YUH, CUZ SWAYEW NO-NOS AM TUU BIG TU FIT! ENF! ENF! ENF! BUT UMBWA SHUD KNU HOW BIG SWAYEW NO-NOS AM BAI NAO! ENF! ENF! ENF!”
As Dave laughs, Umbra glares at him, his head now being pushed up against the force field with every thrust like it’s a headboard.
“GO AHEAD, LAUGH IT UP!!! THIS WOULDN’T BE FUNNY IF WE WERE BOTH HUMANS!!!”
“ENF! ENF! ENF! GUD FING WE NU AM HOOMINS, DEN! ENF! ENF! ENF!”
SLASH
CLANG
SLASH
Calward and Dehak duel in midair, the lich having summoned a pair of black scythes.
Since Calvin and Edward are right-handed and left-handed respectively, Calward is ambidextrous, giving him an advantage over Dehak.
“C’MON, DEHAK!!! I THOUGHT YOU WERE STRONGER THAN THIS!!!”
Unbeknownst to Calward, a considerable amount of Dehak’s dark power is currently being used to maintain the Dark Window.
SLASH
CLANG
But he wouldn’t be complaining if he did know.
Dehak glares furiously at the gestalt king.
“I KNOW WHERE THE BOY’S POWER OF LIGHT COMES FROM!!! DON’T TELL ME YOU’VE THROWN YOUR LOT IN WITH THE LIGHT OF PEACE!!!”
SLASH
CLANG
“WE’RE ON THE SIDE OF MORTALKIND, DEHAK!!! THE LIGHT OF PEACE IS NO BETTER THAN YOUR DARK MASTER!!!”
SLASH
CLANG
“SO YOU WISH TO MAKE ENEMIES OF BOTH OF THEM?!? AND THEY CALLED ME AMBITIOUS!!! WHAT’S YOUR PLAN, MERGER BOY?!? ARE YOU GOING TO KILL ME?!? I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO USE THE LAMP?!?”
SLASH
SHATTER
Calward’s swords break the black scythes, and the pieces of the scythes fizzle away.
“Who says we aren’t?”
“What?”
Calward smirks again.
“Didn’t you notice the lack of bags on me, Dehak? Yeah, I don’t have the Lamp on me. Guess who does.”
Dehak looks over Calward’s shoulder, at Dragonheart Palace.
“There?”
“That’s right.”
Then the lich looks down at the massive Dark Window, sucking all the Darklings back in as it closes up, the arcane circle fading away.
“No…”
The dark clouds above dissipate, killing any remaining Darklings as the sunlight returns once more.
“No… NO!!!”
And in the distance, Dehak sees a cloud of octarine smoke on a balcony.
“What else have you done?”
Calward smiles innocently.
“Me? I haven’t done anything except keep you busy. But that is one last safety measure, in case you make yet another attempt to seize the Lamp. It’s over, Dehak. There isn’t a move you can make that we can’t counter. So take this chance, and fold.”
Dehak immediately flies towards the castle, Calward sighing as he follows him.
“That guy’s just too predictable.”
On the balcony, Judy, her nano armor off, places the Lamp on the floor, next to the cloud of octarine smoke.
She walks over to Nadia, Lorik, Marley, Piccolo, Snowball and Aurelia.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that someone’s missing from that lineup.
And perhaps you can guess where they are.
The group watches Dehak approach the balcony, Calward chasing him.
As Dehak gets close, his eyes fixate on the Lamp, and he reaches out for it.
But then the smoke cloud clears, revealing Erdrick.
With a golden pair of dragon wings on his back, and a grin on his face.
FWOOSH
Then he spews a blast of dragon fire at Dehak, sending him crashing to the floor and lighting his robe and necrotic flesh on fire.
WHUMP
Most mages have their robes made of fire-resistant fabrics, but dragon fire can burn right through them anyway.
The lich gets back up, using his magic to extinguish the flames, his expression one of absolute disbelief.
“You… you wished to make that shite-rodent a half-dragon?!?”
Calward lands on the balcony, a grin on his face.
“Yup! We figured… with all the impossible things you’ve done with the Lamp… turning a fluffy into a half-dragon isn’t that crazy, is it?”
Marley and Erdrick step up, on either side of their merged owners.
“Su du Dehak see dat Dehak haf wost? Ow du Mawwey nee tu mewge wif Ewdwick?”
“It am a bit tuu soon fow dat, Ewdwick fink.”
Dehak glances at the Lamp, and Calward realizes what he’s going to do.
When the lich lunges, Calward acts on pure instinct, and lunges too.
And for the next few seconds, it’s like time slows to a crawl.
WHAM
As they’re both in the air, Calward elbows Dehak away…
SHUNK
SHUNK
And as he lands, he drives his swords through the Lamp.
CRACK
Glowing octarine cracks appear on the Lamp, getting bigger, quickly spreading.
As Dehak gets back up, his rotten eyes widen, and he screams like someone who just saw their most cherished loved one be mortally wounded.
“NO!!! NO!!! MY LAMP!!! MY PRECIOUS LAMP OF DESIRE!!! MY… MY PRECIOUS!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY PRECIOUS?!?”
Calward pulls his swords out and sheathes them, seeing the Lamp shaking, octarine smoke spewing out of the cracks.
“Judy! Get the others out of here!”
“Right! Zum!”
snap
pop
Everyone save Calward and Dehak vanishes.
Calward turns to Dehak, seeing him crawling towards the Lamp.
“What do you think you’re doing, idiot?”
“There might still be time to fix it!”
Rolling his eyes, Calward just grabs Dehak and flies off with him, ignoring his protests.
“No! Unhand me, you magical mutant! I have to save my precious!”
“Why do I even bother?”
When Calward turns back for a moment, he sees a burst of octarine light obliterate the balcony, the sound it makes simply impossible to describe.
As a magical merger and a part-dragon, he can see octarine too.
“Oh well. Most of the castle is still standing.”
Calward arrives at the battlefield, which is now just a regular field, because there’s certainly no battling going on anymore.
Judy is already helping the other mages heal the wounded, and Jack is landing the Wings of Time nearby. Mileton has demerged, Future Quin now healing people too, Miles having wandered off to examine the wreckage of Calvin Impact.
WHUMP
Ten feet from the ground, Calward drops Dehak.
Everyone notices the falling lich, and immediately moves to surround him.
And Calward casually floats down.
“Nowhere to run, Dehak. Say goodbye to this handsome mug.”
He reverts to base form, the crown fading away.
Then he splits back into Calvin and Edward.
poof
They speak as one.
“And say hello again to these mugs.”
Okay, I’m back.
That was fun…
But I think it’ll be more fun when Edward masters his dragon powers.
Don’t forget the promise he made, Cal.
I look Dehak in the eye as he gets to his feet.
“There. It’s over. The Lamp is gone. You don’t get it, and we don’t get it. So you’ve got nothing left to fight for.”
Edward narrows his eyes in fury.
“So are we done here, Dehak? Are you gonna come quietly?”
Dehak just chuckles.
“No… no, it’s not over. This chapter is over, but… the next chapter will begin in time. Rebuild this putrid kingdom. Celebrate your paltry victory. Mourn for those who have been lost. It won’t matter in the end. For as you rebuild, so too will I rebuild.”
He raises a hand.
“You’ll both see me again. You’ll all see me again, when the time is right. And next time, you will not be so fortunate. As they say, third time’s the charm. Do give Harvey and Necrosis my regards, boy.”
“Hey, you don’t just get to–”
“Whys.”
snap
pop
Dehak vanishes with a fingersnap.
“–leave. Ah, goddamnit. Hate it when they do that. At least he doesn’t have the Lamp, right?”
Edward shrugs.
“And he’s not ruling Drakonia anymore. So the mission was a resounding success, I’d say.”
Mr. Dragon-Soul laughs.
“If only it was that easy in my world!”
Scott, back in mortal form, holds up the bound Dark Demon.
“We’ve captured three of Dehak’s allies, they might be able to tell us where he’s gone.”
“Hee hee hee! Scotty spent most of that fight making sure I didn’t give him the slip!”
Victor steps out of the Helios.
“Shaun’s still asleep back there, and Umbra… well…”
We all turn towards Deston’s force field, Slayer finally wrapping things up with Umbra.
“GUD FEEWS!”
When he pulls out, Umbra just crawls away, sobbing and leaking cum.
“Finally… and I thought the Rape Chamber was bad…”
And we all start laughing at Umbra’s misfortune.
If he wasn’t FUCKING UMBRA, I would feel bad for him.
I don’t think that profane descriptor is accurate anymore, Niv.
Yeah, now he’s fucked Umbra.
Deston dismisses the bubble, conjuring up an indigo fluffy carrier, Reggae roughly dropping Umbra in it.
“We’ll be bringing the former Royal Mage back to Earth. Lorik, I’m sure you won’t have any difficulties finding a replacement.”
Lorik smiles at Panthera.
“I may have someone lined up…”
Panthera waves a hand at Nocturne, and the familiar reverts to cat form.
“You’re already looking forward to the next time we have to do that, aren’t you?”
“…Yeah…”
Nadia runs up to Edward, hugging him.
“Oh, Eddy, I’m so proud of you! You got us out of that Tower, you slew the Dark Dragon, and you helped Cal stop Dehak!”
Lorik nods proudly.
“I think you’re long overdue for a knighthood, Eddy. And Peter, I haven’t forgotten about that medal I promised you.”
Peter bows, and Alex makes a valiant attempt to bow too.
“Thank you, Your Majesty. But Cal and Eddy are the real heroes of the hour. Truly, our kingdom was blessed the day they first came to Drakonia.”
“There’s no need to bow, Peter, but I completely agree. The ChaotiX will always be welcome in Drakonia.”
I crack a grin.
“Igor will be happy to hear that he can put all those doors back up.”
Erdrick happily flaps his new wings.
“An nao Ewdwick nu haf tu stay in da baggie wen daddeh am fite-in!”
Everyone who didn’t see Erdrick’s empowerment stares blankly at him, and Edward smiles sheepishly.
“Oh yeah, that happened too. Grampa, you don’t have a problem with this, do you?”
Chrysus chuckles.
“Well, there’s no such thing as too many noble dragons. I’ll be happy to train Erdrick, as I trained you.”
“Great. And we definitely need to have a long talk about that whole Drakus reborn thing, but first, there’s something else we’ve gotta do. Babe, can you let go now, please?”
Apparently, Nadia is the only one present who doesn’t notice what Eddy just called her.
“Oh, right, sorry.”
If she did notice, she’s good at hiding it.
Eddy and Nadia, sittin’ in a tree–
You weren’t going to spell the word “kissing”, were you Niv?
…
No. No, I wasn’t.
Nadia stops hugging Edward, and he removes his Band of Merging, handing it to me.
“We gotta check out the damage.”
I nod, Judy handing our bags back to us.
“Thanks, Jude.”
As Edward puts his bag back on, I do the same with mine, removing my Band, putting both Bands back in the case, placing them back in the bag for next time.
I think Mar’s idea has merit.
“You’re absolutely right, Eddy. Folks, we’ll be right back.”
So I fly back to the Palace, Marley, Edward and Erdrick flying alongside me.
We hover above the scorched ruins of the balcony, the smell of burning tin in the air.
“It’s not that bad, right Eddy?”
“Yeah, we can probably rebuild it. Like Calward said, the rest of the castle is still standing, so one balcony isn’t a loss. By the way, speaking of Calward, do you remember what octarine looks like?”
“I remember that it’s definitely not black.”
“Ah. Dude, learn a couple of basic spells, you’ll be able to see it all the time.”
“I’m gonna focus on getting my driver’s licence first, Eddy.”
“An Mawwey am foh-kus-in awn weawn-in tu wead, su Mawwey can git a wice-ens tuu.”
We land at ground zero of the explosion, seeing a few warped, barely recognisable chunks of the Lamp, a few wisps of octarine smoke still hanging in the air.
Unfortunately, there’s no signs whatsoever of whatever was inside the Lamp.
That’s not good. Does this mean that whatever was in the Lamp was DESTROYED… or was it RELEASED?
I think we’ll need to bring some of our scientific friends in to examine the area.
Honestly, I’m just hoping that it didn’t damage the space-time continuum or something.
I mean, whatever was inside that Lamp was stronger than magic. It could do things that magic can’t, like resurrecting the dead and affecting gold.
And I’ve got a few theories about what it is, but no way to confirm them now.
But if any of them are true, then it doesn’t matter which one is true, because it’s a dangerous, unidentified source of immense power, and we don’t know where it is.
And some people think a nuclear weapon going missing is a big deal. If that situation is called an empty quiver, I have no idea what this is called.
The Lamp’s source of power being destroyed is the best case scenario here, because at least then, it can never be abused by someone like Dehak again.
But when are we ever that lucky?
It’s probably out there somewhere.
We need to find it and identify it, or confirm that it’s been destroyed. And if it’s been warped through space and/or time, there’ll be a trail to track, right?
With OUR luck, it could have teleported straight to wherever Dehak went.
Or into the hands of one of the other Octovirate members at large.
Right, yeah, better not forget about them. They might try to regroup with Dehak.
Although, I think it’s a Quadrumvirate now.
Erebus is dead, and we’ve got Umbra, Deedee and Shaun in our custody.
That leaves Dehak, Varney–
And any of Varney’s surviving vampires.
Right, thanks, and then there’s Fred, and the Many. But we can assume that they’ll all be staying on Magicca.
They don’t have any way to open the passageways, they don’t have portal guns, and they probably wouldn’t be allowed in the Inn Between Worlds.
And the Many can absorb woolly souls, so we’ve gotta keep THAT in mind, too. Oh, speaking of woollies…
Yeah, they’ll be able to come out of hiding.
It’s gonna be tricky, reuniting all those exiled woollies with their owners.
And a lot of those woollies didn’t live to see Drakonia liberated.
A lot of people died under Dehak’s rule, Cal.
You know, I gotta be honest, I was expecting a big loss by the end of this. Like, Lorik, or Chrysus…
Yeah, but the thing is, Eddy might end up inheriting both of their thrones.
I’ve never been prouder of the guy, I think he’d make a spectacular king.
When he’s ready.
But he’s just not ready yet.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
Even if it’s only a metaphorical crown, or one made of hard light.
So it’s a good thing we didn’t lose Lorik, or Chrysus, because Eddy’s still got a lot to learn, and they’re the best teachers he can get.
Also, the mentor figure getting tragically killed to motivate the hero is such a cliché, and we’ve done that before.
Even though it didn’t stick–
“Cal? You alright?”
“Daddeh am fine, Edee. Am jus habin a in-tew-naw monnoh-wog.”
“…Wut am dat?”
I snap out of my reverie.
“Huh. Oh, right. Sorry, guys. Let’s just get back to the others and tell them the score. We won, but there’s a lot of loose ends.”
We take flight once more, seeing the people of Dragonheart cautiously returning to the city, cheering as they see us fly overhead.
“Do you hear that? Do you hear the people’s cheers?”
“They’re celebrating the return of the rightful king!”
“Come on, Eddy! They’re cheering for us too!”
There’s bodies to identify and bury. There’s buildings to repair and rebuild. And there’s probably a lot of Dehak loyalist guards who have abandoned their posts to seek their master out.
But for the first time since the Festival of the Rising Tower…
There’s hope in Drakonia, and sunlight…
And smiles.