smile on his lips.
“You need a broker, Meister Phlegon,” he said “Someone to negotiate with the councils of Aurum and Ferrum on your behalf, someone that they will recognise. I offer myself for this role; I offer to become one with you. I understand that if an ascendant voluntarily enters into the assimilation process, then their consciousness and identity can remain intact within the host?”
Phlegon’s eyes sparked with fyre.
“Are you seriously asking me to assimilate you and then allow you to co-exist?” His voice exploded “You think I would permit you to parasitise my body!”
The room fell silent and the air became rapidly charged as everyone waited for the climax of Phlegon’s reaction. Ka took a deep breath. The point of no return had long passed. He knew that he must move now if he were to be able to control the outcome.
“It would not be a parasitic relationship Meister Phlegon.” Ka’s voice did not waver, though his heart pounded in his ears.
As he continued speaking, he quietly removed his ring and the phial of potion from his pocket.
“What I am proposing would be of a more symbiotic nature.” He explained, “I can bring my followers with me. You say that you do not wish to be worshiped and yet you value loyalty in your Afreet. How much easier and more rewarding would it be, if you could rule over these lands without constant war, and with all of its riches remaining intact?”
Pausing, he watched as Phlegon appeared to consider his words. Ka could almost see his mind working. He was confused, just as Ka had intended.
“This is how I can guarantee you that loyalty.” Said Ka, “If when my people looked at you, they saw my image, and heard my voice, then they would serve you as willingly as they serve me now. You and I, we could rule this land together, unchallenged.”
In a seemingly natural gesture, Ka clasped his hands in front of himself as he slipped his potens ring onto his finger. Ka was expecting, even relying on Phlegon’s next move, but even so, the speed of his action took Ka by surprise.
“The Djinn do not share anything!” Phlegon snarled as he flew towards him.
Phlegon’s body exploded instantly into a crucible of fyre which rapidly enveloped Lord Ka. His eyes tightly closed and his body contorted with pain, Ka pulled the stopper from the phial of potion, releasing it into the crucible and fighting to recite the incantation he screamed out the words.
“vic...issim aute..m assim..ilatio”.
The energy field from the ring grew until it surrounded the crucible fyre. Merging with Ka’s potion it formed into a glowing red vapour cloud. Ka’s skin burned. He cried out in agony as the crucible fyre forged their two writhing bodies into one being. The pain seared through him, seconds seeming to last for an eternity. The flames turned from red to orange and then to blue before they slowly flickered and died, falling away to reveal a single twisted figure where once there had been two.
This creature was neither Phlegon nor Ka, but a grotesque chimera of the two of them. Phlegon’s long black hair was now streaked blood red. His red scaled skin remained intact, but the features that lay beneath it had altered and now bore the imprint of the Blood Alchemist. It was as if Ka had donned the skin of the Djinn as easily as he pulled on his robe.
The female Djinn was quickly to his side, tentatively she placed her hand on his arm.
“Meister Phlegon, what happened?” She asked, sounding confused. “You seem…..”
Her eyes searched his face, the features of which she knew intimately, but now they seemed unfamiliar. Suddenly wary, she backed away from him.
“Do not be concerned about me, Sheva,” he said.
She was somewhat reassured by the familiarity of his voice and his confident use of her pet name. Phlegon was the only one who called her Sheva. She watched him intently as, with a look of surprise, he glanced down at his altered form and let out a harsh and ironic laugh.
“It appears that the assimilation process did not go quite as I had expected Shevanna, but I can assure you that it is still I, Phlegon, who stands before you.”
His voice was relaxed and unmistakably that of Meister Phlegon. However, behind those reptilian eyes it was Ka who looked out on the scene before him, Ka who meticulously examined each of their reactions and Ka who spoke the words. Ka now embodied the entire essence of Fyre Meister Phlegon.
Ka, this creature, was now the personification of all of Phlegon’s knowledge, all of his power and all of his foul, depraved, wickedness. Clenching his hands into tight fists, Ka fought to control the emotions that rose up inside his chest, like fyre erupting from the bowels of a long-dead volcano. Hate, anger, loathing, narcissism, vengeance, destruction, arrogance and wrath seethed within him. Ka had become Phlegon, the essence of evil, and he was completely unprepared for the intensity of the malevolence that he now embodied.
Ka sensed the Djinn’s suspicious eyes bearing into him and felt unnervingly vulnerable as he stood before them, in such a bizarrely distorted body. As each soundless moment passed, Ka realised that he had to leave them in no doubt that it was Phlegon who stood before them, and Phlegon who maintained control. Gathering all of his resolve, he strode purposefully over to Zelron, who instinctively stood to attention as he approached. Ka leaned in towards the officer, moving his face forwards until it was within inches of the Afreet’s, and until each of them could see his own reflection in the other’s eyes.
“This Blood ascendant… Lord Ka, who now resides within me,” He said, through clenched jaws, his voice dripping with menace. “He was travelling with three others, a female ascendant and two native Bloods. When you captured him...”
Ka paused for a second, his eyes narrowing. Then his words and Phlegon’s voice boomed out of him in orchestrated fury.
“Why did you not think to check that he was alone?”
Ka found the look of guilt and consternation on Zelron’s face reassuring.
“I... err, he did not,” said Zelron, stumbling over his words. “He was not, as far as we could see, accompanied by anyone else, Fyre Meister.”
“Ah well,” said Ka sneering. “It is indeed obvious that you did not see them, but I do not need to see them to know they are there. I, of course, now know everything that Ka once knew.”
Ka took a blood nut from the bowl, threw it into his mouth and cracked it hard between his jaws.
“The three Bloods have concealed themselves at the foot of the Helios Mountains to the north of the city.” He said as he spat a gobbet of red spittle and broken shell onto the floor. “Take Nerak and his section, and bring them to me. I appear to have a hunger for assimilation today.”
EXODUS
The journey back to Aureus was even more arduous than their journey out. Baroque, still tightly bound, was lying relatively subdued in the middle of the carriage and at the feet of the young novices. A pregnant silence hung in the air, like the ominous silence that preceded the rumbling of a distant storm.
After the initial shock and concern about the attack on Auriel and Rose, a deep sense of foreboding had developed in the group. This had become intensified by De Lille’s noticeable impatience to return to the Oratory and his heightened level of vigilance throughout the journey.
The Whyte cell had been seated together, at the front of the carriage. De Lille had insisted that Rose sat behind him and the driver, and between the other novices. This had the effect of further emphasising, not only her importance in relation to the other students, but also the peril that they were all now in.
As they entered the Oratory’s courtyard, their mood lifted slightly. It was elevated mainly by the relief of being back under the protection of the Magisters, but also in the knowledge that they would soon be able to stretch their limbs. However, their solace was short lived. The carriage was met by Lord Golden, who was worryingly flanked by a contingent of heavily armed centurion guards.
As the wagon drew to a halt, A
sh smiled at the row of long faces sitting beside him.
“Hey people, cheer up,” he said. “Our fame is spreading. Look they’ve sent us a welcoming committee.” He nodded towards the guards.
“I believe the welcome is for him” corrected Lee as two large centurions reached into the carriage.
Roughly, they dragged the much-diminished figure of Baroque out onto the ground. Then lifting him up, they carried him off towards the Pyrus accompanied by four other guards. Most of the remaining centurions took up positions around the perimeter of the Oratory buildings. Six remained behind at the wagon to act as escorts for the novices. Lord Golden hurried to the carriage, speaking briefly to De Lille as he alighted and then solemnly instructing the novices to line up beside the carriage. De Lille, though an epitome of calm, appeared uncharacteristically sombre as he spoke to them.
“I understand that you have had your own problem to deal with, but I am afraid that there has been another serious incident, the severity of which is still unfolding. Lord Dux has asked that everyone be assembled in the atrium, where he will be addressing you presently. Prepare yourselves; it appears the Sooth has some grave and disturbing news from Hydrargyrum.”
He signalled to the guards, who immediately surrounded the novices.
“Do not be concerned,” he said, “the guards are here only for your protection. They will escort you to the Atrium. Please do not dawdle.”
With