Book 3 Chapter 21

Fierce lights and sounds of thunder drowned out the swish of blades and crunch fists as arrows and flares of fire smashed into Maria’s barriers. Despite the heavy attacks, Maria no longer felt them to be a strain… In fact, it was easier than ever. She thought back to Tirr’s lessons as they traveled the long roads towards the confederation…

“Don’t think of it as summoning something else!” Tirr warned her again as they trundled along in the back of their cart. Torvus sat up front reins in hand as he hummed happily to himself. Maria sighed, upset at having failed once again for what seemed like the 100th time.

“What do you mean don’t think of it as summoning something? I thought that was the whole point…” Maria complained, throwing her hands up in frustration… Ever since she had broken through to Zealot, Tirr had been adamant in having her practice summoning her aspect.

“Your aspect isn’t a other, it's you… Don’t try to think of it as if you’re bringing something from elsewhere to you, think about it as bringing another part of yourself out…”

Maria nodded concentrating as she tried once more, she felt within herself, feeling the faith move through her body and veins, yet as she reached for whatever it was… She found nothing, and felt the gathered faith slip away uselessly…”

“Ugh, this is impossible,” Maria grumbled throwing herself back against Garm’s body. Using the Wolf as a pillow, she looked over at the equally frustrated god. “Bring something out of myself? Are you sure I can do this already…”

Tirr gave her an insulted look, “Of Course! It's hard, but Zealots can at least do partial Aspect Summoning, You’ve seen me do it before as well… Just keep trying, when it happens, it will natural. Like you found something that had been missing, another part of you that was always there but you couldn’t see. And it will do the things you think you can’t…”

As Maria stood in shining light, wings gleaming from her back, she understood now what he had meant. What before took such a huge amount of focus and dedication to prepare and use now, came into fruition at even the wisp of a thought. It was like another mind sat along with hers in her head, acting on her wants and desires. She thought something and this other mind did it, faster than she could believe.

Even stranger to her was the voice she had heard… It hadn’t spoken any more than those few words, but she felt its presence clearly and knew it was the one in her head, following her thoughts as if a part of her… It felt like a part of her…

The last time she had heard it, it had guided her towards Tirr in the Rasor castle. At the time, she had thought she had somehow heard the voice of Tirr’s first apostle of light, calling out to her from over the years. But hearing it now, after summoning her partial aspect… Was the Aspect the voice from the beginning? Tirr had said it was always there… Or was Voice some ancient apostle, somehow reaching out to become her Aspect?

The whole thing made her head hurt, and even the half-second she spent thinking about it caused the wings on her back to fade slightly. She shook her head, her eyes flicking to another incoming arrow. A barrier appeared before she could even fully register it. No time for that now Maria thought herself as she let herself be carried away by her Aspect…

Tirr let out a grin as he looked at the shining wings at Maria’s back, he turned back towards the rock covered giant, no longer worried about the incoming attacks from their sides. Reynolds and the archer were left stumped, even as they tried to reposition as they looked for an opening, they couldn’t find a way past Maira’s defenses.

Focusing on his own blessing he channeled his faith, bringing out a part of one of his Aspects. Around him, water droplets condensed out of thin air, coming together in a hazy mist that collected into a small dark cloud above him. Streams of water twisted and turned through the mysterious cloud causing the Wildman to slow himself in caution.

“Wrong choice…” Tirr said proudly lifting his nose to look down at the large man. “You won’t get another chance now…” Just as he finished, a furious and bruised Odee appeared behind him, blade singing as it swung down towards the back of Tirr’s neck.

It connected with a loud crack and Odee look down in shock as he found his dagger stuck in a large chunk of ice that seemed to grow out from Tirr”s neck. More water streamed down from the cloud and Odee abandoned his dagger as he fled. Tirr turned, catching the dagger as the ice melted and carried it down to his hand. “Did you really think you could take us on with just the four of you?” Tirr asked arrogantly.

Odee looked confused over the boy's shoulder, wondering what kept the giant man from pressing the attack. Only to find him struggling as veins of ice grew like branches as they spread over him. A bubble of water covered his head staying in place even as he thrashed. Each time the stone covered giant broke through, more ice-covered him as he got buried deeper and deeper.

Odee clicked his tongue, his anger apparent as he backed away, he looked towards Reynolds and the archer, signaling something as they immediately changed tactics. A sudden, seemingly errant arrow flew past Maria and struck the Wildman even as Maria wondered where it was going. Another thunder-like clap resounded as the ice covering the giant shattered.

Now freed, the giant stomped one large foot causing the cavern to shake once again. Maria came to Tirr’s side instinctively covering them as rubble rained down once more. As the dust cleared they found their enemies retreating, each escaping quickly.

At the edge of his escape, Odee turned, yelling back at them, “You think you’ve won, but this was just a test…” He started proudly… When a dagger burst through his chest. He looked at the protruding point dumbfounded even as Torvus voice murmured from behind him … “Finally, I’ve been waiting for you to put your guard down Odee…”

“Your still here?” Oddee asked his eyes wide.

“Of course, no matter how much you don’t want to believe it, I’m not like you…”

Odee grasped at the dagger futilely his hands slipping on the blood.

“Do you remember why they called me Reaper, Odee?” Torvus asked, his empty grin a terrifying mismatch with his cold eyes. “Because when I want you dead…. It means your time is up…”