Chapter XLIV

When Rista didn’t immediately get back to his feet, Alice feared that their plan had already ended before it had even begun. After all, how were the four of them supposed to destroy the mana port without his magic? Semi-translucent ribbons of light were swaying around the room in an almost ethereal manner, each one extending from the now enlarged ball of energy in the center. Alice didn’t even want to know what might happen to a human body if one of those things went through it, and her first instinct was to grab Jay by the hand and run. But she couldn’t get her body to move more than a few steps back into the doorway, and despite distrusting Rista, she also knew she couldn’t just leave the young man to die. As she was frantically debating what to do, Evan Wright suddenly let out a scream like a war cry and charged forward.

“Evan?!” Brad exclaimed, reaching out to grab his friend, but just barely missing as Evan jumped over a sudden attack from one of the ribbons, his anti-mana gun already in his hand and aimed at the port.

“Go to fucking hell!” he roared, then pulled the trigger three consecutive times, it’s pop just barely loud enough to hear over his shout.

They all watched as three bullets soared through the air before sinking into the surface of the port. Yet nothing changed, and as Evan’s features turned from triumphant to horrified, two more ribbons swung his way, one slightly above his chest and the other slightly under. Alice exhaled sharply, realizing that he wouldn’t have any chance of getting away, but once again, somebody was swift to act.

Jay darted forward and grabbed Evan by the back of his shirt, yanking him toward where she and Brad still stood just as the ribbons glided through the spot he had just been in. As all four of them hurriedly moved to get into the doorway, fearing another attack, they found themselves confused when the ribbons only went back to floating passively around the room.

“Why the fuck didn’t that work?” Evan growled as he regained his balance and stood up straighter. “I thought Reiner said they would eject that serum on impact!”

“Sure, he did say that,” Brad muttered. “But the reason it does that has to do with the pressure exerted on the bullet when it collides with a body. That thing…” He shook his head. “It doesn’t have a physical form, I guess. It’s just a ball of magic.”

Jay clenched his teeth, his eyes briefly shifting to where Rista was laying slumped against the wall. “Then what are we supposed to do? We need to get Rista up before that thing kills him—especially if he's the only one who can actually harm it!”

“And how do you suppose we do that?” Evan demanded. “I just barely got out of there alive. Thanks for that, by the way,” he added before hurriedly scanning the shack’s spare room. “I don’t want to see any of us cut to pieces by those fucking things!”

“I don’t know if they will go after us, though.”

Before she’d realized it, Alice had spoken the sudden thought that went through her head, causing the other three to look her way.

“What?!” Evan exclaimed incredulously. “Did you not see what just happened in there?!”

She faced him with determination as she retorted, “And are you not looking inside right now?!” Alice stuck out a finger and pointed into the room. “I don’t think it’s going to attack us if we don’t attack it. They’re not going after Rista anymore and they haven’t tried to get us while we stand barely ten yards away.”

Evan looked back at the mana port and as he did, Jay and Brad both nodded their understanding as they, too, considered what she was suggesting.

“So it’s a defense mechanism, you’re saying?” Jay clarified.

“Yeah, I think so!” she replied firmly. “I mean, it’s not like I know a ton about magic, but from the way it’s just floating around right now, I can’t help but think that it simply does this as a precaution just in case somebody goes after it.”

Brad grinned as he put his fingers to his chin in thought. “And that wouldn’t be too surprising for it to be so simple. I mean, both Rista and Lilly have said numerous times that the true threat to this realm is the memory spell. The Ijirians don’t think it’s possible for anybody to break through, so there’s no need to put a ton of power into the ports. A simple defense charm, or whatever you’d call this, would be plenty.”

“Okay, so what though?” Evan grumbled. “Yeah, it only defends itself, but we are trying to kill it. So who cares?”

“It matters because it means we might at least be able to get to Rista,” Brad explained. “If we just walk in there without showing any aggression to the port, we can pull him over here and try to wake him up.”

Jay features tensed as he regarded Brad and Alice. “Sure, but we are only theorizing here. If we’re wrong, and somebody gets cleaved in half, it’s not something we can just take back! Not unless—”

“Not unless we succeed in breaking this place down,” Brad finished. “Lilly said that these aren’t our real bodies, so as long as we don’t die, we can take any injuries we have to. So if we get cleaved in half, let’s just make sure Rista heals us before the realm falls.”

“Well, alright then,” Evan said sharply. “Let’s go get the fucker then. Which one of us is going cause I’ll be glad to do it.”

Alice stared back into the room, watching the ribbons continue to glide around, looking almost as if they were underwater. Rista Pine still hadn’t moved from his spot, and part of her was worried that he was actually dead, but when she looked closer, she thought she could see his body moving with his breathing.

It should be me, she thought. I’m probably the most agile of the four of us, so if it does attack then I’ll have an easier time reacting. Not to mention…I want to do something to help. I don’t want to just be here to be here, and if getting Rista up is what it takes to win this battle, then it should be me.

She tuned back into the conversation to find Evan and Jay debating which of them should go, and knowing that they didn’t have time to argue, as well as being almost certain that Jay would be scared of her going, she decided to just be blunt.

“I’ve got Rista. Watch my back.”

Ignoring the stunned looks from the three, Alice turned and took a cautious step into the room, her eyes already fixated on the ribbons floating close to her.

“Wait, Alice!” Jay hissed. “Come back!”

But she didn’t even look back as she moved up against the wall and carefully maneuvered closer to Rista, her leg muscles tense as she prepared to react at any given moment. Each step felt like an eternity, and at one point, one of the ribbons floated so close to her head that she could feel the heat emanating off of it, yet they never reacted to her like they did to Evan, and within less than a minute, Alice had reached where Rista was slumped. The girl kneeled down beside him and was immediately taken off guard.

Rista’s eyes were open but there was a white glaze over them, which pulsated with light, telling her that he wasn’t simply knocked out, but under some kind of spell. She wasn’t even sure if she could break whatever magic was keeping him asleep, but she wouldn’t have the strength to drag him back to the doorway so she just shook him a few times.

“Hey, Rista,” she whispered. “Come on, get up. We need you.”

As she shook his body, he just moved around limply, failing to react to her presence at all. Alice grit her teeth and turned back to see the boys all staring her way before grimacing.

“He’s under some spell,” she called over. “I’m not sure what the port did to him, but he’s not reacting to me.”

“Try kicking him!” Evan suggested. “Maybe a little pain will wake him up!”

Alice narrowed her eyes and scowled. “Why is that the first thing you think up? Fischer? Jay? Either of you know what I should do?”

“Well, uh…” Jay paused, his gaze shifting between the port, Rista, and Alice, before he sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know. Magic has so many ridiculous technicalities and requirements that I wouldn’t be surprised if you could wake him up by kicking him, though I doubt he’d appreciate that.”

“See, told you! Just kick the fucker!”

Once again not paying Evan any attention, Alice grabbed Rista by the shoulder and shook him harder than she had before, but only reaching the same result.

Come on, Alice, think! If we can’t get Rista up, then we won’t be able to break the mana port, and if we don’t succeed within the same time frame as Lilly's group, we’re only risking Album coming in to get us herself! We don't have time to be wasting on this!

“Rista!” she shouted, opting to slap him across the face before she could think better of it. “Come on! Get up! If we don’t destroy that port in time then we could all die, and you’re the only one with the power to kill it! You don’t have time to sleep! Wake up!”

When she still didn’t get a reaction, she reached forward and placed her fingers on his eyelids, then pulled them open slightly so that she could stare into his eyes. They were still glazed, indicating that nothing she had done thus far had been effective.

“Nothing’s working!” she called back over her shoulder. “I even slapped him and that didn’t do anything, so I’m not sure what else to try!”

She could see the defeated looks on their faces and she wished there was more she could do, but at the end of the day, they had only come to provide Rista with backup just in case the port’s defenses were too much for them.

And we can’t even do that much!

“Come on, Rista!” she urged desperately. “Get up! We need you! Get up!”

***

He could hear a voice from far away, calling out his name with an urgency that told him he should be worried. Yet he was calm, as if there wasn’t a care to be had. He wasn’t sure why he felt so at peace, but he didn’t want to think about anything, so he didn’t try to reason it out. He decided that whatever the person needed could be handled by another. Why should he have to do it? Why couldn’t he just take a minute to relax and catch his breath. He’d been working so hard for so long, so hadn’t he earned this break? There had been a time when he didn’t have to worry about anything—a time where he was happy. That time had ended three years ago, and he knew there would never be a chance to go back. After all, almost everybody he loved was gone, and he was certain there were plenty of others who had died while he was locked away. For all he knew, if he returned, he would only come to learn that he was the only one left—the last surviving member of his beloved family.

So why should I have to worry? I was powerless anyway, so what does it matter if I fail again? This is bliss. This is what I want. I don’t want to think. I don’t want to feel. I just want to exist in this endless expanse of calm.

Yet that girl’s voice in the distance kept shouting at him, trying to distract him from his peace and it was starting to grate on him. Why couldn’t she just shut up? Why couldn’t she go find somebody else to help her in her predicament? Why did it have to be him? Why couldn’t he just be left alone?

“Rista.”

He heard his name, though this time it was a man’s, or perhaps a boy’s, voice speaking to him. He wanted to ignore it, but something in the way the boy spoke caused him pause.

“Wake up, Rista. Don’t you remember what you told me the other day?”

What I told him? What did I tell him?

“You have people back in Ijiria that need you,” the boy went on. “You said your mother trusted the safety of your siblings to you and that you needed to get back to Ijiria so you could protect those who survived. So I need you to snap out of this.”

My mother? My siblings?

Part of him tried to push thoughts of them away, but the other part wondered why he was trying to do that. Why would he want to forget them? What was going on? Was there something wrong with him? His mother. Abigail Reiner? She trusted him with…

“Rista. I’ll be going to Noctalus for a few weeks and while I’m gone, I need you to take care of the others. You’ve always been someone I can rely on, and I know it’s not fair to put this responsibility on you, but I need you to help me. With any luck, I won’t be gone long, but you know how some of the others get. They’re quite rambunctious, aren’t they?”

A memory from a long time ago came back to him—a memory of a moment he had replayed in his head time and time again. It was the final conversation he and his mother ever had together, for she never returned from the city of Noctalus. The battle that unfolded in that city took her life, and the world was robbed of one of the most amazing individuals it would ever know. He always asked himself if Abigail knew she was going to die. The way she made that request almost seemed like she wasn’t merely asking him to care for the other Children for a few simple weeks. It instead felt like she was entrusting them to him from there on out.

Rista’s mind suddenly started to clear as that responsibility came back to him, but at that very moment, he felt the haze return as he remembered that he’d already failed that assignment. A handful of the Children of Reiner had been wiped out in the Citadel. Very few, if any, would be left alive, and those who were would have gone into hiding. The only ones left would be those who didn’t attack the Citadel and instead fled north with Malt.

If I’d done the same, would it have been different? Would somebody else have done a better job of protecting the relic and the dagger? All I succeeded at doing was losing everything and getting erased. Why would Mom have trusted somebody as useless as me?

“We have to do something! We can’t just sit around, pretending like it never happened! Our mother was murdered, but she left us guideship and the realm dagger for a reason, right?! She rebelled against them so that had to be a sign for us to do the same! We should attack the Citadel and make use of what she gave us!”

Those were the words Arisa Kirisan used to fire up the other Children and rally them in support of an attack on Ijiria. Rista and Malt had been the primary voices to oppose it, but the rage, hatred, and grief that was felt in the aftermath of their mother’s death could not be undone by reason. Arisa told the Children what they wanted to hear, and there was nothing he could do to sway them except try and convince Arisa herself to see reason. But in the end, even after confronting her, nothing changed. The girl wouldn’t listen, and it fractured their family. Malt Territh fled the city, and even extended a hand for Rista to join them, but…

“Thank you, Malt, but I can’t leave them behind. Arisa’s plan is idiotic, but it’s going to happen whether we like it or not, and the best thing I can do is be there to give them aid. I know one extra number isn’t going to do much, but I can’t abandon them, no matter how stubborn and hostile Arisa is.”

He remembered the grief on his brother’s face when he said that, and both of them believed that would be their final conversation.

“Then take care of yourself, Rista.”

Malt left the next morning, and a week after that, Arisa Kirisan led an assault against the Ijirian Citadel, one that resulted in so much death, and in the end, they didn’t even succeed in getting the relic away. He never knew what became of the attack’s leader, but he hoped that in the end, Arisa at least realized where she went wrong.

“Please, Rista. Your siblings. You need to get back to them, right? You want to save those who lived?”

The boy’s voice reached him once again, and flashes of his siblings went through his head, reminding him of those he fought for—of the people he attacked the Citadel to protect. Even if everybody who stayed in Erika met their end, Malt would still be out there somewhere. There would be Children for him to find, so why was he just sitting there? Why was he trying to enjoy a calm bliss when he had people waiting for him?! What was he…

What the hell am I doing?! Wake up, Rista! We need to break the damn port!

Rista snapped back to his senses with a start, causing the two crouched beside him to flinch back, and as he glanced between them, Alice and Jay smiled back at him in relief. Behind them, he saw similar expressions on Brad and Evan’s faces as they stood in the doorway.

“What the hell happened?” he demanded, just now seeing that the mana port had doubled in size and had ribbons of mana gliding around the room. “What’s going on?”

“The port put you under a spell,” Jay answered immediately. “After you tried to destroy it, it threw you back here, and you wouldn’t react to us. Your eyes were kinda glazed over, too, so we weren’t sure what to do.”

Rista clenched his teeth, not wasting any time as he rose to his feet, his fury at himself for being so pathetically taken down just barely kept inside. “So it can stun us, can it? Fantastic. Why’s it not doing anything now though?”

“We think it’s just defending itself!” Evan called over. “So if we don't piss it off, it leaves us alone. Otherwise, it attacks with the ribbons!”

“Also, Mr. Reiner’s bullets aren’t effective against it!” Brad added.

The Ijirian nodded. “I guess I can’t say I’m surprised. He invented those to inhibit mana production, but this damn thing has already made plenty of it. Album Luz is the source, so the only way we could disrupt this port with a bullet would be to shoot her. But never mind that. The four of you did well. I’ll deal with it from here. Brooks, Mendez, take cover.”

When Lilly had first requested that he bring the four of them along, Rista had believed it to be unnecessary. To him, they would be better served just waiting at the workshop since he was the only one who had the ability to do anything to it. Yet, once again, he was proven wrong in his assumption about the Omaruans. If they hadn’t been there, he would have ended up just sitting against the wall while Lilly destroyed her side’s port, and when he failed to break his, the plan would have crumbled.

I can’t do any of this alone. I know that, but…

Rista watched as Jay and Alice crept along the wall before coming to the doorway where Brad and Evan awaited them. They were all a messed up bunch, but they had been through hell and were still fighting. Even after everything Nigreos and Album put them through, they were charging forward, determined to take their lives back. They were tied together through that shared suffering and their hatred for the Masters, and Rista knew that he wasn't much different. Ijirians liked to look down on the magicless as inferior, but all Rista had seen from them were human beings—individuals who reminded him of his own family.

“The Magic Club was Eric’s own Children of Reiner.”

That was what Lilly had said to him when they left her apartment building, and he knew there was truth to it. Eric Reiner had truly done what his mother did in Ijiria and offered kinship to those who needed it. The Magic Club and the Children of Reiner were one in the same, and thus, Rista couldn’t turn his back on them either.

So I’ll finish this. For everybody here and for my family back at home!

“All of you stay close!” he ordered, his hand gripping the pommel of his sword. “If I go down again, get me back up! You got that?”

“We gotcha, Pine,” Brad called back, assuring him that he had the backup he needed.

Perfect. In that case…

The moment he began to pull his sword from the sheath, every single ribbon in the room turned and swung toward him, but Evan had already warned him of what they would do.

“Infundite,” he chanted, releasing mana from his body and sending it wrapping around his blade. In four consecutive strikes, Rista swung his blade and cut each attack down, slicing through the defensive magic of the mana port. To his relief, the ribbons weren’t that strong, and when he caused the mana to separate, they broke apart and pulled themselves back into the main body.

“Proto!”

Already sensing the next wave of attacks, Rista propelled himself over the next swing and cut down the one that followed it, reaching the opposite side of the room in a blink, his feet skidding along the wooden surface.

“Nex!” he snarled, putting up a shield of wind that met the next attack head-on, then launching himself over it, his target this time being the port. He wasn’t attacking anything sentient, so defeating it once he knew its tricks was a simple matter. All it could do was lash out, but against the knowledge and skill instilled in him by his mother, he couldn’t lose.

Listening to the cheering and encouragement of the Omaruans behind him, Rista jammed his sword into the mana port with all his strength, then screamed, “Dimiitio!” Power surged through his limbs, down the metal of the sword, and infused itself with the port, reacting with the mana that kept this world alive and splitting it, undoing the complex knot of charms that Album used to preserve everything.

This is for my family and for everybody who’s ever been locked within this cursed realm! I swore I would destroy it and get back to the Children and that’s what I’m going to do! I will not lose!

With an internal scream, Rista sent one last wave of power into the port, and in the next moment, it exploded in a burst of white light.

***

There wasn’t even a chance for them to celebrate the destruction of the mana port before chaos erupted. There was a blindingly bright burst of light that caused Evan to wince for a second, but it was gone just as quickly as it came, and when it did, the entire shack was gone. He exhaled sharply and spun around, finding himself standing in the dirt in the clearing where the shack had once been, surrounded by Brad, Alice, and Jay. Rista was already on his feet, his sword raised as he glanced around with concern, and before any of them could question what happened, the world began to shatter.

Cracks split along the ground as if the very earth was opening up, but it wasn’t rock or soil that they saw within, but what almost appeared to be space. As Evan stared down at the barely half a foot wide opening in the dirt below him, all he could see on the other side was a void of black and little flickers of light spread out in various locations. Dozens of these cracks had appeared, and there were plenty that were in spots aside from the ground. The trees of the forest had similar sized openings on their trunks and even on their leaves.

It’s like…the entire world is fracturing.

“Look up,” Jay uttered, and when Evan did as he was told, he saw that the sky looked like glass that had been shattered, with webs of openings spreading to every part of the dark blue expanse.

“Does this mean we did it?” Alice asked. “Is the erased realm opening?”

“No,” Rista whispered. “No, this isn’t right.”

The moment they processed the horror in the Ijirian’s voice, Brad rounded on him with clear worry in his eyes. “What do you mean? The realm is breaking apart! Isn’t this what we wanted!”

“But the cracks aren’t opening any further than this!” Rista retorted. “Not a single one is wider than a foot, as if we’ve succeeded in opening the realm but not enough for us to get through! It’s only half complete, which means that…”

Evan felt a chill go down his spine as the Ijirian’s words sank in.

“Lilly’s group hasn’t finished yet,” Jay said, his voice shaking. “But why? You said The Angel would have an easier time of beating the mana port, right? And we were delayed, so shouldn’t she be long done? What would cause them to fail?!”

“Rista?” Brad pushed, taking a step toward him, but the young man merely looked back and shook his head.

“I don’t know, I—”

“Go,” Alice interrupted. “If something happened to them then somebody needs to go check, and your magic will get you there faster than us by a huge margin. We’re finished here, so we’ll be fine.”

Brad hurriedly nodded his agreement. “Yeah, Pine, please. Go check on, Lilly! Make sure she’s okay!”

He glanced between all four of them but each one looked back with determination. They were all on the same page of what should be done, and when Rista saw that, he didn’t argue. He just sheathed his sword and exhaled softly.

“Very well,” he replied. “Stay safe, all of you.”

And with that swift goodbye, he launched himself up into the trees and vanished from sight, leaving the four of them standing in the empty, cracked clearing. But there was no celebration of cheers of victory and what they had done. When Evan turned to look at those gathered with him, all he saw was fear.