“You will not relinquish that throne!” Merlin shouted at the top of his lungs as the shadow stood and stepped aside. “Stand your ground, Dagda.”

The shadow nodded to us. “You must choose your own free will. Acceptance will equal a life of servitude while rejection will result in death. Do not make this decision lightly.”

Kalli and I looked at one another and nodded. In truth, we’d already decided to trust Lavender. While I cared about my Dad, I’d only just met him. If Lavender was convinced the world was going to end, I wasn’t about to doubt her. Not only that, but Mom was on her side.

As one, we knelt before the throne and touched it together.

Welcome…

Scanning Users

Melvin Murphy

Bloodline M

Kaliphae Murphy

Bloodline M

Sindra Murphy

Bloodline M

Bloodline Accepted.

Access Granted

Commencing Synchronization Process…

We froze as a jolt of mana surged from the throne and into our bodies. Not that we wanted to, of course. We were stuck, tethered by the mana that pulsed straight through to our cores. It was a terrible spot to be in with the battle still raging around us. Neither side appeared to have the upper hand at the moment and a stray spell was all it would take to end things for us very quickly.

My focus was drawn back to my core as an icy sensation started to creep into me. The system wasn’t stopping with just a simple scan. Kalli and I began to convulse. Something was wrong.

I vaguely heard Merlin over the sound of rushing mana. “Give up, Child! There is nobody in existence that can contain the system but me.”

The problem was, I couldn’t give up if I wanted to. Once the system started synchronizing, there was very little we could do except go along for the ride. I couldn’t even access the blood vial that was locked in my other hand. Wendy and Shara hovered off to the side, neither brave enough to get too close or make contact with either of us.

Merlin pointed his wand at me. “Last chance, Boy! Stop what you’re doing or face the consequences.”

Lavender materialized between us. It was at that moment that I realized she could teleport. She’s always used the doors, so I’d concluded that she used it as a workaround.

Sparks exploded off of Lavender as she blocked whatever Merlin had cast at us. At least I thought it was Lavender.

Did her hair turn gray?

When Kalli didn’t answer right away, I turned my head to look at her. She was more frozen than I was, sweating profusely as she struggled with the mana coming from the system. She was usually so strong that it was easy to forget that she didn’t have the same mana pool as I did. Focusing on our bond, I allowed mana to flow freely from her side.

Kalli sighed in relief and locked eyes with me. You need to focus. The shadow said this might kill us.

She was right. I’d let my bad habit of being distracted by the world, well, distract me. While we were still in danger, I was going to have to trust my friends to keep us safe.

Mana flowed at a constant rate from the throne to my body, traveling through my mana channels and into my core. Outside of Kalli, foreign mana hadn’t ever penetrated so deeply before. My vision blurred as my consciousness was sucked inside of myself. The interior of my core looked very similar to the dream realm where Kalli and I spent our nights. While she wasn’t with me, I felt her on the other side of the tether. It was no longer barricaded over on Scrap. The tether felt like a long string that stretched from my house to Kalli’s.

Mana flooded the room around me, causing the environment to sparkle with ambient energy. It spread up and down the tether, connecting us in a more profound way. The golden ball of light that represented our coupling shimmered as it sped back and forth from one end of the tether to the other, seemingly oblivious to the mana that coursed through it.

It accumulated on my side far faster than it had on Kalli’s. While she had grown immensely since I’d known her, her core was far smaller than mine. The imbalance caused mana to travel over to my side in waves. The golden light rode the waves over and over, sailing back to Kalli’s side just in time to ride a fresh wave back to my side again.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Sin was playing with the mana.

Kalli grunted. Is this painful at all for you? I feel like I’m being stretched out, and not in a good way.

It’s not too bad, and look at the bright side. After this, you’ll probably be able to store a lot more mana. Imagine how big your flames will be then.

I felt her discomfort through our bond and tugged at the tether to open it up a bit and allow more mana to pass into me. While I wanted to go bring Kalli over to my side where she would be more comfortable, I realized that wasn’t possible. She couldn’t escape her core. It was what defined her.

Initialization Complete…

Welcome to The System…

Registering New Superuser: Melvin Murphy

Registering New Superuser: Kalliphae Murphy

Registering New Superuser: Sindra Murphy

Would you like to assign an artifact? Y/N

Mana Remaining: 23,058,023,455

Mana Absorbed: 122,122

It stopped.

I heaved a sigh of relief, immediately floating over to Kalli to make sure she was okay. She smiled and accepted my embrace when I arrived. A glance at the golden ball of light told me that Sindra was okay as well. She continued to race around our combined cores, paying little attention to the ambient mana in the air.

Kalli clung to me, her eyes still affixed to the system menu. There’s so much more mana. What are we going to do with it?

She was right, I had no clue. That was the mana that Lavender was worried was going to destroy the universe. I wondered how Merlin ever expected my Mom to absorb all of it. There was no way I could let him try.

Do you think we can take it slowly?

Kalli burped for effect. I don’t know about you but I’m stuffed.

A scream reminded me that the battle was still raging out in the real world. I pulled myself out of my core to find my hand still stuck to the throne. Whatever it was doing, it hadn’t let go. It was Wendy who’d screamed. She lay on the floor nearby with several smoking holes in her shirt. Lavender stood between her and Merlin as she waved a staff above her head. Brilliant light shone above us before crashing down on Merlin in the form of pink rays. Merlin did a summersault as he dodged. I realized he was infusing his muscles at a far more expert level than I’d ever mastered.

Part of me was still torn. While I believed in Lavender, Merlin was still my Dad. I didn’t want to see him die or anything. Could we find a way for everyone to survive this? Perhaps that’s why it was our job to nullify the system. Once that was out of the way, they would have nothing left to fight over.

I gave my hand another tug, feeling it start to come free even though the throne didn’t want to let go. It felt as though I were a chunk of metal fighting against a powerful magnet. Kalli saw what I was doing and tried as well.

“That won’t work,” the shadow said, still standing idly by the throne.

“Why not?” I asked, tugging harder and feeling my hand start to come free. “I’m almost…”

“You need to follow the prompts,” the shadow continued. “Choose a new artifact for the system or you will never have full control.”

“A new one?” I asked, tugging even harder.

Connection Lost!

Registration Paused.

Re-Establish contact to continue…

We both flew back at the same moment. Somewhere in the distance, Lavender screamed. “No! You mustn’t give up.”

Suddenly, Merlin was between us and the throne. He had a frantic look in his eyes. “I’d hate to think you betrayed me, Son.”

His eyes narrowed as he sat in the chair. I looked around frantically for Lavender and found her on her knees about twenty feet away. Wendy had yet to get up and Shara was nowhere to be found. Merlin ignored them all as he closed his eyes on his throne. “Hmm, I see. You could have ruined everything. Tell me, what do you know about the system?”

“I know you plan on using it to destroy the universe,” I replied, saying a silent prayer that he would deny it.

“Is that what she told you?” He asked, glancing over at Lavender who glared at him in silence. “Did she tell you how she knows that? Or that her visions have a greater chance of not coming true if she acts on them? For all she knows, the world will end if I don’t do this.”

“Have you ever asked Mom what she wants?” I asked, causing Merlin to flinch.

“You don’t know your Mother,” he growled. “Not like I do.”

“That’s hilarious coming from you,” Mom’s voice echoed through the hall.

“Viv?” Merlin cried out, standing abruptly. “Where are you?”

“Never you mind,” she replied. “If you knew me, you’d have never left. I don’t want eternal life or anything to do with power. All I want is to enjoy what I have with the people I love. You know, to live my best life. I told you I’m perfectly fine with Melvin being special and enjoying your lifestyle. Why wouldn’t you just stay with me? You never stay with me. Not once in all the lives we’ve lived together.”

“You remember?” Merlin asked, sounding out of breath. “You never said…”

“I remember everything,” Mom said, sounding equally exasperated. “Yet I fall in love with you every time. If you’d just get out of your own head and let yourself be happy, maybe we could be together.”

Suddenly, Merlin vanished. I knew from experience that he’d located Mom and was teleporting to her. Lavender rose to her feet and shouted at me. “Melvin! Now! Go for the throne! Finish the process!”

“Then what?” I asked. “How are we supposed to control that much mana if even Merlin can’t do it?”

She shrugged with a sigh. “That, I don’t know. All I know is that you can and you will. The universe depends on it.”

Just then, Merlin reappeared with Mom and Joe. He threw Joe to the floor while he sat Mom gently on the throne. Lavender raised her wand but it vanished into thin air and a metal cage appeared around her.

Merlin chuckled and waved his hand theatrically. “This could have all been avoided. How long have you been hiding her from me, dear sister? None of this had to be difficult.”

I forced myself to my feet and stared him down. “Why are you doing this? You heard Mom. She doesn’t want this. Any of it. Why don’t you settle down and enjoy the quiet life with her? Maybe even move her in here.”

I didn’t mention the tower full of women. Hopefully, he would have the good sense to clear them out if he invited Mom over. Either that or move to a tiny house by the sea and adopt a few cats. Mom would enjoy that. Merlin sighed. “I didn’t know it was her. By the time I realized it, Grenddydd had already hidden you both from me.”

“You abandoned us,” I said, wanting to cry, but deciding that wasn’t a good idea before a potential fight. “We lived in the same place all my life and you never came back.”

Merlin turned to look at Mom. “Tell me, my love, were you aware of my sister’s treachery? Did you knowingly deceive our son?”