“There must be some other way,” I said.
“This is what the Mystic indicated.”
“He isn’t all knowing is he?”
“Brody,” he said, “I have to die so that countless others can live.”
“We don’t know that your death would free them,” I argued.
“I think yesterday’s events tell us exactly that,” Oliver said. “Black managed to bind me to his dolls. Any attack on them becomes an attack on me as they draw from my energies to reanimate.”
I stared at him, having no good argument to put forth. By all accounts, Oliver’s logic appeared to be sound. The truth was that I had already been thinking the same thing. I just didn’t want to admit defeat, and Oliver becoming a martyr certainly seemed like defeat to me.
He moved to the edge of the bed on my side and flashed a grin. “Don’t worry, Brody,” he said. “Don’t lose faith.”
“What?”
“You know, for so long I’ve held onto the belief that I could never be more than the sum of my heritage. A monster born of monsters. I held that against our Creator—believed it was impossible that any Descendant could be anything more. But when you told us of your faith, I began to wonder if that belief was really true.”
“I don’t understand.”
“When we went to Tartarus and found that you were even closer to Southresh than me, I realized that your heritage had nothing to do with your ability to trust the Almighty. So, why should my heritage prevent me doing the same?”
I smiled. “It shouldn’t.”
“True,” he said. “That’s why I’ve since come to trust him as my savior and lord as you have.”
I hadn’t been expecting to hear such a profession from Oliver. I couldn’t help smiling, despite the situation we now found ourselves in.
“So, if this is his will that my life should be forfeit for those mortals that have been abducted by Black, then what better way for me to fight this war than to trust our lord and do what is required of me to win?”
My smile faded. “I just wish there was some other way.”
“So do I,” Oliver replied. “But I can’t see any.”
We sat together for a moment, saying nothing. I searched every cranny of my mind for some alternative, but ultimately came up short.
“I also hope that you will do what is necessary, Brody,” Oliver said.
“What do you mean?”
“You must be the one to kill me.”
Two hours later, sitting in one of the many beautiful parks located in Tidus, I still could not fathom the task that had been set before me.
“You must be the one to kill me,” Oliver had said within his bedchamber.
“What? Are you insane?” had been my immediate reply.
But he had been completely serious. He felt that I had been sent to perform this task by God. As his near kinsman through Southresh’s bloodline, I felt compelled to agree that it might be the case. However, every fiber of my being also wanted to save my older half brother from this fate.
If for no other reason, I needed Oliver. I realized this to be a selfish reason, but it was true nonetheless. Who else could teach me all that I needed to know about who I was? Oliver possessed the same abilities and had mastered them long ago. I would be lost without him to train me. And, if this sacrifice did not end the war, who would face down Black?
That last question was one I had actually asked Oliver.
“I understand your concerns, Brody, but I’m not sure how to answer. My death will only do away with the spell that allows the dolls to function in the mortal world and hold the humans in the Fae realm. Black would remain.”
“Then how can your death possibly be the Lord’s answer to our problem,” I reasoned.
“I would have to agree with Brody,” Sophia said.
She had come to the park with us.
“Believe me when I say, I would love to agree with you both,” Oliver said. “I don’t want to die, but I can’t see any other way of freeing the humans. Please don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
I sulked for the next few minutes, at least as long as Oliver was willing to allow.
“We’ve no time for this,” Oliver insisted. “I need to show you something while I can.”
“What is it?” I asked, eager to change the subject and genuinely curious about anything new I might learn.
Oliver stood on the pavement before us, looking quite serious. I noticed a bit of concentration in his expression, as though whatever he was about to do required some extra effort beyond his usual fare. In a moment, a bluish transparent sphere formed around him. Had I not known better, I would have thought Oliver was standing in the middle of a giant soap bubble.
I stood up, walking over to him, peering with interest at the conjuring.
Oliver smiled with satisfaction. “Well, what do you think?”
“It’s very pretty,” Sophia observed.
“Quite,” I said, grinning, “but what is it?”
Oliver offered a wan smile. “Protection and more.”
Admittedly, I almost giggled. I thought, perhaps, this was simply a joke, something to lighten the mood.
“Looks like a balloon,” I said. “Will it make you talk funny?”
“Try to pop it then,” Oliver dared.
I considered my options. I could poke it with a finger, but I might very well lose a finger, since I had no idea what this bubble actually was. I opted instead for a sword—something big and flashy. I held out my hand and put a bit of my own concentration into the conjuring. Realizing the powerful being I was descended from had bolstered my confidence quite a bit—not to mention the fight with Southresh’s zombies.
A brilliant silver sword materialized in my hand from nothing. It was heavy, but not too much. Using both hands, I brandished my weapon before Oliver just to see if he really wanted me to go through with it. He arched an eyebrow and gave me an amused look that sealed the deal.
I put all my strength into my swing and struck the blue bubble surrounding him. I’m not exactly sure what happened. The next thing I knew, Sophia was helping me up off of the ground. Oliver was still standing within his bubble, but trying not to laugh at me.
“What happened?” I managed as Sophia helped me to a sitting position.
“You tried to pop the bubble,” she said. “It didn’t work.”
That much I knew already. My silver sword was lying on the ground about twenty feet away. Only half of the blade was left—a scorched smoldering shard that had definitely met its match in Oliver’s bubble.
“When you struck it, you flew backwards onto the ground, shaking like cold winter,” Sophia continued.
I looked up at Oliver as I slowly got to my feet with Sophia’s assistance. A slight grin crossed my lips as I straightened.
“All right,” I said, “show me how you did that.”
I watched with growing frustration as the blown glass vase vibrated. My full concentration was on this vessel, attempting an exercise that Oliver had left me with over two hours before. Gradually, cracks began to spider web throughout the glass. That was good—a key part of the exercise.
The pile of broken glass scattered nearby testified to my previous failures. I had shattered some with explosions. Others had been managed better, but had fallen apart nonetheless.
The exercise had been for me to web the glass with fractures under strict control and then reseal them all so that nothing would appear to be wrong with it. Oliver had shown me the exercise. I had watched as he took one of these same vessels and concentrated. The glass fractured throughout in a precise way, and then the entire process of fracturing reversed before my eyes. When Oliver had finished, I examined the vase and found no visible flaws. But it was easier to watch than do myself.
The glass vase fractured under my careful watch. A little more, I told myself, but not too much. Honestly, I was expecting to lose it on this one just as I had on the others. I went past the point of no re
turn, when the web of fractures should have caused the vase to break apart. This time I held the original shape of the piece in my mind and thereby held the structure together.
Only my will was keeping it together now. That had to be the secret. Oliver had mentioned this, of course, but I had been too eager to try the exercise for myself, expecting it to be as easy as it looked. I had to split my thoughts in two. One part of me to control the fractures while the other maintained the original shape. Now, came the part of the exercise I had not gotten to before—resealing all of the fractures.
I paused, holding the structure together, leaving off of the fracturing. That part of my mind began to urge the glass to become whole again. It took a moment to shift my thinking clearly, but then it began to happen. I wouldn’t say it was done as smoothly as Oliver. However, I did manage to reseal the fractures until none remained.
Finally, I let go of the whole thing with my mind. If only my will was maintaining it, the vase would break apart. There was no one with me watching. Oliver had insisted on no distractions until I successfully completed the exercise. I removed my will completely from the glass and stared at it, waiting for the inevitable disintegration to occur. Seconds passed, then minutes. The vase remained whole.
I walked over to it and picked it up. The glass didn’t fracture anew. It seemed as good as when I had begun. I smiled brightly, unable to keep myself from it. I ran to Oliver with my prize as fast as I could. Now, he would teach me the art of the bubble.
Extensions
After I had cleaned up all of the glass shards I had produced in the park courtyard, Oliver had informed me that we would now produce Extensions.
“Extensions?” I asked. “Do you mean the bubbles?”
“If you like that better,” he replied. “However, they are technically known as Extensions because they are primarily extensions of your inner self.”
“Okay,” I said. I really didn’t understand that explanation at all. Oliver seemed to realize this would be the case.
“Do you know anything about insects, Brody?” he asked.
I nodded. I did know a few things.
“Insects,” he continued, “wear their skeletons on the outside of their bodies, rather than on the inside, like we do. This gives them a kind of armor plating that’s tough to penetrate. It keeps their insides safe.”
I nodded. It made sense to me.
“The extension, or bubble, acts as a kind of exoskeleton, allowing our physical bodies to remain safe on the inside.”
“Sort of a shield?” I asked.
“In a way, but not exactly,” Oliver replied. “A Shield isn’t a part of the person. This Extension is literally like pushing your spiritual self out in a form that surrounds you. It’s only as strong as you are, and you will feel the damage it takes.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling less enthusiastic about the bubble technique than before.
“Don’t misunderstand me,” Oliver continued. “Your inner spiritual self is far stronger than your mortal body. It is the part of you that is eternal, whereas these bodies are actually quite weak in comparison. Remember the sword you used against me?”
“Your body couldn’t have repelled it like that, but your inner self could,” I answered, feeling a bit more confidence with the concept.
“Exactly,” Oliver replied. “In a way, you are merely turning yourself inside out, putting forth your strongest part.”
“It sounds complicated,” I said.
“True, but that’s where the glass exercise comes in. The ability to split your mind apart and concentrate on several things at once is essential to learning how to extend yourself.”
Oliver then extended his bubble again, as he had before.
“How do I do that?” I asked.
Oliver looked at Sophia who was watching about ten feet away. “You should stand behind me, Sophia,” he said.
She looked at Oliver and then me. “Okay,” she said.
“Trust me, you’ll probably thank me later,” he added.
Sophia got up and walked over to stand behind Oliver’s Extension bubble. She peered curiously over his shoulder through the bubble at me.
“What was all that about?” I asked.
“Trust me,” he said. “Now, I want you to reach within yourself and find your power, just as you must do when conjuring or changing your form. However, when you have hold of that power, I want you to bring it outward and hold it around you.”
I concentrated on doing exactly what Oliver had asked of me. Finding my inner power was easy enough after all of the practice I had gained recently. However, forcing it to emerge in such a controlled way was altogether different from what I had been used to.
I closed my eyes, wanting to be sure that I wasn’t distracted by Oliver, Sophia, or anything else around me. I felt the power expanding from within, pushing outside my body. As I had been forced to hold the shape of the glass vase, I held this expansion back by sheer force of will. It wanted to burst forth, but I couldn’t let it.
The power was coming out of me, extending beyond the boundaries of my mortal body. I opened my eyes and saw the light refracted around me, feeding me a distorted view of the world around me. Oliver and Sophia were both watching intently. Perhaps they could now see the formation of the bubble around me. Then the bubble got away from me.
The echo of a horrendous crash lingered as I opened my eyes again. The bubble, with its distorted view, was gone. The fountain, where Sophia had been sitting a moment ago, was also gone. At least, any resemblance to a fountain was gone. The blocks had shattered to pieces, and the water had been thrown across a fifty yard spread of the park around us. The bushes, flowers and other vegetation had been shredded and scattered as well.
However, Oliver and his Extension bubble remained. Sophia peered over his shoulder again, uncovering her ears as she did so. She surveyed the scene around us then looked at Oliver. “Thank you,” she said.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Don’t you know?” he replied. “You lost your focus and lost control. That power had to go somewhere. Part of it withdrew inside you while the rest did all this.”
On every side, I saw destruction.
Oliver chuckled. “It’s not as bad as you might think. This technique took me an entire day to get even that far when I first tried. Besides, if you had enemies on all sides, that loss of control could prove useful. Now, try again, and remember to hold onto your focus.”
A little over an hour later I had finally achieved holding the Extension steady without destroying anything. Twilight had come to Tidus, though it seemed to come earlier than in the mortal world. Sophia had gone and had our dinner sent out to us on a golden cart by a servant. After eating, I insisted he take cart away so that I didn’t accidentally destroy it too.
Oliver stood protected within his Extension, and I stood in my own. “Now what?” I asked.
“Now, comes the fun part,” he said. “Reach forward and touch the inner surface of your Extension.”
I did so. As my finger came into contact, a ripple fanned out through the bubble. I felt a slight tingling sensation. It was actually pleasant.
Oliver did the same within his bubble. A bolt of electricity arced between our Extensions. I felt the lightning hit my bubble. This sensation was not pleasant. I felt a bit of a drain on my strength, but otherwise remained unharmed.
“Did you notice the difference?” Oliver asked. “That bolt of lightning would likely have killed your mortal body.”
“I didn’t enjoy it, but it didn’t hurt either,” I reported. “But how did you attack me through your Extension?”
“From my Extension, not through it,” Oliver corrected. “This Extension is the same power that normally resides within us, so my attack originated with it. It’s not necessary to make contact, but it does make it easier to direct your energies.”
I already knew how to produce lightning, so I made an attempt, touching the inner surface of the bubble, as
I had before. A white hot bolt arced from my Extension to Oliver’s. He smiled at my progress.
“Does it only produce lightning?”
“Try whatever you like,” Oliver said. “Theoretically, anything you can do without the Extension in place should still be possible.”
I touched the inner surface of the bubble with one of my favorite attacks in mind. The outer surface of the Extension reacted by sending a gout of flame in Oliver’s direction. His bubble absorbed the fire, leaving him unharmed. I slashed across the inner surface with my fingertips. A crescent of white hot energy carved a line through the pavement at Oliver’s feet, but his Extension absorbed the rest. A ripple of current across its surface upon each impact was the only reaction.
“I believe you’re getting the hang of it, Brody,” Oliver said, looking over my shoulder.
I followed his line of sight. Lycean and Sophia had appeared on the hill behind me. Neither of them looked the least bit pleased. Had I not known better, I might have thought they were angry about the mess I had made in their beautiful park.
Lycean called to Oliver, “Our preparations are ready!”
Oliver dropped his Extension. “We’re ready,” he answered.
I also dropped my bubble, drawing the power back within myself.
“What are we ready for?” I asked.
Oliver stepped over the debris scattered across the pavement between us, pausing as he walked toward the hill.
“My death.”
Ritual
We were led by Lycean and Sophia to one of the many temples located in Tidus. This particular monument to their past kings had been constructed in a completely different way from any other that I had already seen and was located in a secluded area of the city. As we passed by the ornamental wall that surrounded it, I got my first view.
A giant sphere made of stone sat atop of a squat cylindrical pedestal that appeared to contain a simple concavity that balanced the entire structure. A garden containing many varieties of flowers surrounded it in rows that resembled the spokes of a carriage wheel with the temple at the hub. I searched for a door, but found none.