TLO: Chapter 26: Passion

Passion

I am sitting, tied up, in a mafia van. Three Shinigami are watching me. I have nowhere to go from here. This is the end.

As I am rocking back and forth, I hear a screaming coming from far away. It is a familiar sound, one that I remember from just a day or two ago.

It’s Rarden.

The van jerks to the side. The three Shinigami stand up, but before they can do anything, three spearheads shoot out of the sides of the van and pin then to the walls.

The van’s back doors open. The sound of screaming reverberates through the air, and I am faced with Rarden, who steps up into the vehicle.

“I’m glad I made it,” he says.

“Why are you here?” I ask.

Rarden shakes his head. “I missed my flight. I had nothing else to do.” He has a mischievous expression on his face.

I step out of the van and onto the ground. “Where’s Sebastian?” I ask.

The other mafia van, the one that was holding Sebastian, is a burning ball of fire. Sebastian approaches me from the other side of the van I just exited.

“Master, I apologize for being so weak,” he says.

I shake my head. “No, I was the weak one,” I say. “Where’s Gena?”

“Right here,” says Gena, walking around the side of the van. “You will regret this,” she says. She holds a rifle up to me. Unlike the portal beings who serve me, I have no natural protection against modern weapons.

Rarden puts his hand on my shoulder. “Let me handle this,” he says.

The screaming starts up again in earnest. The sound is powerful enough to hurt my ears.

Gena fires off several shots at Rarden. The screaming spirits around Rarden’s body reflect the bullets, sending them pinging into the side of the van.

Rarden stabs Gena through the chest with a sword he pulls out of the spirits. Gena spits blood and collapses. The black bone sword drops from her belt.

A military helicopter is roving overhead, some distance away. I pick up the black bone sword and turn to Sebastian.

“Call that helicopter somehow!” I yell. “We need to get to the portal!”

Sebastian puts his hand to his ear. “I’ve got our agents in the military to give them a command,” he says.

A Shinigami charges at us from the other van. Sebastian turns around and puts the monster in a headlock.

“Your master is dead,” says Sebastian. “You have no reason to fight anymore.”

The Shinigami growls. “We made a contract.”

Sebastian tightens his grip. “You can serve a new master. Isn’t that how we work?”

The Shinigami goes limp. “Our loyalty is not that cheap.”

Sebastian taps the monster on the head. His eyes roll backwards and he slumps to the ground. “They’ll come around eventually,” says Sebastian. He lets go of the monster.

The military helicopter approaches from above, stirring up a violent wind. It lands next to the two burnt-out mafia vans.

A soldier leans out of the helicopter.

“Are you the one we’re picking up?” he says. “I just got the big wigs on the line. They say to bring you to the portal.”

I climb on board the helicopter. Rarden follows.

Sebastian bows. “I will take care of the remainders of Brine Ward,” he says, over the sound of the helicopter. He steps back from the bird.

The helicopter lifts off, and the ground falls away beneath me. We start flying straight towards the area where the portal opened up.

As we approach from the sky, I can see the hundreds of monsters spreading out through the countryside. It appears that most of the land surrounding Crickhowell is a national park. This is lucky, as the monsters haven’t yet invaded a heavily populated area.

We fly over a forest until we reach the location of the portal. I catch sight of the aircraft-carrier size mammoth in the distance, as well as the trail of broken trees it has left.

“Land us near the portal!” yells Rarden.

I grip the bone sword in my hands. It is cold, and heavy.

The helicopter lands in the park where the portal has opened. Monsters still spill out of its depths, but they form an open area for us to land.

I hold up the bone sword. It is sucked out of my hands by a violent gust. The portal swallows it, and then explodes into a shining rain of glitter.

Every single monster stops.

“They’ve stopped!” I hear a military man say, over the helicopter’s radio. “What the bloody hell happened?”

The whole world is silent.

Then, the portal monsters turn to me.

“Master,” says one of the alligator men who has just come from the portal. The monster bows to me.

“You were the one who returned the artifact,” says a baboon that is two meters tall. “You can give us a command. At your word, we will return to where we came.”

I nod. “Return.”

The two dozen monsters in the park bow to me. “As you wish. We shall watch the one who gifted us and protect them.”

It’s at this point that Gena would probably enslave the monsters to her will. However, I’m of the belief that I already have way too much power. Gaining the entire contents of an S-class portal as minions would just be too much. I don’t even have a temptation to keep any more than a token number of monsters for myself. All I want is to live happily and maybe win a competition or two.

“You may return,” I say. “Except for a couple of you. I’d love to make a few friends.”

The monsters bow again. “We shall return to where we came from,” says the alligator man. “Though we shall leave some of our strongest warriors with you in thanks for releasing us.”

The monsters around the park begin returning to the portal, which is a lot less powerful-looking then before.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be the master of an army of monsters?” says Rarden, as the monsters around us return to the portal.

I shake my head. “I already have a pretty powerful army on my side,” I say. “Also, I don’t know what I’d do with command over the contents of an S-class portal. I mean, what, would I want to conquer the world or something? That’s just stupid. I’m happy to play video games and eat chips while sitting at my desk. Maybe win a few conjuring contests.”

Rarden smiles. “That’s how I thought. But no one would believe me.” He claps me on the back. “You’ve done the world a great favor, kid,” he says.

I do my best to smile. “Yeah!” I sigh. “I still have to teach a bunch of conjurers to create Rearden Metal. That’s going to be hard.”

The alligator man has not left yet. He is still bowing.

“What?” I say, looking at him.

The alligator man looks up at me. “Your orders.”

I sigh. “Just, find a way to make the world a better place.”

“As you wish,” says the alligator man. The various monsters in the park disperse.

“I wonder who was controlling them before?” I say, wondering aloud. “If they’re so compliant after their, uh, artifact is returned, I wonder who was the one who commanded them to take over the world?”

“I wouldn’t be able to tell you,” says Rarden. He shrugs. “All I know is that the key to that portal has been passed from hand to hand for a long time.”

Not very many monsters are entering the portal. I assume this is because I told them to “make the world a better place.” Did they take that seriously?

Well, whatever. I turn to Rarden and the soldier in the helicopter. “Do you mind giving me a ride to London?” I say. I am tired. I haven’t slept in twenty-four hours. I need to head to the apartment Crayton prepared for me.

Crayton … Crayton … Alice! I turn to the portal so quick I crack my neck.

There she is. Alice. She’s laying on the ground at the edge of the portal. I walk over to her and kneel beside her. Her pulse is slow, but still there. She’s also breathing.

Her eyes flutter open. “Mom?” she says.

I shake my head. “Gena tricked you,” I say. “Your mother is still dead.”

Alice’s head falls limp. Her eyes close, and tears fall down her cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble. I just wanted my mom to come back.”

A helicopter flies overhead and lands in the park. Crayton and two men in black step out.

Crayton’s face lights up when he sees Alice. He runs to where I am holding her and picks her up. Giving her a huge hug, he then turns to me.

“You’ve done something for me that I’ll never be able to repay,” he says.

I shake my head. “I don’t need to be repaid. All I need is for everything to go back to normal.”

Crayton looks at me as if he’s seeing me for the first time. “Then we’ll do that. You can spend two more months here, teaching my conjurers about Rearden Metal.” He pauses. “But I’m not going to let you go that easy. I need to reward you somehow.”

I shrug. “I don’t know, let me date Alice?”

Crayton’s smile falters. Then he seems to break on the inside.

“Okay. I give you my permission to date my daughter. But you have to take care of her. Don’t lead her on, don’t hurt her.”

Alice is still unconscious in Crayton’s arms. She probably wouldn’t want to hear this, anyways.

“I guess this is it, huh?” I say.

Crayton lowers his head. “I’ve given up on my ambitions to join …”

“You can say it,” I say. “Silverbones, right?”

Crayton cringes. “Quiet!” he says. He looks around, seeming relieved. “Good thing no one heard that.” He looks more nervous than I’ve ever seen him.

“What about that … Organization is so special?” I ask.

Crayton shakes his head. “Don’t. You don’t want to know. The knowledge will consume you.” His eyes are looking far away. “I’ve decided that my daughter is more important than immortality.” He smiles at me. “Thank you.”

Rarden walks up and claps me on the shoulder. “Hey, man! You saved the day!”

I chuckle. “Yeah, I guess I did.” I sigh, looking at Crayton and Alice. “I guess now everything is going back to normal.” I survey the wreckage around the park, including dead bodies.

The bone sword must have been the same kind of thing Japan and Mongolia used to defeat their S-class portals.

I’m just glad that the UK is still a thing.

A government helicopter rotates overhead, looking for a place to land among the helicopters that are already here.

The helicopter lands. A figure steps out, one that I won’t ever forget.

The Queen of England! Holy beans, this is amazing!

The Queen approaches me with all the dignity I would expect of her. She is flanked by a dozen guards.

She stops in front of me. “Markus, right?” she says.

I nod. “Uh, yeah. That’s me.”

“England is forever in your debt. Not only did you tame an S-class portal, you also removed a thorn in the government’s side in the form of Brine Ward. I don’t know what we can do to thank you.”

I shake my head. “I don’t need anything, your majesty,” I say. “I’m happy to just go back to school.”

The queen smiles. “Very well. You are always welcome here, and we will be waiting for you to decide what we should reward you with, if you ever decide.” She turns around, and heads back to the helicopter.

That was quick. Well, I suppose the queen has a very busy schedule, especially with the wreckage caused by that portal.

I see that Rarden and Crayton are looking at me with the most incredulous faces I have ever seen. What, is meeting with the queen such a big deal?

“Bloody hell …” says Rarden. He looks at Crayton.

Crayton shakes his head.

One of the men in black remains. He bows to me. “We would much like to show you better hospitality than this, but our queen is very busy at the moment. You will receive formal invitation to both an audience and a celebration for your deeds. You will also be given the title of Psionic Knight and awarded with the Adventurer’s Cross.”

Okay, wow. That’s a lot to take in. I’ll probably be immersed in polite society again like before, but, well, I suppose I can handle that.

The queen boards the helicopter and the vehicle rises into the sky.

I turn to Rarden and Crayton. Both of them share a glance. Then Crayton does his best to grin at me.

“Well then,” says Crayton. “I suppose now we should just go home?” He points to the helicopter he arrived on. “I can give you a ride.”

I nod. “Okay,” I say.

I follow Crayton onto the helicopter. He is still holding Alice in both hands. Crayton turns to me. “Of course,” he says, “I can’t control my daughter’s love life.” He seems to be continuing from before.

Then the helicopter’s blades drown out all conversation.

We land on top of the Esmex corporation building an hour later. Crayton steps off, still carrying Alice. I follow him.

Crayton walks into the building. A man in black holds out his arm.

“Mr. Blanche has instructed me to lead you to your apartment,” he says.

I nod and follow this man into the building. We take an elevator to the twentieth floor and step out.

There is a small hallway with a single door at its end.

“This is your apartment,” says the man in black.

“You mean, this whole floor?” I ask.

“Yes,” the man in black says, looking a little confused. “Isn’t that what you’re used to?”

I shake my head. “I only got rich recently.”

The man in black nods knowingly. “Well then. Enjoy your stay.” He steps back into the elevator.

I open the door and walk into a gigantic living room with an entire wall of windows looking out over the London skyline. It’s a beautiful place. The furniture is modern, there is a full kitchen, and there are several pieces of art hanging that I assume are worth a whole bunch of money.

I sit down on the fancy couch and breath a sigh of relief. Before I know it, I am asleep.

My usual dream world is a lot more crowded than it was before. I almost groan, as I realize that a good portion of the monsters who I turned using the bone sword have entered my personal dimension somehow. How am I supposed to work with this? There are alligator men, monkeys, automatons, and who knows what other kinds of beasts. There are also the boss monsters, at least six of them, including the gigantic aircraft-carrier size mammoth.

Jirgrar appears before me and bows. “We tried to keep these outsiders away,” he says, “But we were unsuccessful. They insisted on serving you. As if you needed any more help.”

For once, I agree with Jirgrar. I don’t know how I’m going to handle having power over the entire contents of an S-class portal.

This was what Gena was after, anyways. What I’m wondering is why she didn’t open the portal herself.

I ask Jirgrar the question.

Jirgrar shakes his head. “Gena did not want to risk her life. Opening a dormant portal is very taxing, and could put your life in danger.”

“So Alice braved that,” I say.

Jirgrar bows. “I am sorry to inform you, but Alice is probably not going to recover from the stress of opening that portal.”

I feel a sinking in my stomach. “What happened?”

“Portals give off a huge pulse of psionic energy when they open. Anyone near will go into psionic shock. The D-class portals you’re used to will cause no more than a slight headache,” Jirgrar says. “But, an S-class portal is on a whole different scale.”

“So Alice may not recover,” I say.

“Even if she did,” says Jirgrar, “She may never be the same.”

I am devastated. I don’t know why, but I feel like I’ve lost something important. “So she’ll be disabled,” I say.

Jirgrar shakes his head. “I do not know, master,” he says.

I sigh. “Well, then we’ll just have to see what happens.”

Jirgrar nods. “Yes. One more question before I let you rest. What would you like us to do with all the new followers you have?”

“Just put them to good use making the world a better place,” I say.

Jirgrar bows. “As you wish,” he says.

And I fall into a much deeper sleep.