028 - Journey to the East

A swarm of new formed stone golems rushed over the scattered corpses, flinging themselves at Magnus and ripping at his clothes and flesh. Magnus swatted, sending one smashing into the burning ruins, another golem took its place, another held his arm.

Magnus eyes turned red, his blood boiled with a berserker's fury. He tore and punch and kicked, breaking the stone men, smashing their bodies to dust. Ovidius threw down three more potions, a horde of golem swarmed up from the earth. In the Alchemists left hand gathered dozens of blue glowing threads, sneering, Ovidius pointed a finger at Magnus.

"Soul Rend!" Ovidius cried out, a thick beam of blue light shot from his finger tip straight into Magnus' chest. "Die!"

The blue beam seared Magnus' clothes, burnt his skin black and pushed right through, exploding out of his back. The world froze. In an instant a thick white fog fell on the courtyard, the flames in the ruins were still, the Alchemist and all his golems frozen in place. Magnus saw his own body being flung through the air by the force of the beam of blue light, saw it burst right through his chest.

A ghost. That must be it. Magnus felt as if he were moving through treacle, the world itself caught in a single moment in time. He was there . . no, his body was there, here I am, a spirit? Dead? He looked down, around - see through hands, see through legs and arms . . the whole world felt unreal, felt as if it were made of glass and could shatter entirely at the slightest touch.

The only real thing in this world seemed to be the threads of light, the red threads tied to his body, and the countless blue threads shooting through the air from the Alchemists fingers. Magnus tried to move through the air, flapping his arms, getting nowhere at all. He could touch nothing in this form, feel for nothing except that strange electric buzz when his ghostly hands met the red threads.

So I pull myself back into my body. Right. Then what? I can't get close enough to do anything to the Alchemist, I can't fight against his little stone men forever. How long will this moment last? Will I be trapped like this forever? Until I pull the red threads?

There was the boy, Lars, and his father pinned up against the wall. There was the Alchemist, what an ugly nose, little priggish eyes and crooked teeth. Heh. Least I'm better looking than him. Well, was, before those black lines and pus and . . hells. There on the ground are all those deformed corpses and stone men, and apples spilling out from Lars' backpack. Ah.

Magnus watched glumly for a while, floating and doing nothing. Wait. I am moving. Slow, very slow; but my body is moving through the air! Time is passing! Ah hells, what the devil am I meant to do with that? At this pace how long will it take for my body to fly just to the other end of the courtyard?

The fog thickened, deep swirls of white mist descended. With it came a sense of foreboding, Magnus felt as if there were a thousand eyes, a thousand hungry mouths, watching and salivating all around him within the mist. An unearthly dread, Magnus knew - as a certainty, just as knowing the sun would rise, that he would be devoured by whatever lay in wait in the mists.

He pulled at the red threads, a fierce electric shock running through his spirit body, pulled again, yanking his way through the air. Magnus floated inches above his body, facing his own head.

What happens if I touch the blue threads? Will they burn away my spirit? The only thing I can touch like this are the red threads . . if I just go back into my own body I'll smash into the burning ruins, the golems will tear me to pieces. If I stay here like this . . Magnus glanced up nervously at the white fog. If I touch the blue threads I might die once and for all, once and for good.

But I might not.

With a grim determination Magnus reached out with a spectral hand, thrusting it into the blue light. With a touch the thread changed colour into a light purple. The beam of blue light flickered, the threads fading and changing colours, a deeper red seeping through the frozen lights - from the point where Magnus touched it spread, down all the many threads and back to the Alchemists hands. The purple deepened into a blood red, fraying and splitting apart, a blood coloured light replacing the blue entirely.

Magnus tugged at the red threads connecting to his body, reeling himself in quick he could. Whatever I just did, I hope to the gods it was the right thing! Entering into his body, a rush of nerves and aches and stiffness - a rush of black and white lights and tremendous agony exploded in his chest.

"Ahhhhhh!" The Alchemist shrieked, dropping to the ground.

Magnus flew through the air, smashing into the fiery ruins, the stone golem chasing after. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, looking down at his chest. My wound . . the blue light went right through . . the flesh on his chest had been burnt away, beneath was a hard black shell perfectly intact.

"Ha ha ha. ." Magnus laughed, spitting out more blood. A golem rushed up his body, Magnus caught it and broke it in two. He staggered to his feet, jumping out of the fires and back into the courtyard.

"What did you do?" Ovidius spluttered, his face pale. "What in the hells have you done to me?" The Alchemist scrambled back, his hands trembling as he stuffed handfuls of pills into his mouth. "Stay back!" Ovidius threw out half a dozen more grey vials, where they broke on the ground dozens of stone golems emerged.

"Alchemist . . ha . . here I come . ." Magnus smashed his way toward the Alchemist, his breathing ragged. Ovidius pointed his finger, a tiny spark of blue light fizzed and vanished.

"No, no, no, it isn't possible!" The Alchemist crawled on all fours, Magnus smashed golem after golem, laughing manically and advancing on him. "No!" Ovidius yelled. With shaking hands he took a small white vial from the depths of his robes and swallowed it. His pale face flushed red, a vitality returning to his body. He pointed again, a blue thread shooting from his fingertip and striking the wall of the courtyard.

Magnus fought through the horde of golems, the small stone fists broke against his body, every hit bruising his remaining skin, but bouncing off the black lines beneath. His whole body was stained with blood and pus, every blister burst, a putrid mix of yellow pus and black flecked blood covered every inch of his body.

"Ha ha ha, ah ha!" Magnus roared with laughter. A surge of strength. The Alchemist had terror in his eyes, Magnus could feel the mans fear. Ovidius hands weaved through the air in a complex fashion, blue lights from his fingers formed a dozen wavering sigils.

The Alchemist pointed at the ground, the sigils flashed appearing on the earth. "As One!" Ovidius screamed. The remaining stone golems rushed into the sigil. Magnus had crushed dozens, but there were dozens more. They piled on top of each other, their stone bodies fusing together and melting into one another.

The fusion of the small stone golems stood, two sparks of blue light within its head flashed and glared at Magnus. Ovidius pointed and declared viciously "Kill."

A giant stone hand rose into the air and came down with incredible force, smashing Magnus into the ground.

"Ah." Ovidius looked around the courtyard. "I should have done that in the first place."